Linda Burn'em Stermer featuring Ten Peso

Linda Stermer went to trial twice for the murder of her husband.  The second trial lander her in prison, for good?

We leave you with a happy ending and on a good note as promised with:

TEN PESO

song title:  Put the Past Behind You

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Transcript

Linda Kay Pierce-Stermer

MDOC:  757152

DOB: November 16, 1964 (61)

Resides:  Huron Valley 

Born Linda Kay Pierce     

Linda met Todd in 1989 but at the time Linda was married with her 2 girls but was in the middle of a divorce.  

After her divorce the two of them would be together until death do them part the two of them had 2 boys together by 1993.

Linda married Todd Stermer on August 7, 1993

They took in a nephew as their own, giving them 3 boys and 2 girls to raise.

They lived in a home designed by Todd himself  that wasn’t completely finished yet.  The walls were up, they were starting to paint, walls were up in the basement, it sounds like it was definitely liveable but not quite finished  However, it was by all means their dream home 

The family lived in Lawrence Township.

Todd seemed to be a great father, dedicating spare time to coaching all of the boys in sports and attending everything he could.

Linda worked at Chemlink.

**It appears that the boys lived with Linda & Todd.  I’m not sure if the girls were too old or if they lived with their real dad.  Possibly they were at Dad’s for the weekend?

January 7,  2007 Linda was doing housework downstairs, laundry I do believe and Todd was watching tv.

According to Linda herself on 48 hours, she had NO idea that any of this day would turn so awry.

Around 3 o'clock in the afternoon she heard Todd scream, Linda rushed upstairs to see a fire in the living room.  

She said that Todd was trying to put the fire out, she panicked and ran outside.  Figuring that if he saw her safe & outside that he would follow.   He did a few minutes after she got out, he got out of the house.

Linda ran out of the house to get help, understandable she did not grab her purse or cell phone she just ran out.  

Miraculously, the keys to their van were in it…so she jumps in

She got in the van, and suddenly he’s there in the driveway, at her driver's side window on fire!

He’s patting himself and trying to extinguish the flames while trying to get Linda’s attention I guess.

She states that she got out of the van yelling at him to get in the van or drop down just pure chaos according to her.  

So she jumps back in the van and she lost sight of him then accidentally ran him over.  

They have a conversion van, not as big as Boots but it is definitely easy to lose track of someone because there would be a lot of blind spots.

The neighbors came over somewhere right after this time…trying to help asking where the kids are and where Todd is.  

They see an unrecognizable person lying there burned with his boxers & sweats down to his ankles.  The kind neighbor grabs blankets out of his truck to cover Todd, while the other is assisting him and while Linda is yelling to call 911.

Todd ended up on the side of the house on his back, with his head toward the house. He was barely clothed and burned badly.  Pretty much unrecognizable.

When the police arrived, they did have to move him right away, he was close to a burning house and there was some sort of oil or explosive tank.

Todd died on the scene.  He was burned so severely and had most likely inhaled a lot of smoke.  The medical examiner would say that he died from smoke inhalation and thermal injuries.

The house was a complete loss.

The investigation:

Linda chose not to answer the questions of her children when they asked her.  We are not talking about little kids here, they are older kids .

The boys say their parents' marriage has been iffy and that night they got into a huge shouting fight the previous night.

The kids literally said that they knew this was the end all of fights.   They could hear it.  The fight was over an affair that Linda was having with a coworker, which she denied.

They also saidalsosaid it was about debt.  Todd was in a lot of debt….

 She says it was due to his debt.  Todd says it’s because of Linda’s horses.

VanBuren County investigators worked on the Stermer case for two years after the fire spontaneously combusted in the Stermer’s living room.

Investigators will find blood on the van's bumper and undercarriage but couldn’t prove that it was purposeful.

Linda put gas in a gas can that morning at a local gas station, it was found in their front yard.

They learned that she told her kids to go to the movies, she didn’t want them around when they were fighting, or when she was starting the fire.

She says she was going to leave him that day and she  didn’t want the boys to be there.

June 5, 2009 Linda is arrested for arson and for the murder of Todd Stermer, her husband of ____ years.

TRIAL:  Linda was tried 

The trial included numerous witnesses including her neighbors,  two son’s and her boyfriend from work.

Circumstantial evidence

The medical examiner said that Todd died from the combination of smoke inhalation and severe burns on his body.  He also told the court that there were blunt force injuries upon his head.  He could not say if that was done prior to the fire or if it was due to the vehicle running him over.

No evidence that Todd was drugged, nothing significant showed up in the autopsy.  Vicodin showed up in his urine, meaning at some point he had ingested it hours or even days before his death, because that did not show up in his bloodwork.

Sweatpants had gasoline on them.

There evidence of arson, according to State Police fire inspector Scott leRoy testified.  Incendiary fire. 

Gas attendant thought she saw her pumping into a tank in back of her truck

Linda had an affair with a coworker (who testified) she was at his house the week before and were seeing each other for about a month after Todd’s death.  All the way until her lawyer told her to stop going out with him .

The little gas can in the front yard.

Linda Kay Stermer was convicted in April 2010  of setting her family's house on fire and murdering her husband in January 2007

9 years into her imprisonment, December 2018 Linda managed to talk her way out of prison.  It’s true, she had an appeal and the judge decided that she should go free pending a new trial and I believe 10 grand bonded her out.

It had something to do with Habeous Corpus.

During that time Linda decided she would tell her story on 48 hours.  That meant that we were able to hear everyone’s opinion, outside of the courthouse nerves.

You get the very clear jist that this family is totally divided.  The boys refuse to say the word mother, she is Linda now.  They fully believe that she killed their father.

Her daughters are totally on her side.  They don’t agree with anything the boys say.  So it’s just totally split up on both sides.

And then I don’t know what the fuck happened in that time but the not so speedy new trial wasn’t until 2025.  

It sucks though because now it’s 18 years later and her kids have to go through the terror of court again and testifying???  

The retrial lasted just two weeks and she was sentenced to life in prison on Monday, May 19, 2025 in Van Buren County Circuit Court.