IL - Tamara Schaidle, 58, found in IL River, being investigated as homicide, Peoria, 21 March 2023

[MntnHiker]

Another person was found dead in the IL River over the weekend, also along the Riverfront walking path (down a little ways from where Tamara was found). He was also discovered by people walking on the trail. Body found in the Illinois River on Memorial Day identified as Peoria man

Cause of death is drowning with no visible signs of trauma. No manner of death determined yet. I will post here when we hear more. If this is also a homicide, then that is very concerning IMO.

 

[Yemelyan]

Question for locals - is the area of the river around the park a place where you could conceivably sustain blunt force injuries if you somehow accidentally fell (or on purpose went) into the water? Just curious as to the coroner's ruling on that, if there was any possible accidental way that head injuries (for example) could occur. How far is the drop from the walking path to the water level? Is the water deep and flowing there or does it have a graduated drop off?

 

[MntnHiker]

Question for locals - is the area of the river around the park a place where you could conceivably sustain blunt force injuries if you somehow accidentally fell (or on purpose went) into the water? Just curious as to the coroner's ruling on that, if there was any possible accidental way that head injuries (for example) could occur. How far is the drop from the walking path to the water level? Is the water deep and flowing there or does it have a graduated drop off?

The path goes for quite awhile and the ground is varied. There are some places, like closer to where Tamara was found, that you could conceivably walk down a slope/across some rocks and you're in the river. Other areas have more of a "cliff" feel where the ground drops away and into the water (not super close to the path, like I am not concerned about falling in when I walk the path). The area where the gentleman was found on Monday is farther down where the path becomes concrete and there are restaurants and bars nearby. From there, there is a concrete wall/railing and then a drop into the water on the other side, so you'd have to climb up and over the railing to fall in.

I suppose if you were closer to where Tamara was and were walking down by the river, you could slip and fall and hit your head on a rock. I am not sure how deep the river is right by the banks but there are quite a few boats and barges that travel the river so it usually is moving a bit. We have a major bridge that goes over the river in this area and there have been people who have jumped from that bridge and survived, so IMO it would be possible to jump or fall over one of these railings, which is much closer to the water, and survive if you could swim and didn't hit anything on the way down.

 

[MntnHiker]

If you search "Martini's on Water Street" and go to Google street view, you can walk a bit down the road and turn so you can see the river and the railing in the background beyond the parking lot. This is the area where the man was found on Monday. I do not think there is Google Street view of the actual walking path; it wouldn't let me go back that far. https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!...=2ahUKEwjYls3b0KD_AhVVjIkEHTEHAzoQpx96BAhcEA0

 

[MntnHiker]

Here's a snapshot from Google Street View of the area where the man was found Monday. The river is on the other side of that wall.

 

[MntnHiker]

And then this is as close as I could get farther down the path. This is NOT exactly where Tamara was found - I couldn't get down there on street view, but this gives an idea how the railing/wall goes away and there's more of a natural drop.

 

[Phoenix Rising]

And then this is as close as I could get farther down the path. This is NOT exactly where Tamara was found - I couldn't get down there on street view, but this gives an idea how the railing/wall goes away and there's more of a natural drop. View attachment 425730

Do you know exactly where she was found? How far from the Memorial site was it?

 

[MntnHiker]

Do you know exactly where she was found? How far from the Memorial site was it?

All of the photos from news article at the time showed the police vehicles/personnel by the sand volleyball courts, which is a little ways down from the memorial (not far - maybe 0.1-0.2 miles?)

 

[Phoenix Rising]

All of the photos from news article at the time showed the police vehicles/personnel by the sand volleyball courts, which is a little ways down from the memorial (not far - maybe 0.1-0.2 miles?)

Thank you. That's what it looked like to me, too. I don't know that Tamara would have walked past the Memorial towards town. I think she primarily visited the Memorial site.

 

[MntnHiker]

My husband and I went for a walk along the riverfront this morning. I took some photos with my phone I will try to post later.

A few things I noted:
-Pretty much the entire way from the Riverplex gym to where the path kind of ends/switches over to the marina area has a very steep dropoff from the path to the river. I can't see anywhere that a person would safely/easily get down to the river from up top along that whole stretch like to walk along it. This makes me think Tamara may have been forced/pushed down to the river maybe under threat of a weapon. There is a very thin little "beach" or sandy strip where you could theoretically walk along the river for a stretch IF you could find a way to access it.

-The area across from the sand volleyball courts where her body likely was found (due to seeing all the police tape and vehicles located there in news articles) was also dense with foliage and very steep. In March there would have been no foliage which explains how the passerby was able to spot her body in the water.

-I think I may have a possibility for the camera that picked up the blurry image circulated of her from that morning. The TF Erhart building is along the riverfront trail near the Fogelberg memorial. We spotted cameras along the back and side of it. Right across the street from this building, is a lot where many park to access the trail. In fact in the Google Earth image of it, there's a biker in the parking lot. My hypothesis is that Tamara parked there to access the trail and while walking down the path to the Fogelberg memorial, she was picked up on the camera at the Erhart building. It would have been from a distance, which explains the blurriness. Also if you look at that photo of her again, you can see what looks like the riverfront path right behind her.

Happy to answer any questions about the location and like I said, I'll try to post the photos from my phone later.

 

[Phoenix Rising]

My husband and I went for a walk along the riverfront this morning. I took some photos with my phone I will try to post later.

A few things I noted:
-Pretty much the entire way from the Riverplex gym to where the path kind of ends/switches over to the marina area has a very steep dropoff from the path to the river. I can't see anywhere that a person would safely/easily get down to the river from up top along that whole stretch like to walk along it. This makes me think Tamara may have been forced/pushed down to the river maybe under threat of a weapon. There is a very thin little "beach" or sandy strip where you could theoretically walk along the river for a stretch IF you could find a way to access it.

-The area across from the sand volleyball courts where her body likely was found (due to seeing all the police tape and vehicles located there in news articles) was also dense with foliage and very steep. In March there would have been no foliage which explains how the passerby was able to spot her body in the water.

-I think I may have a possibility for the camera that picked up the blurry image circulated of her from that morning. The TF Erhart building is along the riverfront trail near the Fogelberg memorial. We spotted cameras along the back and side of it. Right across the street from this building, is a lot where many park to access the trail. In fact in the Google Earth image of it, there's a biker in the parking lot. My hypothesis is that Tamara parked there to access the trail and while walking doiwn the path to the Fogelberg memorial, she was picked up on the camera at the Erhart building. It would have been from a distance, which explains the blurriness. Also if you look at that photo of her again, you can see what looks like the riverfront path right behind her.

Happy to answer any questions about the location and like I said, I'll try to post the photos from my phone later.

My husband and I went for a walk along the riverfront this morning. I took some photos with my phone I will try to post later.

A few things I noted:
-Pretty much the entire way from the Riverplex gym to where the path kind of ends/switches over to the marina area has a very steep dropoff from the path to the river. I can't see anywhere that a person would safely/easily get down to the river from up top along that whole stretch like to walk along it. This makes me think Tamara may have been forced/pushed down to the river maybe under threat of a weapon. There is a very thin little "beach" or sandy strip where you could theoretically walk along the river for a stretch IF you could find a way to access it.

-The area across from the sand volleyball courts where her body likely was found (due to seeing all the police tape and vehicles located there in news articles) was also dense with foliage and very steep. In March there would have been no foliage which explains how the passerby was able to spot her body in the water.

-I think I may have a possibility for the camera that picked up the blurry image circulated of her from that morning. The TF Erhart building is along the riverfront trail near the Fogelberg memorial. We spotted cameras along the back and side of it. Right across the street from this building, is a lot where many park to access the trail. In fact in the Google Earth image of it, there's a biker in the parking lot. My hypothesis is that Tamara parked there to access the trail and while walking down the path to the Fogelberg memorial, she was picked up on the camera at the Erhart building. It would have been from a distance, which explains the blurriness. Also if you look at that photo of her again, you can see what looks like the riverfront path right behind her.

Happy to answer any questions about the location and like I said, I'll try to post the photos from my phone later.

I'm trying to match up the angular patch of grass and the structure behind her in that picture with the railroad depot building adjacent to the parking lot off Morton Street, but can't quite figure it out. The news article said she was entering the Constitution Garden area.

 

[NeverPersonal]

thinking of tamara.

 

[MntnHiker]

Still no new news on Tamara. A few days ago, we went walking on the riverfront trail though and discovered something interesting. As we were approaching the area of the Fogelberg memorial, we saw a man with a fishing pole disappear into the treeline by the river. When we got to that spot, we noticed a narrow, somewhat steep, but definitely cleared path down to the river. The man had gone down there to fish and he knew right where this path was, so it may be more common knowledge that there IS a trail down the bluff where you can walk along the river.

Once down there, the shoreline wasn't super wide (at least not on this day but would depend on the river water levels), but you could walk for quite a long ways along the water - all the way down to the area where they had blocked off for finding Tamara.

I was initially thinking someone had to have accosted her on the trail and was wondering how they'd get her down to the river when so much of this area is a steep dropoff. Now seeing there is at least one cleared path down there, I wonder if she went down to walk along the river and either someone else was already down there or saw her go down and followed her.

 

[Yemelyan]

Very puzzling case. We see some rare examples where coroners rule that deaths are self harm or accidents when it seems (to us) that they must really be homicides. I wonder if this is the opposite. Perhaps a wrong assumption or error has been made somewhere and this was really self-harm or accident mistakenly ruled homicide. Since there have been no updates, I wonder if her death certificate has been amended without the public knowing?

It would be odd, I think, for LE to believe this was a total random act or crime of opportunity and not still be providing updates and asking for tips at this point. So the lack of updates, to me, means that either they feel they have a good idea of who is responsible or there is a conflict of opinion over the official circumstances of her death.

 

[Phoenix Rising]

Remembering Tamara on her birthday today. Still hoping for justice.