IL IL - Tammy Zywicki, 21, La Salle, 23 Aug 1992

[wfgodot]

FBI offers reward for tips about decades-old killing (Joplin Globe)

Tammy Zywicki was last seen alive, police say, 20 years ago today near LaSalle, Ill., after her car broke down along Interstate 80. Her body, wrapped in a blanket sealed in duct tape, turned up nine days later in Southwest Missouri.
---
Zywicki, 21, was returning to Iowa’s Grinnell College, where she would have been a senior, from her home in Marlton, N.J., on Aug. 23, 1992, when her Pontiac broke down along the interstate. Some witnesses later said a tractor-trailer was seen parked behind her car. Others said they saw a pickup truck.
---
Over the past two decades, investigators have looked at truckers suspected in killings and sexual attacks elsewhere but eventually eliminated them from suspicion in Zywicki’s death.

Authorities had specifically focused on Bruce Mendenhall, a trucker who was arrested in 2007 and suspected of fatally shooting women in several Midwest states, and Lonnie Bierbrodt, an ex-convict trucker who was from the area where Zywicki was last seen alive and who died in 2002.

more about the reward at link above; Joplin is on I-44, 40 miles west of Mt. Vernon

 

[Cubby]

It's not a new reward. The reward was offered 10 years ago according to MSM. Let me see if I can find the link.

 

[Cubby]

FBI spokesman Ross Rice told the Globe by telephone Wednesday from his Chicago office that a reward for information in Zywicki’s case has been offered by the FBI for years.

“The case is unsolved, and we’re still looking for the person or persons responsible,” he said

http://www.joplinglobe.com/crime_an...ers-reward-for-tips-about-decades-old-killing


On the 10th anniversary of Zywicki's death, the FBI offered $50,000 for a tip that breaks the case. A decade later, the offer still stands.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-zywicki-anniversary-20120823,0,1713278.story


I'm really curious what happened with the Bierbodt lead.

There is too much evidence pointing to Bierbodt and I'd like to know if LE has completely ruled him out? He is deceased, so naming him as a suspect is not going to jeaprodize their case. If he is ruled out, why not make that public given all the strong evidence against him previously made public?

States other than Illinois generally make a public statement about who they suspect and can close the case if the perp can not be brought to trial because he or she is deceased.

Until the authorities say one way or another what happened with the Bierbodt lead, I'm afraid this case is sadly stuck in limbo.

It's good to know if justice does not come in this life, it will in the next for whomever is responsible and that justice is not comparable to the worst possible sentencing in this life.

 

[wfgodot]

This must be National Renew Your Reward Offer week. Here in OK today, the OSBI re-pledged its $10,000 reward for information leading to the solving of the murder of Pastor Carol Daniels in Anadarko in 2009.

Hope something helps.

 

[sgrump]

I remember when this happened like it was yesterday. I recall the description of the semi seen parked near where Tammy's car broke down. It had an unusual striped design and IIRC one of the colors was purple.

Purple??? No, I had always remembered it vividly as orange, I thought I saw similar trucks but never had anywehere to 'report' the find. I think the trucks in the fleet of S Abraham and Sons trucking match. The new logo SAS is nothing like what was on the trucks 20 years ago, it was like an orange line of a electrocardiogram. They're a MI company with delivery services all over the midwest.

 

[STANDREID]

Hmm - I thought the trailer had a brown diagonal stripe.

 

[sgrump]

http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategoriz...cle_a6c80038-716f-54ab-b077-2655161c4a87.html

http://www.sasinc.com/aboutus_distributionarea.aspx

 

[sgrump]

I lived in Evanston at the time and was deeply saddened by Tammy's murder. I watched the news closley and kept remembering a truck with orange diagonal graphics. I no longer drive much out of state but the SAS trucks were and are a huge fleet with multiple DCs. But it was the old logo. I'll try to look for a picture.

 

[Winward1]

I remember when this case happened, huge news in Chicago. I recall some of the details but not Evanston. Was she from there?

 

[eileenhawkeye]

I remember when this case happened, huge news in Chicago. I recall some of the details but not Evanston. Was she from there?

I believe Tammy's brother went to Northwestern in Evanston, and after she dropped him off, she headed to college in Iowa.

 

[Cubby]

Thank you for the links and welcome to WS, sgrump. :welcome:

Now that I think about it perhaps the purple was on a truck I thought resembled the description.

I'm glad to see some new discussion on the thread. I was just thinking about it within the last day or so. I'm still wondering why this case has not yet been solved. I've never heard or read anything about Bierbodt being excluded as a suspect and I find myself wondering if the ISP has stopped looking at this case because the primary suspect is deceased.

I'm still holding out hope this case will be solved.

 

[sgrump]

I spent hours last night looking for an image of their old trucks and logo to no avail. I remember the trucks as big delivery trucks but not 18 wheelers. They were white and the name was written in orange as S Abraham & Sons, perhaps even orange accentuated with yellow and red, not the current shorter logo SAS. The trucks were mostly white with the name and graphic diagonal lines.

I'm sure Tammy's family has never forgotton her and have empty hearts to this day. I pray they can find closure.

 

[sgrump]

http://www.aandbfreight.com/

I may have been mistaken???

I saw a truck from this company in northern IL this morning and it's what I remember the SAS trucks looking like.

 

[scriptgirl]

But the prime suspect in this case is dead, no?

 

[Kell1]

This was the case that lead me to get into Law enforcement and study behavioral analysis.

I sent this case to former FBI profiler Candice DeLong for a brief review of it , its her feeling that Tammy most likely accepted help from the 1st person who offered, and that person jumped at that "opportunity" to help a pretty blonde,....however unfortunately this individual was most likely an experienced serial predator.

The FBI highway Serial Killings initiative,
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2009/april/highwayserial_040609
lists over 500 murder victims, and over 200 potential suspects

These cases can be amongst the most difficult to investigate, and prosecute , victims of ANY transient style killer, as opposed to a geographically stagnant, individual, can be transported thousands of miles, left in any number of conditions, evidence could be potentially strewn across country, not to mention a moving/changing crime scene if the vehicle is the assault site, you may have one victim in Florida, and the next in Oregon with not much to go on in either .

Which makes evidence gathering difficult if not impossible , in some cases. Chances are that at least some of these crimes are very similar, therefore, its difficult to determine if 2 similar killings, were from the same individual, barring physical evidence to support the claim.

Even "signature" in these cases, is that some are very similar if not identical.

In Tammy's case, I tend to agree, this wasn't someone's 1st time, (or their last most likely) ..the police had a strong suspect, who passed away. I would want to know what happened to the mickey mouse watch he gave his wife, im sure he probably gave her other items, that could possibly identify other victims.

It seems like Law Enforcement, "fell off" once their prime suspect died.

 

[scriptgirl]

Has the wife ever been questioned? Has their house ever been searched?

 

[Kell1]

Has the wife ever been questioned? Has their house ever been searched?

I believe she was questioned, but the whereabouts of the watch (along with other items that mysteriously appeared) remain a mystery

 

[scriptgirl]

Does the wife believe her hubby killed Tammy?

 

[Kell1]

Does the wife believe her hubby killed Tammy?

You're taking me back a long time ago... if I recall, I believe she said after hearing of the evidence, she believed he may've been involved in Tammy's murder, as well as others

Don't quote me on it though

 

[STANDREID]

Both my parents and their families were from Albion, IL where Mendenhall lived. He actually ran for mayor of the town at one time but lost the election.

I was there last November for my uncle's funeral. He was 99.