Linda Sobeck_ Murder On A Photo Shoot _ The New Detectives

A former Raiders cheerleader and aspiring actress leaves for a modeling assignment on a November morning. She tells her mother she will call back that night. The phone never rings. Eight days later, a photographer leads police to a shallow grave in the Angeles National Forest.On November 16, 1995, 27-year-old Linda Sobek vanished after leaving her Hermosa Beach home for a photo shoot with freelance photographer Charles Rathbun [citation:1][citation:8]. When police searched Rathbun's SUV using luminol, they discovered traces of human blood and saliva [citation:8]. Faced with the evidence, Rathbun led investigators to Sobek's body in a remote area of the forest [citation:1][citation:6]. The coroner's autopsy revealed Sobek had been sexually assaulted with a foreign object and died of asphyxiation from neck and shoulder compression — not from being struck by a vehicle as Rathbun claimed [citation:1][citation:4][citation:8]. Her blood alcohol level was .13 percent, and ligature marks were found on her ankles [citation:1][citation:8]. This episode of The New Detectives, which aired as Season 4 Episode 1 under the title "Crime By Love," examines the forensic evidence that convicted a killer hiding behind a camera [citation:2]. Turn down the lights, put on your headphones, and press play because the photographer's lens captured more than fashion that day.