sweetpea657
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Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: August 21, 1976 from Huntley, Illinois
Classification: Endangered Missing
Age: 14 years old
Height and Weight: 5'4, 120 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Dark brown hair, brown eyes.
Clothing Description: A green t-shirt, blue corduroy jeans, tan earth shoes, a leather beaded necklace and a rope belt with a large metal buckle.
Details of Disappearance
Glueckert was walking to mass at St. Raymond Catholic Church in Mount Prospect, Illinois at 5:00 p.m. on August 21, 1976 when a man identifying himself as "Tom Edwards" asked her if she wanted to go to a party. She went to church instead but gave Edwards her phone number, and afterwards she and a girlfriend met him at a pizza parlor and caught a ride with him in his brown Buick Electra 225 to a rock concert at a farm in Huntley, Illinois. They originally planned to attend a party in Des Plaines, Illinois, but the man suggested the concert instead.
Approximately 500 people attended the concert, which was scheduled to end at 12:30 a.m. but actually lasted much longer. Glueckert and her friend separated between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. When the event broke up, Glueckert's friend went home with another individual and it is believed Glueckert left with Edwards. She never arrived home and has never been heard from again.
"Edwards" turned out to be Thomas G. Urlacher, who was then in his mid-twenties. He moved to San Francisco, California just days after Glueckert's disappearance and lived there under another alias until the police found him. A photograph of Urlacher is posted below this case summary. He had a long criminal record for arson, rape, and other crimes and a history of violence against women. He is the prime suspect in Glueckert's disappearance; investigators believe he murdered her the night she went missing and buried her body near the concert site in Huntley. In December 1976, Urlacher wrote a letter to a friend which stated he had "put a girl in the ground" because he had raped her and was afraid she would tell the police.
Urlacher was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor after Glueckert's disappearance. The charge was based on statements from witnesses who saw him give marijuana and alcohol to Glueckert and other underage youths the night she disappeared. A grand jury convened to investigate Glueckert's disappearance in 1977. Prosecutors hoped to indict Urlacher for her murder, but they were unsuccessful; no indictments were issued against anyone. Urlacher subsequently sued Glueckert's family for defaming his character, but the lawsuit was dismissed.
Investigators never found enough evidence against Urlacher to charge him in Glueckert's presumed murder, but he was found liable for her wrongful death in a civil suit in 1978 and was ordered to pay $5.15 million in damages to her parents. He was shot to death during a drug deal in Pueblo, Colorado in 2004. Urlacher had always maintained his innocence in Glueckert's disappearance; he says he left the concert alone at 11:00 p.m. and did not see her after that. He admitted writing the incriminating letter to his friend but said he had been under the influence of drugs at the time and what he wrote was not true.
In 2005 some bones thought to be Glueckert's were found buried in Huntley, but they turned out to be from an animal. Glueckert was declared legally dead in 1984, ten years after her disappearance. She is a graduate of St. Raymond Catholic Grade School and resided with her parents in the 600 block of Russell Street in Mount Prospect when she vanished; that city's police are investigating her case. Her disappearance remains unsolved and foul play is suspected.
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/g/glueckert_barbara.html
Missing Since: August 21, 1976 from Huntley, Illinois
Classification: Endangered Missing
Age: 14 years old
Height and Weight: 5'4, 120 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Dark brown hair, brown eyes.
Clothing Description: A green t-shirt, blue corduroy jeans, tan earth shoes, a leather beaded necklace and a rope belt with a large metal buckle.
Details of Disappearance
Glueckert was walking to mass at St. Raymond Catholic Church in Mount Prospect, Illinois at 5:00 p.m. on August 21, 1976 when a man identifying himself as "Tom Edwards" asked her if she wanted to go to a party. She went to church instead but gave Edwards her phone number, and afterwards she and a girlfriend met him at a pizza parlor and caught a ride with him in his brown Buick Electra 225 to a rock concert at a farm in Huntley, Illinois. They originally planned to attend a party in Des Plaines, Illinois, but the man suggested the concert instead.
Approximately 500 people attended the concert, which was scheduled to end at 12:30 a.m. but actually lasted much longer. Glueckert and her friend separated between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. When the event broke up, Glueckert's friend went home with another individual and it is believed Glueckert left with Edwards. She never arrived home and has never been heard from again.
"Edwards" turned out to be Thomas G. Urlacher, who was then in his mid-twenties. He moved to San Francisco, California just days after Glueckert's disappearance and lived there under another alias until the police found him. A photograph of Urlacher is posted below this case summary. He had a long criminal record for arson, rape, and other crimes and a history of violence against women. He is the prime suspect in Glueckert's disappearance; investigators believe he murdered her the night she went missing and buried her body near the concert site in Huntley. In December 1976, Urlacher wrote a letter to a friend which stated he had "put a girl in the ground" because he had raped her and was afraid she would tell the police.
Urlacher was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor after Glueckert's disappearance. The charge was based on statements from witnesses who saw him give marijuana and alcohol to Glueckert and other underage youths the night she disappeared. A grand jury convened to investigate Glueckert's disappearance in 1977. Prosecutors hoped to indict Urlacher for her murder, but they were unsuccessful; no indictments were issued against anyone. Urlacher subsequently sued Glueckert's family for defaming his character, but the lawsuit was dismissed.
Investigators never found enough evidence against Urlacher to charge him in Glueckert's presumed murder, but he was found liable for her wrongful death in a civil suit in 1978 and was ordered to pay $5.15 million in damages to her parents. He was shot to death during a drug deal in Pueblo, Colorado in 2004. Urlacher had always maintained his innocence in Glueckert's disappearance; he says he left the concert alone at 11:00 p.m. and did not see her after that. He admitted writing the incriminating letter to his friend but said he had been under the influence of drugs at the time and what he wrote was not true.
In 2005 some bones thought to be Glueckert's were found buried in Huntley, but they turned out to be from an animal. Glueckert was declared legally dead in 1984, ten years after her disappearance. She is a graduate of St. Raymond Catholic Grade School and resided with her parents in the 600 block of Russell Street in Mount Prospect when she vanished; that city's police are investigating her case. Her disappearance remains unsolved and foul play is suspected.
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/g/glueckert_barbara.html