Well-Known Genealogist Murdered

When neighbors in Port Orange, Florida heard the pops, they thought Linda Sue Anderson was shooting off fireworks again. The 54-year-old Gregory Circle resident was known for her erratic behavior. Neighbors said she was "unbalanced."

Even when some peeked outside their homes and saw Anderson holding what looked like a gun, no one suspected what police would later tell them: that Anderson had apparently shot and killed Robert F. and Shirley B. Goerlich.

Anderson would later tell Port Orange police: "I hate them . . . they have been torturing me . . . they make me cookies with green mothballs in them and I get sick." The woman was described by neighbors as having "some sort of mental problems." When arrested, she kicked out a window in the squad car that was to carry her to the police station.

Linda Sue Anderson, 54, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the couple's deaths. Anderson remains in jail without bail, according to officials from the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Shirley B. Goerlich was a well-known genealogist. She and her husband lived in Unadilla, New York. Following their retirement, they spent winters in Florida and summers in Unadilla. Shirley Boyce Goerlich was the author, editor or transcriber of many books, including:

• Genealogy : A Practical Research Guide
• History of Unadilla, Otsego County, New York
• History of West Unadilla : Otsego County, New York : Riverside Route 7, northwest Unadilla and the business district of adjacent Sidney, NY (Delaware County)
• East Guilford (New York) Cemetery
• New York State census, town of Guilford, Chenango County, New York
• Delaware County, New York : raw materials from the past
• Etched in stone in Sidney, Delaware County, New York
• Masonville, Delaware County, New York : early records from the past
• Military service roster, Civil War, Town of Masonville, Delaware County, New York
• U.S. Federal/New York State census, Town of Sidney, Delaware County, New York, 1850
• Military service roster, Civil War, Town of Franklin, Delaware County, New York
• At rest in Unadilla, Otsego County, New York
• New York State census, Town of Unadilla, Otsego County, New York
• Guest register, the Unadilla House : January 1888 to September 1890, Unadilla, Otsego County, New York
• Town of Guilford, Chenango County, New York: burial grounds and cemeteries

She also wrote a column for the Daily Star of Unadilla, NY.

You can read more about the murders here.

Comments

[Joan Nichols Hammond]

Shirley and I graduated from Sidney Central High School in 1955. She was a wonderful friend back then and we played on the same sport's teams. A friend sent me the email about her death. What a waste. Please convey my sympathies to any of her family members or friends in the area. I live in California now and was disappointed when I attended our 50th high school reunion last summer that she wasn't there. She was one of the people that I was looking forward to seeing.
Joan Nichols Hammond.

[Jeffers Ashley]

Bob And Shirley were my neighbors in Port Orange, we first met the day they arrived in Port Orange to start work on their new winter home. They were kind people and always willing to help a fellow neighbor. We became quite good friends and kept in touch once I moved back to Maine in 2004. Shirley had told me she was trying to befriend and help her neighbor, Linda Anderson. Having worked in the mental health field for many years I had my concerns and Shirley said to me, She needs someone who cares.

I received the news almost 2 weeks after the deaths as I had been traveling and was not able to be reached. I still cannot believe this has happen to these nice caring people; it is news you never want to hear. For me even more so, I sold the home to the accused neighbor. How I wish time could be turned back. Good-bye my friends!

Jeffers Ashley
Bangor, Maine