Regional Murder Mysteries

[sdreid]

7 -- On October 31 of 1984 in Decatur IL, Sherry Gordon, 12, and, her cousin, Theresa Hall, 9, vanished while out trick-or-treating with Theresa's 7-year-old sister. They were later found strangled and sexually assaulted in an abandoned building. The younger girl was found hiding but was too traumatized to identify the attacker, thus leaving the case unsolved. UPDATE: Just last week, Decatur police announced that DNA from the crime scene had been matched to a convict named Melvin Johnson who'd died in 2003. It looks like we can probably consider this one solved.

8 -- Veronica Blumhorst, 20, left her job at a Mendota, IL grocery store in the early morning hours of September 20, 1990 and was never seen again. She had arrived at the home she shared with her parents because her car was in the garage. Acquaintances were questioned but the assumed murder is a mystery.

[sdreid]

9 -- Twenty-one-year-old Tammy Zywicki left New Jersey on a trip to her college in Iowa. Along the way, she dropped her brother off at his college in Chicago. On August 23 of 1992 near Utica, IL, her derelict car was found. Passers-by later told of seeing Tammy talking to a truck driver with the hood of her car up. Nine days later, her stabbed body was found in Missouri. The truck had a rather unique paint scheme but it was never traced. With the close proximity to Veronica Blumhorst, some thought a serial killer might be about. The so-called Truck-Stop Killer was mentioned but the case is still unresolved.

10 - On March 26 of 2003, 7-year-old Dalton Mesarchik was taken while waiting for a church bus in Streator, IL. The next day, his beaten remains were found in a river south of town. It was determined that the murder weapon was a bench-top sledgehammer that came from K-Mart. His killing is still a mystery.

OK, that's my list at present.

[sdreid]

Since I think we can consider the Trick-or-Treat murders just solved, I'll add a replacement.

X -- In Normal, Illinois on August 28 of 1993, Jennifer Lockmiller was found murdered in her apartment. The co-ed had been strangled with an electrical cord and stabbed with scissors. Alan Beaman, her former boyfriend, was convicted of the slaying. After 13 years in prison, the guilty verdict was thrown out by a higher court and the State quickly dropped the charges. The case remains unsolved. Interestingly, one of Beaman's biggest champions was Jennifer's mother who always thought he was innocent. Some believe that the original verdict was due to the defendant's perceived cocky attitude.

[Mayerling]

Some more cases

1928 - Arnold "the Big Bankroll" Rothstein (creator of the style of modern organized crime, alleged mastermind of the 1919 fix in the Black Sox Scandal, and the original for "Nathan Detroit" in GUYS AND DOLLS) killed at the Park Sheridan Hotel after a night of card playing. Was he shot by a fellow gambler, a racketeer, who? He never said although he lived for several hours afterwards. [When badgered by the police, reputedly he angrily spat out, "Me mother!!"]

1941 - The Blue Moon Hotel in Coney Island, Brooklyn. A day before he was
to give testimony against the leaders of "Murder Inc.", Abe "Kid Twist" Reles fell out of a twelve story window from the hotel. The police guard said he tried to flee (and there were a few pitiful tied up bed sheets from the window. Most people have assumed differently. Reles, who had been singing against his old associates to save his carcass, is recalled as "the canary who could sing but could not fly!"


1944 - the Wayne Lornegan Case. Wayne Lornegan, a Canadian who married an heiress, was accused of her murder. There was a big trial that resulted in his conviction, but doubts caused his sentence to be reduced to life imprisonment. He was released in the 1960s and died in the 1980s protesting he did not kill his wife. Many still believe him.


1957 - The Park Sheridan is a fine hotel, but deadly to organized crime figures. Albert Anastasia went into the hotel for his hair cut. While his face was covered by a steaming towel, a bunch of four men came in whom the staff realized did not want shaves. The staff (wisely) turned their backs, while the gentleman pumped Mr. Anastasia full of bullets. Then the four men left. Remarkably, none of the staff could describe these men very clearly.
They remained wise and healthy. The only possible solution that came out was when a few years later a rumor spread that Joey Gallo (talking to some cronies after the events) said, "Just call me and the boys the "barbertshop quartet"."

Jeff

[sdreid]

Thanks Jeff. I even remember when that last one when was in the news and discussing it at school the next day.

[sdreid]

One update on Beaman - Even though the verdict has been thrown out, the charges dropped and Beaman released, the State is apparently balking at returning his bond money. If anything, they owe him that and a lot more.

[sdreid]

4 -- Fay Rawley vanished from his home near Summum, IL on November 8 of 1953. Rawley was a well-to-do farmer and politician. He was last seen earlier that evening when he left his girlfriend's home in Macomb. There were signs of a struggle in his house. Neither he nor his new Cadillac were ever seen again. A strip mine was being filled in across the road from Rawley's home and the theory was that he was murdered and buried in his car there some 300 feet down. A local sheriff spent years drilling into the mine but never found Rawley or the Cadillac. The case is a total mystery.

Additionally, nine years later, two years after Rawley was legally declared dead, his son was killed in an automobile accident. Investigators found that the car's brakes seemed to have been tampered with. Was there some sort of vendetta against the family?

[sdreid]

7 -- On October 31 of 1984 in Decatur IL, Sherry Gordon, 12, and, her cousin, Theresa Hall, 9, vanished while out trick-or-treating with Theresa's 7-year-old sister. They were later found strangled and sexually assaulted in an abandoned building. The younger girl was found hiding but was too traumatized to identify the attacker, thus leaving the case unsolved. UPDATE: Just last week, Decatur police announced that DNA from the crime scene had been matched to a convict named Melvin Johnson who'd died in 2003. It looks like we can probably consider this one solved.

Mr. Johnson has now been tied to murders in 1985 and 1988 so I guess we had a serial killer here and didn't know it. In the same regard, other slayings are being looked at.

[sdreid]

Speaking of possible budding serial killers, Richie Neavear, 18, was found stabbed to death in a patch of tall weeds south of Pekin, IL on July 14, 1995.

On September seventh of 2009, 27-year-old Randy Englebrect was found buried on his property in Mason County, also south of the city. Police are not releasing the cause of death but, since people don't bury themselves, we can safely assume that it was a homicide. There are several men who are suspects in both murders.

[sdreid]

Update

2 -- As he approached his home in Peoria, IL on March 10 of 1947, George McNear, the president of the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad, is cut down by a shot gun. He was walking back from attending a Bradley University basketball game. His company was embroiled in a bitter multi-year strike in which both sides had resorted to goon tactics. A couple of weeks previous, two strikers had been killed in a picket line incident. It was one of the few strikes that occurred during World War Two with the main issue involving the continued employment of steam locomotive firemen even though they were no longer needed on the new diesels. The murder was never solved.

McNear's personal rail-car is being moved to a railroad museum this month. Until now, it was part of a local restaurant that is currently being torn down.

[Rick Mattix]

3 -- On July 26 of 1948, a sniper gunned down Bernie Shelton, a local gangster, as he exited his tavern in Peoria, IL. He died within the hour. Police found the sniper's nest on a nearby wooded hillside. The case remains officially unsolved. Decades later, a convict related that another hoodlum named Charles "Blackie" Harris had claimed in prison that he'd been behind the slaying. Harris' account lacked details however.

4 -- Fay Rawley vanished from his home near Summum, IL on November 8 of 1953. Rawley was a well-to- do farmer and politician. He was last seen earlier that evening when he left his girlfriend's home in Macomb. There were signs of a struggle in his house. Neither he nor his new Cadillac were ever seen again. A strip mine was being filled in across the road from Rawley's home and the theory was that he was murdered and buried in his car there some 300 feet down. A local sheriff spent years drilling into the mine but never found Rawley or the Cadillac. The case is a total mystery.

Heard lately from Taylor Pensoneau, who wrote the good book Brothers Notorious a few years back about the Shelton brothers. He's about to publish a biography of Charlie Harris that might shed some more light here.

[Rick Mattix]

9 -- Twenty-one-year-old Tammy Zywicki left New Jersey on a trip to her college in Iowa. Along the way, she dropped her brother off at his college in Chicago. On August 23 of 1992 near Utica, IL, her derelict car was found. Passers-by later told of seeing Tammy talking to a truck driver with the hood of her car up. Nine days later, her stabbed body was found in Missouri. The truck had a rather unique paint scheme but it was never traced. With the close proximity to Veronica Blumhorst, some thought a serial killer might be about. The so-called Truck-Stop Killer was mentioned but the case is still unresolved.

10 - On March 26 of 2003, 7-year-old Dalton Mesarchik was taken while waiting for a church bus in Streator, IL. The next day, his beaten remains were found in a river south of town. It was determined that the murder weapon was a bench-top sledgehammer that came from K-Mart. His killing is still a mystery.

OK, that's my list at present.

I remember the Zywicki case. Lovely blonde girl in glasses. I think they had posters up with her photo at every rest stop along I-80 almost as soon as her car was discovered. Think some of them still hung there for a few months after the body was found. As I recall Tammy's body was dumped somewhere near Joplin, MO. Tragic story.

[sdreid]

Yes Rick, it was sad. As I recall, the car was found to have fuel and with no mechanical problems so I suspect that the trucker motioned her to pull over with a claim that the car was smoking or leaking or something of the sort then attacked her when she was out of the vehicle. This murder became a kind of cause celebre as to the need for a cell phone.

Illinois killers seem to be up to making world changes like the Tylenol Poisoner and all the safety seals that we have to mess with now.

[sdreid]

Upupdate

One update on Beaman - Even though the verdict has been thrown out, the charges dropped and Beaman released, the State is apparently balking at returning his bond money. If anything, they owe him that and a lot more.

Beaman has applied to be declared innocent which would clear the way for him to file a claim for state compensation. That will be the day.

[sdreid]

Another

On November 18 of 1979, a pair of youths hunting near Granville, IL found a woman's body under a pile of leaves and a wooden pallet. She was naked and had been beaten to death. The woman was buried in an unmarked grave but was identified, several years later, as Denise Laack who was 24-years-old and from Appleton, WI, some 300 miles drive away. Her murder is still unsolved. Authorities have not found that Denise had any ties with the area in which her remains were discovered.