Table of Contents
UNION Town — The alcohol, the glass soon after glass of tricky liquor, had taken above long ago. But when accurately Linda Wagoner gave in to the bottle, her brother is not guaranteed.
Was it after she smuggled the initial cell mobile phone into jail for her shopper, ex-Indianapolis Colts quarterback Artwork Schlichter? Or was it when she smuggled a next telephone to him and was suspended by the Indiana Supreme Courtroom?
Was it when she attempted a different authorized path and opened a regulation office in Angola, when the locals heard about Linda and the mobile phones? Clients vanished, and so did Linda’s business.
Gary Wagoner showed up to a Spouse and children Greenback retail store in Union Town on a balmy November working day on a mission to uncover his sister, Linda, in their hometown.
He realized she was a “raging alcoholic.” He realized Linda was lately considered “incapable of self-care,” Gary stated. “She’s turn out to be a shell of herself.”
Gary was completely ready to go into every assisted living facility in town to come across her. To chat to her. To see if he could assistance.
Gary hadn’t talked to Linda in yrs. Alcoholism can lead to spouse and children strife. And, as Gary mentioned, “The previous time I talked to her, it was extra yelling than speaking.” He genuinely should not even treatment, he mentioned.
But when Gary saw Schlichter had been produced from prison in June, right after serving an 11-12 months sentence for his gambling habit that wreaked havoc on all those in his path, Gary imagined of Linda, who had been Schlichter’s public defender.
Wherever was his sister? How was she carrying out? Could she make clear the power Schlichter had over her? He allowed IndyStar to arrive together.
‘She’ll be astonished to see us’
On the morning of Nov. 3, Gary drove 60 miles from his property south of Dayton, Ohio, to Union Metropolis. He brought with him dozens of family photos on 35 mm slides in a suitcase that belonged to his late father.
In the parking ton of Family Dollar, he reminisced about his childhood with Linda and his two other sisters, Janis and Jolynn. How all his pals wanted to be at his property when the women ended up acquiring slumber functions.
How he and Linda experienced been at Indiana College alongside one another in the early 1970s. And how she served finance Gary’s unsuccessful operate for Home Corridor Association President.
“I believed we might consider the medical center that’s been converted to a care middle to see if she’s out there,” said Gary, 71, as he pulled out of the Relatives Dollar parking lot. “She’ll be rather amazed to see possibly one particular of us.”
Gary will not mince phrases about what has occurred to his sister. Linda was a stellar, fantastic lawyer, on keep track of to be a judge, it’s possible even appointed to the Indiana Supreme Courtroom. She was humorous and good and not one to give in to the manipulations of men.
But Schlichter had somehow gotten to Linda. Individuals who know Schlichter, an Ohio State, then Colts quarterback, say women were being his primary targets.
Amongst his most outspoken victims is Anita Barney, the millionaire widow of a previous Wendy’s CEO, who lost just about her total fortune to support Schlichter feed his gambling addiction. In 2016, she was residing on social protection and had survived breast cancer.
“Material matters really don’t necessarily mean that a great deal to me any longer,” Barney advised the Involved Press at the time. “I survived this cancer, I survived Art, and I feel like I’m in this article for a objective now. I never know what it is for, but I’ll be Alright.”
As recently as 2020, just a year in advance of his release from federal prison, Schlichter was punished for “using some female acquaintances of his outside of prison” to assistance him gamble, claimed then Franklin County (Ohio) prosecutor Ron O’Brien.
Schlichter could attraction ladies into carrying out just about just about anything he needed, O’Brien said.
And what Schlichter required from Linda 20 many years ago was a cell cell phone so he could location bets from jail.
Wholly out of character, Gary said, Linda smuggled a single in.
“Artwork Schlichter was her downfall.”
Two yrs of Indiana mobile sporting activities betting:‘In the dark, no a person looking at, addicts are born’
‘She didn’t know what got into her’
It was a random attract that Wagoner finished up as Schlichter’s federal public defender.
He did not choose her. She didn’t pick out him.
As Linda defended Schlichter for his alleged cash laundering, forging of securities and unauthorized use of credit playing cards to pay gambling debts, Gary guesses that Schlichter turned on the charm.
In December 2000, Linda pled guilty to a misdemeanor trafficking demand for smuggling a cell cellular phone into the Marion County Jail.
The Indiana Supreme Courtroom suspended Linda for 90 times then placed her on a two-12 months probation just after the suspension.
That punishment was the final result of Linda bringing a second mobile cellular phone into jail. The to start with time she brought a mobile mobile phone to Schlichter, she was supplied a warning.
“Certainly, he was a persuasive male for him to convince her to give (him) the cell phone, not only the moment, but two times,” Gary stated. “That was the massive slip-up. The second time was even worse, clearly, due to the fact she experienced been warned.”
When Gary read what Linda had carried out for Schlichter individuals 21 many years in the past, Gary mentioned he was shocked. It was not the sister he understood. All his mates known as Linda a “brainiac.”
“Wow, that doesn’t audio like her,” Gary reported he remembers considering. “She normally was straight and slim, often to the letter of the regulation, let by itself to transgress that seriously.”
He talked to Linda at the time, talking about Schlichter and the cell telephones.
“She explained she did not know what acquired into her,” Gary explained. “But if we can get a probability to communicate to her nowadays, that could possibly be a issue. That might be the issue to inquire her.”
‘I hope she’s alive’
Gary is driving previous the family’s initial residence in Union City, a white home on West Division Avenue. It utilised to be blue, Gary states, but other than that not significantly has adjusted.
Just three doors down, he pulls in front of another household, the previous residence he knows of that Linda owned. Maybe she would be there.
This was the home Linda bought soon after leaving Angola and that unsuccessful regulation apply. Gary receives out to go knock on the doorway, though, he has his doubts.
“I you should not assume she’ll be right here,” Gary suggests. “I do not feel she can treatment for herself.”
The residence on High Street appears vacant. Then Gary places the notices on the entrance door.
“Effectively, it seems to be like it’s been foreclosed and it appears like it also could be up for a shared sale,” he claims. As he peeks inside a window, the residence is vacant and darkish. He is absolutely sure now, Linda will be at the prolonged care facility.
On the way to find her, Gary stops at their other childhood household. And he talks more about Linda.
“Linda generally seemed like she was heading to be thriving,” he stated. She was active in faculty and crammed the Union Metropolis yearbook with her successes. At IU, she was lively in Alpha Chi Omega and breezed by way of her undergraduate lessons and legislation college.
But immediately after Gary finished grad faculty and Linda was a law firm, the two went their different ways, mostly owing to household and geography. Gary watched from afar as Linda’s law occupation commenced soaring.
Then he watched from afar as her health and fitness and lifestyle went on a downward spiral.
“She was the intelligent just one,” he mentioned. “Sure, the sensible one who drank herself to dying.”
Gary pulls into the treatment facility parking whole lot. “Allow me go in below and see if they can notify me anything,” he reported. “I’ll be proper back, likely to see if I can find her.”
Minutes afterwards, Gary walks out with a dejected glimpse.
“They experienced a massive issue mark on their head,” he mentioned. “They in no way read of her, but they did advise (one more) put. She may well be there.”
Gary went there. And he went to an additional facility. And to a different. At every quit, Linda was nowhere to be located. IndyStar attempted to arrive at Linda’s daughter, Jessica, and other spouse and children associates but did not get a response.
“I hope she’s alive,” Gary claimed. “That she’s alive and that she has somewhat of a memory. She actually went downhill fast.”
‘It’s unhappy and it really is tragic’:Ex-Colts QB Art Schlichter’s lifestyle at the rear of bars
‘She by no means did recover’
Linda was the oldest of Gary’s three young sisters. Rising up was magical, Gary explained. He remembers almost nothing but a warm, loving loved ones daily life.
“If you appear at some of all those shots, you can see she was pretty content as a kid,” he said. “She’s truly smiling.”
Their father, Billy Wagoner, was a person of five medical professionals in town with the only business that had an X-ray equipment in Randolph County. He was also a normal surgeon at Indianapolis hospitals and later on the county coroner. Their mom, Grace Madeline Wagoner, was a college nurse.
“Everyone knew her,” he explained. “She checked everyone for lice and seemed down the throats of everybody from kindergarten to graduation.”
Billy and Grace also turned restaurateurs when they produced property by the city park and opened a fried rooster franchise — The Wishbone Inn.
It was at a time when Union Metropolis was bustling. “You could wander down factory row and get three offers to do the job the exact same working day,” Gary mentioned.
Their mom and dad showered their children with appreciate and encouraged them to go just after their desires. For Linda, that was regulation.
“She experienced quite significantly the environment at her fingers. She was on a rapidly monitor,” Gary stated. “She could have been on the Indiana Supreme Court docket, likely the youngest choose ever appointed.”
But not just after Linda bought hooked up with Schlichter.
“Not just a stone in a pond rippling out, but the dominoes have to be falling and they just fell the erroneous way after him,” Gary said. “And she by no means did get well.”
Numerous arrests
Gary suspect the bottle took keep when Linda established up that practice in Angola, no extended a productive legal professional in the metropolis or respected in authorized circles. Now compelled into a smaller observe in a small town.
“But she was a functioning alcoholic,” he said, “could nevertheless do her operate with out anybody being aware of.”
But then that exercise unsuccessful.
Gary has been explained to that people today identified Linda wandering around the city they grew up in. She was likely considering, Gary reported, about how she at the time was a promising prosecutor in Indianapolis, rumored to be up for judgeship. How she lost her federal public defender task.
According to Randolph County information, Linda had multiple arrests in current several years. Three of them had been alcohol-connected.
On Oct. 11, 2016, Linda was billed with public intoxication. In March 2017, she was arrested for working a vehicle though intoxicated with a blood alcoholic beverages degree higher than .15%, The limit in Indiana is .08%.
And then in July of 2017, Linda was yet again arrested for driving with a blood liquor amount higher than .15%. At the exact same time, she was billed with “endangering a person” while driving.
“Tragic past terms,” Gary mentioned.
But Gary failed to know just how tragic. Not right until Christmas — practically two months after he went exploring for Linda in Union Metropolis — when he begun exploring the web.
“I was stunned,” he reported. “Completely stunned when this arrived up.”
‘What a sad end’
It is a backlink to Linda’s obituary, which was revealed in March. “Linda Wagoner handed away on March 18, 2021, at the age of 69.”
Gary has been trying to locate out her result in of loss of life, but without accomplishment. The obituary goes on to describe Linda, her vocation and her lifestyle.
“It is challenging to picture a far more zealous and powerful advocate for justice than Linda,” it reads. “It would also be hard to obtain a a lot more zealous IU admirer. Linda enjoyed shelling out time on Lake James in northern Indiana. She loved to operate. She was prolific at knitting, generating a great number of sweaters. She favored gaudy, colourful outfits. She experienced a raucous feeling of humor and was always all set for a good bash. She lived existence to the fullest and on her very own phrases.”
Linda had 1 surviving child, Jessica. The obituary goes on to listing her other family members associates. Gary is not 1 of them.
He wonders. Was that Linda’s choice? It does not really subject, he explained. Now he knows. His search is about.
Gary built an entry, for on-line condolences, on Linda’s obituary, the only entry that was manufactured.
“A person in no way expects a youthful sibling or little one to precede them in dying. Thank you all who understood her and miss her in Union Town, Bloomington, Indianapolis and Angola,” he wrote. “She was a dynamic power that will be missed.”
And, as Gary mentioned on Dec. 26 after mastering Linda experienced died.
“When Art walks cost-free close to Columbus, his damaging legacy continues — if he even remembers her,” Gary said. “What a unhappy conclude.”
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Arrive at her via e-mail: [email protected].
![[Webinar] Addressing the Cybersecurity Risk Landscape in the Lawful Companies Sector – June 29th, 10:00 am PDT | U.S. Lawful Assistance](https://jdsupra-static.s3.amazonaws.com/profile-images/og.16092_2828.jpg)
More Stories
Congressional Republicans goal Hunter Biden’s Hollywood mega-law firm
Miss Manners: Which is the appropriate title for female legal professionals?
Gainesville lawyer accused of sexually assaulting St. Johns County baby is disbarred