
In February 2008, six women were held hostage in a women’s clothing store in Tinley Park, Illinois.. Rhoda McFarland, Carrie Hudek Chiuso, Connie Woolfolk, Sarah Szafranski, and Jennifer Bishop were executed and the killer escaped leaving only one survivor. In Season 8 of CounterClock, host and investigative journalist Delia D’Ambra covers the Lane Bryant Murders and goes further into the case than any journalist has before. Through firsthand accounts and thousands of documents, Delia reconstructs what happened inside the store, why it may have happened, and who may have been responsible. For nearly twenty years, their families have lived without answers. This season, the search continues.
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Hey, down Easters, it's Kiley. If you've spent time with me on Dark down east, you know, I tend to get pulled into cases that don't have clear answers. The ones you keep circling back to and asking yourself what's missing. That's where I'm at right now, with a story I can't stop thinking about. In the newest season of Counterclock, host Delia d' Ambra is taking a closer look at the Lane Bryant murders. Now, if you're not familiar, in 2008, five women were killed inside a Lane Bryant store in a Chicagoland shopping center. And somehow, a suspect has never been caught. So you start to wonder, how does something like this happen without answers? What's the motive? Why were these women targeted? Were there witnesses who saw something that didn't get enough attention? And after all this time, is there still evidence that could change the direction of the case? What really stood out to me, what always stands out to me with Delia's reporting, is how she approaches these questions. She's not just revisiting what's already been told. She's digging into archives, reanalyzing evidence, speaking directly with first responders and victims families, and uncovering voices that have never been heard publicly before. Delia is pushing past surface answers and sitting with the uncomfortable questions a little longer. This season leans all the way in. And it got under my skin. So if you're like me and you keep asking, why, stick around? Because you can check out the Counterclock Season 8 trailer right now.
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It started out as just another day in a popular clothing store, but it ended in a bloody massacre. A deadly shooting rampage at upscale Lane
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Bryant ladies clothing store. Six women gunned down execution style.
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The February 2008 Lane Bryant homicides in Tinley Park, Illinois, are a notorious case that for nearly two decades have looked like one type of crime, but might just be something much, much bigger.
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It was like a big jigsaw puzzle, and most of the pieces were upside down.
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For the last year, I've been heads down trying to turn every puzzle piece in this complicated case right side up.
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The search continues for the gunman. We in those early days did not know somebody had survived. We were worried about her safety.
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What if this guy has her information and has all of our information?
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This season on Counterclock, we're going inside A law enforcement investigation that has been locked behind closed doors for years.
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None of it made sense. The timing, the target, the victims, and the length of time that he stayed in the store. What were you doing in there for 40 minutes.
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The further and further I dug into this crime, the stranger things got. My reporting led me to some unexpected places. A church in crisis, a dilapidated mental health center, a notorious street gang, and another violent shooting.
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Are you familiar with quid pro quo?
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When you shoot somebody execution style, you've done it before.
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A lot of things go down because of money.
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Maybe it was an inside job.
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People use church to do their devilish ways.
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Buckle up, because this story is anything but straightforward.
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All of a sudden, I see the police come, like, filling the neighborhood and coming up my driveway. Hey, we got a cop, man shot out in front of my house. Major shootout. Come in here, man. There's some going on. Holy cow. Most crimes I see is 10,000. This was 100,000. Who does say anything for 100,000? When we first met and you provided me with this information, I mean, my jaw dropped. I was like, oh, my goodness. Thank God you're investigative journalism.
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Binge Counterclock Season 8. Right now, wherever you get your podcasts,
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This is just a preview of what this season explores. This is a case with so many moving pieces. And the more I listened, the more it felt like there were still important questions sitting just under the surface. Questions about the investigation, about the evidence, and about what might have been missed along the way. If you want to follow the full investigation, you can listen to the full season on the counterclock feed.
In this special preview episode, host Kylie Low introduces listeners to Season 8 of the investigative podcast CounterClock, hosted by Delia D’Ambra. The episode sets the stage for an in-depth reexamination of the 2008 Lane Bryant murders in Tinley Park, Illinois—a case involving the execution-style killing of five women inside a suburban clothing store, which remains unsolved. Kylie highlights Delia’s heart-centered and dogged approach to true crime, noting how this new season promises answers to lingering questions, fresh voices, and a narrative that challenges assumptions about what really happened.
“She’s not just revisiting what’s already been told. She’s digging into archives, reanalyzing evidence, speaking directly with first responders and victims’ families, and uncovering voices that have never been heard publicly before.”
—Kylie Low ([00:50])
“The further and further I dug into this crime, the stranger things got. My reporting led me to some unexpected places: a church in crisis, a dilapidated mental health center, a notorious street gang, and another violent shooting.”
—Delia D’Ambra ([02:55])
“Buckle up, because this story is anything but straightforward.”
—Delia D’Ambra ([03:29])
“That’s where I’m at right now, with a story I can’t stop thinking about.”
—Kylie Low ([00:09])
“We in those early days did not know somebody had survived. We were worried about her safety.”
—Voice clip ([02:21])
“What were you doing in there for 40 minutes?”
—Voice clip ([02:43])
“My reporting led me to... a church in crisis, a dilapidated mental health center, a notorious street gang, and another violent shooting.”
—Delia D’Ambra ([02:55])
“Maybe it was an inside job.”
—Voice clip ([03:24])
“People use church to do their devilish ways.”
—Voice clip ([03:25])
| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:02 | Kylie Low opens, explains her fascination with tough cases | | 00:27 | Key questions about the Lane Bryant murders | | 00:50 | Praise for Delia D’Ambra’s investigative approach | | 01:38 | CounterClock Season 8 trailer begins (voice montage) | | 02:09 | “Jigsaw puzzle” analogy from Delia | | 02:43 | Questions about the crime’s timing and the survivor | | 02:55 | Delia describes unexpected investigative leads | | 03:24 | Hints at inside job and local corruption | | 03:35 | Eyewitness and police scene tensions | | 03:55 | Shocking sums raise stakes (“$100,000” quote) | | 04:03 | Journalist receives jaw-dropping new information | | 04:24 | Kylie closes with directions to the full CounterClock season |
This preview episode serves as both a compelling entry point for CounterClock’s new investigation and a reaffirmation of Dark Downeast’s commitment to ethical, thoughtful crime storytelling. Kylie Low and Delia D’Ambra promise fresh leads, probing questions, and a refusal to settle for easy answers in their pursuit of justice for the five women murdered in Tinley Park—urging listeners to dig deeper alongside them.