
MURDERED: Jenny Lin, Part 2
After days of searching for 14-year-old Jenny Lin’s killer, detectives received some promising tips that left everyone hopeful they’d solve one of the most disturbing murders Alameda County had ever seen.

For our friends in the Deaf and Signing community, you can view an ASL version of this episode.
Jenny Lin is featured in the Alameda County, California, cold case playing cards as the Queen of Hearts.
Courtesy: Alameda County Sheriff’s Office
Sebastian’s first letter to John. In the letter, Sebastian expresses his doubt that the person he is corresponding with is actually Jenny Lin’s father.
Courtesy: Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
John’s February 2009 response to Sebastian, attempting to prove that he is, in fact, Jenny’s father.
Courtesy: Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
A Lin family portrait with Jenny (right), Mei-Lian (center-right), John (center-left), and Rhoda (left).
Courtesy: Lin Family
A May 26, 2006, article in the Statesman Journal announcing that Sebastian Alexander Shaw was named a suspect in Jenny’s murder.
Courtesy: Statesman Journal
Please contact the authorities If you have any information about the following cases:
If you have any information about the murder of Jennifer Lin on May 27th, 1994, please contact the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office at 510-667-3636, or call the Jenny Lin hotline at 855-4-JENNY-LIN.
To donate to The Jenny Lin foundation, visit: jennylinfoundation.org.
We’d love to speak with you and see how we can support.
If you’re a law enforcement agency or family member of one of the people we mentioned in this episode, or if you’re looking for more coverage on a case, please reach out. You can email us at:
Episode Source Material
- KUTV: Renewed hope that DNA advances will solve Jenny Lin case as family holds vigil 25 years later, by Amber Lee.
- National Institute of Justice: Voice Stress Analysis: Only 15 percent of lies about drug use detected in field test, by Kelly R. Damphousse, Ph.D.
- AMP Reports: Inconclusive: The truth about lie detector tests, by Jennifer Vogel and Madeleine Baran.
- Oxygen: Portland serial killer dies After 21 years in prison, by Dorian Geiger.
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WANTED: Justice for Rhys Pocan & MMIW Part 1
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WANTED: The Keddie Cabin Killer
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