In the early hours of March 29, 1997, 26-year-old Kim Medlin left her job as a cocktail waitress in Charlotte, NC, for the hour-long drive to her rural Monroe home. Around 2:45 AM she called her husband Bridger, reporting she was near the Union Station restaurant on Old Charlotte Highway. Fifteen minutes later they spoke again, with Kim mentioning she was only about 20 minutes from home. After that call she put her phone down – and she would never reach home. Shortly after 3 AM, Bridger noticed his wife’s Jeep wasn’t in the driveway. When he called her cell at 3:59 AM, a Monroe Public Safety officer answered, reporting he’d found an idling red Jeep by the roadside and that “Kim’s not here”. The abandoned Jeep Wrangler was indeed found running on the shoulder of Old Charlotte Highway, its engine and lights on and the driver’s window down – but Kim Medlin was gone.
Police quickly secured the scene. Inside the Jeep they found Kim’s purse and a billfold in the passenger seat, but her driver’s license was gone. There was no sign of a break-in or struggle in the vehicle. Neighbors reported seeing flashing red-and-blue lights near the Jeep around 3:02–3:07 AM, with a police car behind it. One witness saw a marked police cruiser chase the Jeep just a few miles north around that time. These clues – the missing license, the timely cell phone call answered by an officer, and the sighting of a police vehicle – suggested Kim might have stopped for someone she trusted, possibly a uniformed officer. Her family insisted Kim would only pull over for a cop at that hour.
Investigation and Forensic Breakthrough
The next morning local and state investigators treated Kim’s disappearance as urgent. By Sunday evening, March 30, searchers found her body at the end of a secluded cul-de-sac on Westwood Industrial Drive – an isolated “lover’s lane” road near Monroe. Kim had been brutally murdered: she was only wearing shorts and a pulled-up sweatshirt, her neck was broken, and she had bruises and scrapes from a violent assault. She was strangled with a heavy object (likely a flashlight) and stomped, but her jewelry and cash remained on her body, ruling out robbery as a motive. Crucially, investigators found a distinctive boot print on the back of her sweat-shift – a clear forensic clue.
Forensic specialists identified the footwear print as a Thorogood-brand police boot, size about 8–9 with a unique “V” tread pattern. They cross-referenced Monroe Public Safety uniform boots and narrowed the possible owners to just three officers. Two were eliminated by alibis: one was on duty elsewhere, another had reported his shoes damaged. The only remaining match was Officer Joshua “Josh” Griffin, a 24-year-old Monroe police officer who had finished his shift hours before the murder. Griffin had the exact size and model issued to him, and he had a history of harassing young women (including inappropriate comments about Kim) according to later testimony. He had told dispatchers the night before that he planned to “harass some people” while off-duty.
Investigators also checked phone records: Griffin’s cell pinged in the crime area late that night, and he had called a tow company around 3:00 AM – the approximate time Kim’s Jeep was being tail-lights-chased. Additionally, surveillance footage cleared Kim’s husband (who rushed to the scene) and focused suspicion on Griffin. By piecing together these clues – the missing license indicating Kim had willingly handed it over, the eyewitness account of a flashing police light, and the telltale boot print – detectives zeroed in on a grim conclusion: Kim Medlin was killed by someone impersonating or abusing the authority of a police officer.
Arrest, Trial, and Conviction
Within weeks, Josh Griffin was arrested and charged with Kim Medlin’s murder and kidnapping. At his 1998 trial (moved to Salisbury due to publicity), prosecutors presented overwhelming circumstantial evidence. Fellow officers testified that off-duty Griffin was driving a marked patrol car that night and had an obsession with Medlin. Testimony detailed that he had pulled her over under the guise of a traffic stop, cuffs on her hands, and then marched her to the back of his car – but Kim panicked, tried to run, and he brutally beat and strangled her. The crucial bootprint on her shirt was identified by the State Bureau of Investigation as matching Griffin’s issued boots.
In February 1998 the jury found Josh Griffin guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping. He faced either death or life; in 2006 a judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole. During sentencing evidence, it was revealed Griffin had been using his uniform and police car to chase and harass women off-duty. The defense called him a lonely, misguided man, but the jury believed the exhaustive forensic and eyewitness evidence. (Griffin’s final alibi theories were later disproven.) He was sent to the North Carolina Department of Corrections, where he remains serving life for Medlin’s murder.
Aftermath and Legacy
The Kim Medlin case remains a startling example of a law enforcement officer abusing his power. It prompted Monroe and state police to tighten procedures: dispatchers now require supervision if off-duty officers patrol on suspicion, and alerts like the one issued for Kim (on the police radio before her death) are more carefully controlled. In later years Griffin confessed to the killing (after a string of appeals), describing how Medlin fought as he attacked her. He even admitted flushing her license down the toilet and discarding the bloody boots.
Medlin’s tragic story has been featured in true crime media – most notably Forensic Files (episode “Traffic Violations”) and podcasts – highlighting how a single shoemark cracked the case. Today, Kim Medlin is remembered not only as a victim but as a cautionary tale about abuse of authority. Forensic science and determined detectives brought her killer to justice, ensuring that even a police officer could be held accountable for murder.
Key Takeaways: Kim Medlin’s disappearance on Old Charlotte Highway in March 1997 set off a complex investigation. An abandoned Jeep with missing license, witness reports of a police car, and forensic shoeprint evidence led investigators to Off-Duty Officer Josh Griffin. He was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving life in prison. The case underscores the importance of forensic clues (like tire and boot prints) and accountability in law enforcement.