There are secrets buried just beneath northern Illinois communities: unsolved murders, kidnappings and disappearances that continue to hinder investigators.

From the 1957 abduction of Maria Ridulph to the 2008 Lane Bryant mass shooting, the cases remain unsolved, leaving behind grieving families, unanswered questions and a lingering pursuit of justice.

,.

Maria Ridulph - December 3, 1957

Maria Ridulph was seven when she was kidnapped from Sycamore. On Dec. 3, 1957, while she was playing with a friend, she accepted a piggyback ride from a stranger.

Five months later, a couple hunting for mushrooms found Ridulph’s body stuffed under a tree trunk in a forest about 100 miles from her home.

55 years later, former police officer, Jack Daniel McCullough, formally known as John Tessier at the time of Ridulph’s kidnapping, was convicted of her abduction and killing. It would take less than five years to overturn his conviction.

McCullough was released from prison in 2016.

Dermot Kelly - Jan. 30, 1972

Dermot F. Kelly, 16, was last seen leaving his home in Oglesby at around 1:15 p.m. on Jan. 30, 1972. He took his .22 caliber rifle and told his family he was headed to the woods along the Vermilion River for target practice. Two hours later, his parents reported him missing.

He was never seen or heard from again.

During a search effort, Kelly’s jacket and boots were discovered on the bank of the Vermillion River, where that river feeds into the Illinois River.

A set of bare footprints was seen leading from the bank out into the partially frozen river. There were no return prints. An impression of a rifle remained in the snow. Divers later found a rifle, believed to have been Kelly’s, just below the river.

He was declared legally dead in 1992, and both of his parents are now deceased.

Anyone with information should call the La Salle County Sheriff’s Office at 815-433-2161.

Veronica Jill Blumhorst - Sept. 20, 1990

Veronica Jill Blumhorst was 21 when she vanished from her garage on Sept. 21, 1990.

Blumhorst left her job at 1:05 a.m. after feeling ill and drove four blocks to her Mendota home. She parked her car in the detached garage, locked her driver’s side door, and closed the garage door.

Police said she never entered her home, and none of her personal items were recovered. She was carrying a purse, keys, a red smock and a VHS tape. She was wearing a light green short-sleeve sweater with a white tank top worn underneath, corduroy cream pants, brown shoes, a purple satin jacket, her class ring with a blue sapphire stone and a black watch.

Her case garnered the attention of the Cold Case Foundation, which led to the case being turned over to the FBI in April of 2020.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact 800-225-5324, FBI ViCap 800-634-4097 or email vicap@fbi.gov.

Amy Todd Fleming - Jan. 11, 1996

The killing of Amy Todd Fleming has haunted the Lee County Sheriff’s Office for more than 25 years. She was found strangled in her home off U.S. 30 in rural Lee County.

According to a Jan. 11, 2016, Shaw Local News article, police believe she may have known her killer, someone she would have trusted enough to let into her home while her husband was out of town at a cattle show.

After strangling Fleming, her killer took household items, including a microwave and a VCR, to make it look like a burglary.

According to the Jan. 11, 2016, article, the case is far from cold. Police believe Fleming’s killer was not a burglar, although her killer tried to make it look that way. The authorities believe it wasn’t a random act, and people they have previously questioned may have been hiding elements of the crime.

Anyone with information can contact the Lee County Sheriff’s Office at 815-284-6631 or the Ogle/Lee Crime Stoppers at 888-228-4488.

Nicole Bowers - Aug. 3, 2000

Nicole Bowers was 17 when she vanished from her mother’s home in 2000. Three years later, her remains were found less than 2 miles away, east of the Morris City dump. Her case remains unsolved.

On the night of Aug. 2, 2000, Bowers was watching TV when her mother went to bed. When her mother woke up at 5 a.m. the next morning at their apartment in the 1200 block of Alicia Drive in Morris, she was gone.

She was reported missing on Aug. 9.

At the time, police described Bowers as a “habitual runaway” who frequently stayed at her older boyfriend’s house.

On May 9, 2003, a surveyor found part of Bowers’ skull in a field near Bungalow and Gun Club roads in Channahon while the Utility Concrete facility was being constructed. According to newspaper reports at the time, the surveyor did not report his findings until May 12, as he had weekend plans.

Bowers’ identity was confirmed through dental records and forensics indicated her bones had been intentionally broken and scattered. She died as a result of blunt-force trauma to her head.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Channahon Police Department at 815-467-2112 or the Grundy County CrimeStoppers at 815-942-9667.

Lane Bryant Murders - Feb. 2, 2008

The Lane Bryant murders remain one of the most haunting cases in northern Illinois, when five women were killed in a mass shooting that remains unsolved.

On the morning of Feb. 2, 2008, a man posing as a delivery driver gunned down five women in the Brookside Marketplace mall in Tinley Park, according to Shaw Local news reports.

Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet; Jennifer Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Indiana; Sarah Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; Connie Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor; and Carrie Hudek Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort were shot in the back of the head and killed.

A 33-year-old woman survived the attack, escaping with a minor neck wound. She helped police sketch the face of the killer.

There’s a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Anyone with information about the case should call the tip hotline at 708-444-5394 or email lanebryant.tipline@tinleypark.org.

A composite likeness of the suspect and an audio recording of his voice from the 911 call are available on the Tinley Park village’s website at TinleyPark.org/LaneBryant.

Jelani Day - Aug. 25, 2021

The Jelani Day case has garnered national attention.

Day’s family and professors reported the 25-year-old Illinois State University graduate student missing after he did not show up to class on Aug. 25, 2021, and was not answering phone calls or text messages.

His car was found on Aug. 26 in a wooded area near the Illinois Valley YMCA. His body was found on Sept. 4 in the Illinois River near the Route 251 bridge in Peru.

The La Salle County Coroner’s office used forensic dental identification and DNA testing to identify Day. Day was publicly identified on Sept. 23, 19 days later. La Salle County Coroner Richard Ploch said Day’s cause of death was drowning.

Day’s family was critical of the investigation and hired its own investigator and had an independent autopsy conducted.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Peru Police Department at 815-433-2161.

The following have provided all cases, names and descriptions: the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), the Missing Persons Awareness Network, Newspapers.com and the Shaw Local News Network archive.