A Lawrence woman convicted of murdering her husband will soon begin the process of having a second murder trial.
On Tuesday a jury trial was set to commence years after the January 2007 murder case of Todd Stermer.
According to investigators, Todd Stermer was beaten, set on fire alongside his family home and then ran over with a van driven by his wife, Linda Stermer.
Linda Stermer was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in January 2010. She was released from prison eight years later in December 2018 after a federal judge granted her release on a $10,000 bond.
There was also a conditional writ of habeas corpus, a legal order that requires law officials to jus-tify detention.
It came after the court determined Linda’s rights were violated when her then attorney, now current Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting, failed to effectively challenge key evidence among other issues in the trial.
According to a U.S. court of appeals document, Todd and Linda’s 14-year marriage contained accusations of abuse and an affair.
It also detailed injuries Todd sustained during the time of his death that could not be directly linked to Linda and noted Todd’s autopsy found in part “the cause of death to be a combination of burns and smoke inhalation.”
In addition, the document stated “blunt-force injuries to Todd’s head but could not say if these injuries were caused by him being struck by an object multiple times, being struck by a vehicle, or both.”
A forensic pathologist added Todd Stermer died from four lacerations to his scalp. along with two rib fractures.
According to investigators, Todd’s sweatpants, socks, and underwear tested positive for gasoline, leading detectives to the conclusion that the house fire was intentionally set in the living room.
Stermer’s story was featured on “48 Hours” in 2020.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
