KILLER GRANNY NABBED AFTER 35 YRS ON THE LAM

Everyone loved Linda McElroy.

Cheerful and helpful, the devoted mom and grandmother was involved in her community and school - and was always willing to lend a helping hand.

She went to church, baby-sat the neighbors' children and had a kind word for everybody.

But she also had a secret that exploded into the open when the police came roaring up to her front door.

It turns out she had escaped from an Indiana prison 35 years ago after shooting her husband dead and then setting his body on fire.

After fleeing prison, she carved out a quiet and exemplary life in a small Tennessee town, where she started a new family, raising two children and doting on her grandkids.

The tight-knit community was shocked to learn the 64-year-old grandmother had escaped in 1972 by climbing over a prison fence.

In her previous life she was known as Linda Darby and had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1970 for gunning down her second husband.

Linda wrapped his body in garment bags and then set fire to the home they shared in Hammond, Ind.

"No one here had any idea she was a fugitive," her neighbor Alex Harwell told The ENQUIRER. "She was a really sweet, gentle woman."

How did Linda finally get nabbed after 35 years? Indiana set up a new task force this past spring specifically to hunt down escaped prisoners.

They found her by matching the name and Social Security numbers of fugitives with the names of people who had been in contact with police agencies. Linda reported an assault, and that triggered her recapture.

Pick up this week's ENQUIRER for more details!