GUILTY IL - Kristina Wesselman, 15, raped & murdered, Glen Ellyn, 21 July 1985

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So cold nothing/nadda found via google news links. Web links find some old forums with full news links.

Here is one:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5273/is_200607/ai_n20792288

ETA: from the cached version of DuPage county cold case site:
Kristina Wesselman
Age 15
Date of homicide: July 22, 1985
Kristina Wesselman was reported missing by her mother on July 21, 1985. Her body was found the next day just off a dirt path in Glen Ellyn located between a Jewel Food Store on Rt. 56 and Rt. 53 and the Valley View Subdivision. It is believed that she was on her way home from the Jewel when she was attacked.

Kristina, you are not forgotten.

May your family find peace, answers and justice.
 
Mother Seeks Closure In Daughter's Cold Case

Mike Puccinelli
GLEN ELLYN, Ill. (CBS) ―
WBBM1209kristywesselman.jpg
Click to enlarge 1 of 1
Kristy Wesselman was raped and murdered 24 years ago. Her cold case murder is still unsolved.

It's one of the most famous unsolved murder cases in the history of DuPage County. It happened in unincorporated Glen Ellyn when a Glenbard South High School student went to a store and never returned. CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports her mother is once again urging anyone with information to speak up.

It was 24 years ago when Kristy Wesselman was ambushed from behind by a killer who raped her in broad daylight before stabbing her eight times.

It used to be next to a well-worn walking path. Now it's behind a Wal-Mart at Butterfield Road and Route 53. But while the area has changed, the memories of what happened here on July 21, 1985 have not.


more at link:


http://cbs2chicago.com/local/kristy.wesselman.cold.2.1360324.html
 
bumping for Kristy since her case was just mentioned in the thread for another DuPage unsolved case for Debbie Fijan.

I wonder if DuPage submitted the perps DNA into codis and there just has never been a hit for a match.

Oh so so many unanswered questions in DuPage.

Prayers for the Wesselman family to get closure in this unsolved case.
 
Bumping for Kristy..

According to info we have uncovered sleuthing Debbie Fijans unsolved cold case in DuPage county, DuPage recently reopened their cold case unit and Debbies is one of four cold cases on the top of the list.

Praying your case is in that top 4 Kristy!

You are not forgotten.
 
Wesselman.jpg


Kristina Wesselman
Age 15
Date of homicide: July 22, 1985

Kristina Wesselman was reported missing by her mother on July 21, 1985. Her body was found the next day in Glen Ellyn, just off a dirt path located between a Jewel Food Store on Route 56 and Route 53 and the Valley View subdivision. It is believed she was on her way home from the Jewel food store when she was attacked.

Her murder remains unsolved.


http://www.co.dupage.il.us/sheriff/unsolved%20murders.htm
 
Good old Chicago Trib ptv or pay to view articles.

one snippet from the PTV from the Trib:

null.gif


A KILLER AWAITED GIRL ALONG PATH
[FINAL, C Edition]

Chicago Tribune (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Chicago, Ill.
Author:Art Barnum and George PapajohnDate:Jul 23, 1985Start Page:1Section:NEWSText Word Count:789
Abstract (Document Summary)


A well-worn shortcut through a field connecting the Valleyview subdivision in unincorporated Du Page County with a supermarket led investigators to the body of a popular Glenbard South High School student Monday, hours after she was last seen buying candy in the store.
Investigators said they had no suspects and knew of no motive in the slaying of Kristina Wesselman, 15, president of the freshman class at the Glen Ellyn high school last year and also popular in the middle-class subdivision known as the "Valley."
"Apparently she was on her way home when something happened," Undersheriff Robert Soucek said. Kristina, known as "Kristy" to her friends and family, was last seen in the store about 4 p.m. Sunday and was reported missing at 1:50 a.m. Monday by her mother, Sandy Wesselman



http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicago...A+KILLER+AWAITED+GIRL+ALONG+PATH&pqatl=google
 
another PTV snippet:

Suspect surfaces in '85 slaying
[DU PAGE SPORTS FINAL Edition]

Chicago Tribune (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Chicago, Ill.
Author:Art Barnum.Date:Feb 9, 1989Start Page:1Section dU PAGEText Word Count:421
Abstract (Document Summary)


A suspect in the 4-year-old murder of a Glenbard South High School student said he allowed county law enforcement officials to take blood and saliva samples from him this week after being locked up in the county jail.
Dana Henry, 32, of the Valley View subdivision, near Glen Ellyn, said he appeared before a Du Page County grand jury last month that was investigating the July 21, 1985, murder of Kristina Wesselman, who was killed in a prairie near the subdivision, where her family also lived.
Du Page County prosecutors charged him with contempt of court and Associate Judge Thomas Callum ordered Henry, an unemployed laborer, put in Du Page County Jail on Monday until he complied with the order.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicago...=Suspect+surfaces+in+'85+slaying&pqatl=google
 
Wow, lawsuits against DuPage in both Debbie Fijans unsolved case and Kristy Wesselmans unsolved case.

There are only 10 cases listed at DuPage counties cold case site. Two of which are listed as solved. Of the 8 still listed as unsolved, we have sleuthed two involving lawsuits against the county. Hmmmm.......
 
Precious little media coverage on Kristy's case... and I only searched her name via google archives.
 
Bumping for Kristy. When I next speak with the detective working on Debbie Fijans case I will be sure to ask if Kristy's case is one of the 4 Debbies brother mentioned have been officially re-opened recently when DuPage re-established the cold case unit.

It seems to me DNA should have solved this one..... I wonder if DNA was submitted with no matches?

hopefully I can find out if there is any new news.
 
I can't find anything on this case either...Just Kristy's birth info on Ancestry.com. :(
 
All I was able to find were the brief snippets from the PTV links or the few articles. Very very little about this case. Pretty girl. This occured not far from College of DuPage either... within a 5-7 min drive at most.

I don't recall what the immediate area looked like at the time. I know the intersection. I wonder if Jewel even had security camera's back then. Did someone follow her out of the store? Either that or it had to be someone familiar with the area.. who else might know of the short cut path through the vacant area by the store at the time?

We'll see what if anything DuPage is willing to share when I talk to them about Debbies case.
 
Forgot to add. Ancestry doesn't seem to be the best source of news articles. At least not the Chicago Tribune or the Daily Herald which are the two biggest local papers for the burbs.
 
hi all. this is her older brother Bill's girlfriend writing.
i put together this on the 25th anniversary of her death:

http://kristywesselman.blogspot.com/

feel free to contact me here with any questions.

To Web-sleuths
...
The following is an article from July 22 2010
http://www.dupageblog.com/2010/07/kristina-wesselman-murdered-25-years-ago-today/

Following from
September 14 2010
...PoliceAbuse.com has found possible departmental misconduct regarding the way the murder investigation is being handled...
http://dupagecountycoldcase.blogspot.com/

Interesting video, with a name of a POI by someone?
Also from the above link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46Idb8bgOzA&feature=player_embedded

The following link suggests theirs a problem with LE and citizens trying to help solve the case?
http://dupagecountycoldcase.blogspot.com/2010/01/dupage-will-not-work-with-citizens-to.html
...DuPage County Sheriff's Department, Detective Ed Walls said he will not disclose any information that could lead to an arrest for these homicides. The DuPage County Sheriff's Department Media Relations Office had no information about the murders.

Kristina Wesselman
kmw2.jpg

a princess!
She does look like a princess!
She reminds me of a young princess Diana.

They have the 22 listed as day of death. I imagine that's because the coroner dated it as such, at the site on the day she was found.
Even though she was killed on Sunday the 21st. After going to the store for the candy bar with almonds and soda. It had a time, i believe it said 441 pm. She was killed no more then 15 minutes after that.

They have been testing for a DNA match in the Data base since July 24 2000 I believe i read in one of the articles. And so far no match after all this time.

I am curious, about the house the dog tracked a scent to, after smelling her shoes it noted. Did that have any bearing on the case, or did the dog lead them to a house she had previously visited?

It seems LE is not able nor welling to release any official documents in this case. Chicago LE can be pretty tight lipped on there ongoing investigations, especially crimes such as this. Any insight you would like to add concerning this?
 
I don't believe she was targeted. But she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The killer would-not had known she would be leaving her mothers house at the time she did, to go and buy a candy-bar and a 2 liter of Pepsi.

One report stated she was Grab from behind. If that is case could it had been someone from the store whom left when she did. The DNA they have on file, is good to eliminate friends etc. I don't believe, though guessing, it was someone she knew, for i don't believe she new anyone who would want to rape and murder someone from her circle of acquaintances.

The lack of noise, makes me wonder if perhaps something was use to silence her before the killing. Such as a Liquid that was put over her nose and mouth to make her pass out, and the killer approached her from behind and applied the cloth to her mouth and nose and dragged her to the spot they found her, by then she was unconscious. I could not find any posting that she suffered a head wound, that would have implied she was struck with a blunt instrument and rendered unconscious. I guess, he could have told her to be quite or he would kill her, but unlikely, since the act of sneaking up behind her, and just grabbing her, could have caused her to yell out on instinct alone.

But its the lack of a DNA match all this time, that would give the impression this person has not committed another crime, that would require a DNA sample.

I wonder if that is part of the problem? Does the DNA material/profile still exist? Or was it damaged or destroyed by accident? And they have not been able to rerun it after all this time to find a possible Match? I don't know.
 
First, I would like to welcome you to Websleuths Quessie. You did a wonderful job on the blog you set up for Kristina's unsolved murder.

I do need to let you know we need to get you 'verified' as an 'insider' posting regarding Kristy's case. I'll send more to you via pm.... so we can get this taken care of.....

I still need to go through the incredible list of media links you provided....

I did see via your scanned MSM (main stream media) articles the perps DNA is in a federal database. I assume that is CODIS which is the national data base... and no match to date.
- I have an initial question regarding this: Is Kristy's family familiar with recent Chicago Metro area MSM about the lack of DNA from rape kits being processed in IL? If so, is there any thoughts on this in relation to Kristy's case?

to be cont.... (I would like to break up some of my replies so the posts aren't so long)
 
Mr TT - if you haven't already be sure to read the MSM links Quessie provided.. I think, the guy you posted about having 'sued' DuPage did so based on some quirk on his rights being violated in the process of submitting dna, but I do believe LE eventually got a sample and that potential perp was ruled out. At least to my understanding. Perhaps Quessie can verify he was in fact ruled out.
 
Also, FWIW, TT' DuPage Cty is.. um well, I will say from my experience contacting LE or ME's in both Cook and DuPage, Chicago/Cook cty is by far friendlier and more receptive to giving at least a little bit of a bone - which would not impair -a case than DuPage.

I really have no problem with DuPage LE playing it extremely close to the vest when dealing with civilians, *if* that does not extend to cooperation with other departments/jurisdictions. I've had experiences where I had to nag village LE to make contact with DuPage LE regarding a well known unsolved and even village LE had a difficult time making contact. Which doesn't bode very well for DuPage.

I hope we can shine some light here at least enough to let DuPage know they are under the spotlight with some of these unsolved case... and people are paying attention.
 

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