← Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
The Tinley Park Five: Lane Bryant Massacre UNSOLVED Nearly Two Decades Later
00:37:50
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Hey, everybody, I'm Ashley Banfield and this is Drop Dead Serious. I have a case that I want to talk to you about today. And, you know, I kind of feel like after 38 years in this business, I know all of the massive crimes out there, but every so often something comes across my radar that sort of throws me for a loop. And this case today threw me for a hell of a hula hoop because I had not heard of it. Many of you may have, and I am, and I am glad if you have. And I feel embarrassed that I haven't. But when I sort of looked into the headlines on it, I was absolutely gobsmacked that 17 and a half years after this quintuple murder, which was supposed to be six murders, one went wrong. It's not solved, and there's no suspect. But it's not because this was a clever, secret, strategized murder. You know, this was messy and crazy without a mask. All the things that lent to loads of clues, right? This was no Brian Coburger. Right. This was just somebody who did something so horrendous and was very careless, and yet there is no suspect. So let me take you back to the beginning to explain a little bit about this case and how it started, how it, how it evolved, what happened at the murder scene and then what happened with the investigation. And then I'm going to talk to somebody who's like a dog with a bone on this one. He is not letting this crime go, not because he's the survivors or he's a victim's family member or a survivor's family member. He's. It's because he is a true crime fan, just like you, and he believes that this does not deserve to be unsolved, that there's just too much out there and that us, all of us together, we actually could make a difference in this one. So let me start here. The whole thing began just after 10am on February 2 in 2008. It was groundhog Day. Tinley Park, Illinois, it's just a suburb outside of Chicago. And inside the Lane Bryant clothing store were four women. Rhoda McFarland was the manager of the store. There was a store clerk who was also working, and there were two customers. This is the morning, right? So maybe not such a shopping time. You know, just after 10 in the morning. I don't do a lot of shopping in the morning. But two customers were in the store. A man walks in and tells Rhoda, the manager, that he is a delivery driver. But soon he would bring out a 40 caliber Glock. And then everything went sideways. He forced all four of those women, the manager, the employee, the two customers who were in their shopping. He forced all of them into the back room. And then he duct taped their hands. He ordered them to lie face down on the floor. Two more shoppers then came into the store to the front door in the middle of all of this. And what an unfortunate moment for them as well. He grabbed them too. Then he brought them back into the back room and he duct taped them as well. And then he put garments from the store, from the Lane Bryant store undergarments over their heads as hoods. So now you've got six women, all of them duct taped, all of them forced to lie on the floor face down, all of them trapped in this back room. But at 10:44am the manager, Rhoda McFarland, somehow she manages to dial 911 on her cell phone. Obviously she was trying to do this secretly because you can sort of hear her saying, lane Bryan, but she is not talking. She is trying to secretly call 911 to get help. Also on that call, you can hear the suspect's voice. It's a little bit faint, it's a bit muffled, but it is definitely there in the background. Have a listen. Here is where the story is so unbearably tragic. Two minutes after Rhoda places that 911 call, a Tinley park police officer arrives at the store. And that should be the end of this, right? Two minutes. They were there fast. They would have caught this guy, right? But it was too late. Within two minutes, it was already too late. The gunman had shot every single one of those six women execution style. Just imagine this for a minute. Two minutes. Six women, all shot execution style in that back room. Five of them died instantly. One of them survived, and the police say she survived because she turned her head just at the last moment as he was pulling the trigger and the bullet grazed her neck. Now, I'm going to talk about that a little bit because you may have questions. Wait, hold on. That's impossible. You don't just graze someone's neck after executing five women and walk away. There's a lot of good reasons why that could have easily happened. You're going to hear that. Just a moment. But she was able to give a description to the police, and the investigators were able to create a 3D composite sketch. This is what she could tell them. The killer was an African American male, 5 foot 9 to 6ft tall, stocky build, Wearing a black ski cap with braids or cornrows that were sticking out. So they created the sketch just from that. That sketch went right across the country. It was nationwide and actually billboards went up all across the Midwest as well. This was big. This was massive. This was five murdered women but an attempt for a sixth as well, right? Absolutely bizarre that this all happened within two minutes and still they get there in two minutes. And 17 and a half years later, it is unsolved. That extraordinarily dangerous maniacal killer is still out there. Possibly unless he's dead or jailed somewhere else. 911 emergency.
- [06:54]
B
The first voice heard on the tape is one of the victims, Rhoda McFarland. She was manager of the Lane Bryant store where the shooting happened early this month. She called to report the botched robbery. Moments before she and four other women were killed. A sixth woman was injured.
- [07:10]
A
911 emergency filmmaker Charlie Min has been making a documentary called who Killed these Women? The Tinley Park 5. He has been collecting interviews and research. He has been doing so much work investigating this case and he talked to me about these murders, about the cops on the case, the investigation and why on earth this crime hasn't been solved after so many years when other crimes have been. Here's our conversation. Charlie. This just defies logic. 17 and a half years and no suspects. How is this possible?
- [07:57]
C
It's a great question. The biggest key to this whole thing is that surviving witness who in my opinion really needs to be re interviewed and Tinley Park PD, their MO from February 2008 up until this interview right now, they've been so tight lipped to the point of ridiculous. In my humble opinion, this surviving witness holds the key to everything. She's the only one who survived it. So everything you're hearing most likely is coming from her. Unless one of their 7,000 leads and tips that they supposedly got, they were able to put some information from that, but it seems like everything is from her. And that is the, the sketch which many people believe is not accurate. During my research a lot of people actually believe that the suspect is a woman. And they also believe. I know, I know. They also believe that two people were involved. And again these are just theories. Everyone's been speculating for 17 and a half years because Astley, quite frankly we're not going on very much. We're just Notley Park PD just they don't, they don't talk to anybody.
- [09:12]
A
Do we know if the survivor and, and I should tell the audience that the surviving witness has Been kept anonymous for her safety. And even survivors, you know, the family members of the, of the victims, they have, they have no idea who, who she is. They, they don't know anything about her. They've never met her. They've never been able to, to have a conversation with her, to my knowledge. But do we know if she was the original shopper in the store or if she was one of the shoppers who came in?
- [09:41]
C
She was, she was one of the workers. She was one of the two workers that was there at the time six women were shot.
- [09:48]
A
She was the young worker who was working with manager.
- [09:51]
C
Correct. She's 33 years old at the time, so that would make her 50 years old today. Her name is Martha. I got that confirmed. She's from Kentucky. She's a nursing. She was a nursing student at the time. She was holding down two jobs back in 2008 with, with Lane Bryant being one of them. I just interviewed a Lane Bryant employee back then who was supposed to work that morning. And she, she got the day off because February 2nd happened to be her birthday and she worked with Rhoda the night before. So she confirmed everything she said. The surviving witness. Yes, her name is Martha. Very nice person. She. She thinks that there's no way she would be up to no good because a lot of people also believe that she was in on this. Because how do you explain. Actually, how do you explain everyone else getting shot point blank in the head and her getting a graze wound in the neck?
- [10:44]
A
I think I can, and I'm only theorizing here, but, you know, Rhoda makes the call to the police. Two minutes later, they're there and all five women are dead. One has survived. I think that the killer may have overheard the call and instantly realized I can't leave witnesses because the killer wasn't wearing a mask and began shooting them all and probably knew whether that they maybe heard sirens, that they had to hightail it out of there. And as they're shooting this final victim and she turns her head, it was the best that that person, that killer, could do and ran for it. That's my only feeling as to why they wouldn't have been more precise in that last execution.
- [11:26]
C
Yeah, or maybe the killer was in a hurry and heard the police coming in. Apparently the witness. Yeah, the witness said that siren, a siren could be heard before the shots started. So the police were right there. And one thing people really need to know is this. No one is talking about this. When the 911 call was made, it went to Will County. It didn't go to Tinley Park. So what happened was they had to transfer the call. So you may have lost 30 seconds to a minute there. That might have been the difference right there in this killer getting caught or not caught. So I think, I think the police missed them by seconds. And I believe the killer ran out the back door. Because the back door, I was told, is right by that break room where everybody was shot and killed with the exception of that lone survivor. So I think the police literally missed Charlie.
- [12:24]
A
Here's what I don't get. We're not talking about the 70s or the 80s where there was no surveillance video. This is 2008. Granted, there weren't as many cameras and security surveillance systems set up, but there were plenty at malls around the country. Was there nothing on any surveillance anywhere that they could have mined for information about this?
- [12:48]
C
No, I was told that the only camera was from the target. There's a super target across the street. It's probably 100 yards or so. I went there myself and we actually did a reenactment of what the police looked at when they went from the target parking lot over to the Lane Bryant. At the time, Brookside Mall. That shopping center was pretty new back then in that area where Lane Bryant was. It was just that and a Sally's beauty supply. If you go now, there's like five or six doors around. And you know, you're right, it's 2008. That's still pretty modern. I mean, there should have been some cameras, especially a large retail chain like Lane. Bryan and I already talked to a couple of employees in the documentary. They told me they were disappointed that they were not protected more. No cameras. And they also barely had security from what one person told me. So these women, everyone who worked there was a. Was a woman because this, this caters to plus size women. Most of the customers are women. So a lot of people believe this was a soft target for a killer to come in at gunpoint and take charge and utilize his power when this guy was the ultimate coward.
- [14:07]
A
Well, you know, I'll tell you something. I think two things when I try to contemplate the motive and the how and why of this kind of a killing. You know, literally trying to execute six women within seconds. And I think of Idaho, I think of the, the kind of murder that Brian Coburger pulled off. I think it was for his own personal gratification and satisfaction. I'm not sure there was any kind of other motive there. I don't think he'd been jilted by anybody. They found no connection between him and the students. Not to say there wasn't one. He scrubbed his. His electronics. However, there are those people that just want to get off on killing. This one's a weird one, though. Like, this is one that you got to do too fast, too quickly, too messy, too many opportunities for getting caught at a mall. So it made me think there had to be something this guy was after. The killer was after one or some of the people who were in there, or Charlie, it was a mistake. They had the wrong people. It was another store, it was another employee. A drug deal from another employee somewhere else and they screwed up.
- [15:18]
C
Well, you know, after 18 years of this thing being unsolved, anything should be on the table. And some people do believe that maybe Rhoda McFarlane was a target. But here's why I ruled that out. Everyone should keep this in mind. This took 40 minutes. What robbery takes 40 minutes? I mean, what is this? Dog Day Afternoon part two with Al Pacino? It just doesn't make any sense. What was the killer waiting for? That's the big question. What happened during those 40 minutes? Was he pacing back and forth? Was he going to the front, to the back? Did he lock the front door? Which way did he enter the Lane Bryant? Again, the 40 minutes, it's simply too long. You just can't dismiss it. So I'm not sure if the two people that were working there were targets because then they would have been over in five minutes or less. Maybe he was waiting for an employee to come in. And what's interesting is that there was a person or two supposed to come in at 11 o' clock that morning. So maybe he was waiting for the employee that was scheduled for 11am Now, a couple of employees called, called in the night before and said they couldn't work on Saturday. One had a hair appointment and the other one had. Her son was in the hospital. And they've actually done a report for CBS Chicago and they went on camera. It was two cousins. And I mean, if you study body language and things like that, I don't feel like maybe they were targeted. But then again, I don't know these women. So is it an inside job? I would lean more towards that than anything else that maybe one of the employees was targeted. When I sat down with the two employees from Lane Bryant for the documentary, they didn't think that there was anyone that they worked with that seemed shady or off center in any way. But then again, you just never know. Someone could appear to be innocuous. But deep, deep down inside, there's something evil going on that we don't know about or we cannot detect.
- [17:20]
A
Well, there might be something else afoot, and that is that the shoppers who came in, I would say the first among the first two shoppers, they might have been a target. One of them might have been a target, and this might have been a domestic where, you know, this. This killer was hell bent on torturing, you know, this victim and said, you know, I'm going to kill each one of these women until you give me something or tell me something about where our kid is or where the drugs are or whatever it is. Like that. That roving target may have gone into any store, but she went into Lane Bryant, and he followed her. He was after her for whatever reason.
- [18:01]
C
I don't really believe that one, because how can you predict that a customer you're looking for is going to go to the Lane Bryant that day?
- [18:08]
A
That's why, literally, I'm just saying randomly, he's following her. It didn't matter what store they ended up in. He was going in after her to whatever store she walked into.
- [18:19]
C
Well, the reports indicate that when the killer first walked in, and again, we don't know whether it was a back door or the front door. He posed as a delivery person, and four. Four people were already in there. Two employees and two customers. And it was said that he had some kind of a brief conversation with them. He didn't take out the gun right away. And then I believe I read something like maybe 15 minutes later, he brandished the handgun and he forced all four to that break room in the back. And then two more.
- [18:51]
A
What's he doing for 15 minutes? Maybe looking around, planning, plotting, getting his guts.
- [18:56]
C
Yeah, I mean, I read One report said 15. It could have in 10. I did read he had a brief conversation with the four. Apparently, he didn't take out the gun right away, is. Is what I gathered. And then two more customers came in. That would put it to six people. Now, I don't know when those two came in. I'm guessing it was sort of early on in this, in the ordeal. And then from what I understand, he shot Rota first. And he noticed her on the phone, on the Bluetooth, I believe, because while she's making the call, you could hear the killer in the background, a muffled voice saying, I'm losing it. Something in regards to a hero, maybe. Don't be a hero. And I think he shot Rhoda first because he noticed her on the phone. And that's when he had to get rid of everybody else, ran out the back, and that's when the two officers came into the front. I would still love to know exactly what those two office officers did as soon as they saw the bodies, because obviously they knew that they missed this killer by seconds. So do you go outside and do you look for the guy? Do you look for someone suspicious running away, pulling away?
- [20:08]
A
No, you've got a survivor. You've got to tend to that survivor. At least one officer's got to attend to the survivor.
- [20:14]
C
Right. Okay, so then what is the other. What does the other officer do? Does he say, okay, you take her and I'm going to go out and look for this guy? Because it's, it's so recent, and I'm sure they call for backup. And I don't know exactly what time police response was outside of those two who got there two minutes later. I'm certainly not criticizing the speed of the, of the response. It was two minutes. That's as fast as you can do it. Yeah. And it might have been one minute. Had the 911 call went directly to Tinley Park. It went to Will county, which I believe Tinley park is in two counties. It's kind of confusing. They're in Will county and Cook County. So the call went to Will county, and you could hear on the 911 tape, the, the dispatcher goes, let me transfer you, or stand by a 911 call. Someone shouldn't say, standby. It's an emergency.
- [21:05]
A
And, you know.
- [21:06]
C
Yeah, every second count to get put.
- [21:07]
A
On hold, they're overwhelmed. They really are. So many 911 operators are overwhelmed, and a lot of times you're put on hold. It's crazy to think it, but it does happen. And it's so maddening. I got this other question for you, and I'm sure you've sort of played this over in your mind as well. You know, this is 2008. I don't know that in 2008. We are. Yeah, we're in. We're still in the crack epidemic. You know, maybe this is someone who is so hopped up, so incredibly high and so wound up that, you know, pulling the trigger means nothing in those moments. And did they think this was a robbery? Because it's 10:45 in the morning, there's no cash there. There's. It's Lane Bryant. People use credit cards. Like, what were they. What was this? The supposition of the police that this was a robbery gone wrong.
- [21:56]
C
Well, they said it was a robbery because about $200 was stolen. I think the robbery is not accurate in terms of the killer's intent. I think that was used as a diversionary tactic to make it look like a rob to throw off investigators. Why would you go in there when that retail store is credit card driven? It's early in the morning. I was told by the employees that I interviewed that only 2 to $300 was in the registers at the time. And that's what about what the killer took? Some of them might have been from the customers. So you're in there for 40 minutes, for almost 200. That breaks down to $5aminute. You had a bank adjacent to the Lane Bryant. It just doesn't make any sense. And some people have brought up the deranged drug addict. I just did a trilogy on fentanyl. Now, fentanyl wasn't big back in 2008. It was still developing. But I don't take drugs. But if you're on drugs, I guess you could get deranged. And maybe that's why this killer did things that you quite. That you just can't quite understand.
- [22:59]
A
Maybe. 2008, plenty of other drugs, like bath salts, had unbelievable reactions in people. There were certain criminals. I covered one case where someone who was high on bath salts ate off the faces of his victims. And so that's maybe, maybe that's what was at play here. Someone who was so deranged on something like bath salts in 08 that this was the crime that he decided to commit.
- [23:23]
C
If someone's that deranged, though, Ashley, again, I keep going back to the 40 minutes. Would they wait around that long? That's why I just keep going Back to the 40 minutes. I just can't. I just can't get over that time span. I mean, most crimes you get in and out. Here's a. Here's a killer that walks in with no mask on. Takes 40 minutes. The longer you're there, there's a greater chance you'll get caught. He's just pleading to get caught. And had he not noticed Rhoda was on the phone, who knows how long this whole ordeal would have taken? Who knows what would have been the next step?
- [23:57]
A
Charlie, that. That's why I think back to the aspect of, of the torture, of the psychological torture, that if this killer was after one of these women and it was domestic or it was, where are the drugs? Where's the money? That it was 40 minutes of, you know, pistol whipping or, you know, pretending to kill or Putting the bag over their heads like step by step by step, making it more and more terrorizing to get whatever information or whatever terror he was trying to instill on the, on these women or this one victim. Because again, 40 minutes is weird for a couple hundred bucks. You're in, you're out. If you're there to steal, you're not sticking around. But if you want to torment somebody, somebody who you're in love with or you hate, you might consider doing that.
- [24:42]
C
Well, one of them was sexually fondled and that was the surviving witness. And also another person was. They. It's believed that one of the other victims was pistol whipped, maybe the butt of the gun, because she had bruises on her face. And this individual, this victim also had blood on her fingernails. Connie Woolfolk. And that shows to me that she fought back. And the evidence part is also very interesting to this thing. There is evidence left behind, but we just don't know how much evidence and how much strong evidence there is. Police have never officially come out and said DNA.
- [25:25]
A
I mean if there was pistol whipping and if there's blood under her fingernails, you would think, right, there's some kind of DNA that you could start using genealogy. Have they used genealogy yet on this case?
- [25:34]
C
Again, I keep going back to Tinley park pd they just are so tight lipped, it's hard to say. And don't forget, there could be DNA on the duct tape. The killer had this plan. He walked in with a gun and duct tape. All six were duct taped.
- [25:48]
A
And apparently that was found in the store. He brought the duct tape with him.
- [25:52]
C
He brought it himself. Right. I found that out. And then he, he put women's garment underwear over everyone's heads. And then I found out that the garment bra section is right by the break room. So that kind of all makes sense. So, right. This guy, obviously this killer, this animal went through such a great length to get this done. That's why some people theorize it was two people. Because that's an awful lot of work for one person. I mean, one against six.
- [26:23]
A
But the survivor would know. Didn't she give these accounts? Like what was said during these 40 minutes, what kind of threats were made? Why was the woman pistol whip, you know, what was said during the sexual assault? Did he seem to know any of these, of these other five women? Do we not know any of that or they're just not releasing it?
- [26:41]
C
I don't know what the surviving witness has told the police. I would love to sit down with the surviving witnesses. I'm sure A lot of people in our field would. I think she holds the key to so much. Unless she's exhausted all that information to the police and was still left in the same spot again. Is that sketch accurate? You know, a lot of sketches are not accurate. And maybe they need a new sketch artist. I have no idea.
- [27:07]
A
I think about this like I have two schools of thought on the fact that they've kept the witness anonymous. The first is I feel like you like. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. There is a maniacal killer out there, and maybe he's done it many times since. We all deserve to know a little bit more. I get it. You want to keep the woman's identity private for her safety and her sake, but the rest of us are all at risk as well. So there's my first thought. The second thought is that part about her anonymity and her privacy. Because a nobody has been through the hell that that woman's been through. She sat there with some kind of covering over her head while five women were murdered execution style. And she could hear every one of them. She could probably hear the screaming in between each one, as they all knew it was coming. She was probably screaming, knowing that it was coming to her. And somehow she survives one of the most traumatic things in the world, being shot. It was in the neck, right?
- [28:00]
C
Like, somehow it was a gray's wound to the neck. And she was in and out of the hospital by the next day. By that Sunday, she was out.
- [28:08]
A
Well, she may have clamored to get away. And he was just shooting randomly and trying to run at the same time. That might have been why he didn't. He wasn't precise on her. Maybe she did the thing we're supposed to do, which is, you know, fight, run. If you can't fight, you gotta run and take your chances on getting a bullet in the shoulder or whatever it is, but run, because at least you're not gonna have it precisely to the back of the head. And maybe she did something to just foil, you know, foil this killer's precision. But think about what she's been through, Charlie. I can't even get my head around what this woman lives with. I'm sure she was just. Her life was destroyed. And so in that respect, I get it. I get keeping her mentally safe and then physically safe, because that guy's still out there. He wants her dead. She. If there's ever a trial, she's the one. She's the star witness.
- [28:57]
C
Yeah. She holds the key to everything. We were talking about the Las Cruces Bowling Alley massacre before. Before this show. And that was the same exact thing. That was. Seven people were shot. Four died on scene. A fifth died many years later. And we interview the two women who survived. So they spoke. So if they spoke, why can't the Tinley park survivor speak after 18 years? I mean, again, I don't want to speak for her. If she's traumatized, then. Then let her be. But.
- [29:30]
A
Or if she had. He had some parting words, meaning, I don't have time to finish this job, but make mark my word, I'm coming back for you. Whatever it was, it might have. He might have left some terrifying final edict and she's gone into hiding for the rest of her life. I can. I can understand it, because when you know that kind of terror, you know it's real. And it is around. It's behind your back at all times. It's around every corner. It's in every dark room. It's whenever you're alone, you can't escape it.
- [29:59]
C
Yeah. But I think with some really intelligent digging and some luck, with some lady luck, you might be able to find this survivor. Because we did an exhausting search on her, and her parents from Kentucky actually gave an interview a few days after the incident. And. And then I. And then I found out just the other day while filming the interview, the documentary is that someone heard from her within a year and said she's okay. I mean, I thought I said maybe there's a chance that she. That she died for whatever the reason. A lot of people die before 50, whether it's cancer or whatever. But she is alive. She is okay. And I. I don't know if Tinley Park PD is telling her, please don't say a word at the end, it's on her. It's her choice. So maybe after 18 years, people sometimes have a change of heart. You never, never know. Maybe she's like, you know something, Maybe I should speak up. Maybe that will break open the case.
- [30:57]
A
I don't know what else. Honestly. When I was covering the Golden State Killer, they were. They were secretly and quietly working genetic genealogy behind the scenes. And it takes time to do that, gumshoe, right? Like, you get your first hit, and that will give you a massive family tree, right? Like hundreds of people, which then you methodically have to go through each one of these cases and find out, is it a woman? Is it a man? Is it a child? Is it somebody who's absolutely incapable of committing this crime? Do they live overseas? And they've always been There. And there's never been a flight or a passport or, you know, you. You start narrowing it down to all the people where there's some plausibility, right, Some potential. And then you have to start following them and hoping they discard a pizza crust like the alleged Long island serial killer or a Kleenex or a glass of. Or a can of soda into the garbage. And then you grab that, hoping that it's not going to be contaminated by other garbage, and you get those DNA samples. So that can take months, if not years to get this pristine genealogical chain that maybe that's what they're doing. And so they're. They're trying desperately to keep it as quiet as possible, because if the killer knows what they're up to, that killer goes deep underground or heads for Costa Rica or El Salvador or somewhere where he'll never be found.
- [32:15]
C
Yeah, but you wonder, how long will this take? Now, I did hear that a cop, a coffee cup, they might have gotten some prints off of that or some DNA. How do you explain the Palatine, Illinois, the Browns chicken murder taking nine years then? And one of the big clues was the chicken wing that was preserved and it was frozen. And they did a DNA hit and it matched one of the criminals that took nine years. And that was 1993, when technology was even further behind and barely in its embryonic stages.
- [32:48]
A
I mean, oh, wait, we sure knew as much as we needed to know back then about DNA and preservation. But maybe there's, you know, sometimes that genetic genealogy, it just doesn't help because you get a guy like. Again, I'll go back to the Golden State Killer. Guy had no criminal background. There was nothing on him. He didn't. He didn't hit from the, the, the, you know, CODIS didn't have a record of him. He didn't have any crimes in his past. So it gets even trickier going, you know, relative to. Relative to relative, and then just trying to collect DNA. Maybe they got it quickly with the, you know, the chicken wing chain. But I don't know. I mean, I'm as cold. I'm as flummoxed about this as you are. Do they still call this a cold case, or are they. Have they ever called it a cold case?
- [33:30]
C
You know, law enforcement hates those words because it almost feels like they've exhausted everything. Call it what you want. I call it an unsolved case. You know, people want to call it cold. Go ahead. This is an unsolved case. There's no statute of limitations on something like this. And you know, when something doesn't get solved like this, you really got to wonder, is something being prevented from this thing being solved? I mean, is there some corruption going on behind the scenes? It's really the $64,000 question, why hasn't this been solved when you have a $100,000 reward out there? Again, this happened in 2008 where the advanced technology of DNA should have kicked in by now. And like you said, maybe they're working on it and maybe something will break soon. I think social media, I mean, you.
- [34:20]
A
Know, it, that's a lot of money. And I guess if you know, you're more than normal, the coverage, you know, that starts to get out there and people, why am I protecting that asshole from 18 years ago? I'm getting the hundred grand. I mean, that could happen, right? People might not know the information they have is worth $100,000.
- [34:38]
C
And here's the interesting part. You don't have to give your name and collect 100 grand. You don't even have to give your name. That's the part I don't understand. It's not like you have to publicize your, your name first, name last, where you live, what your job is. No, you could be anonymous, collect a six figure check and know that you did the right thing. So this is a big world we live in. People yap, people talk, people gossip. That's what happened to the brown chicken. That's how that got solved. In addition to the DNA, was he confided to his girlfriend or he told his girlfriend, either way you look at it of what he did. So this guy either committed this killer, either committed the most perfect crime and vanished and managed not to tell a soul. Is that possible? Highly unlikely.
- [35:27]
A
Charlie Min, you're doing amazing work and I'm so happy that you're doing it because it feels like you might be the only one who's really, you know, committing this many hours of this many days. Let me give a shout out. Your website is the Tinley Five number five. So the Tinley5.com, anybody who might have information, please go to Charlie's website. And your film, which is coming out in February, is who Killed these Women? And again, that's coming out in February. So I'm sure that you're going to be doing a lot more interviews with, with people from then until now. Let's reconnect on this. I really want to keep tabs on it.
- [36:05]
C
Ashley, thanks so much for your interest. And yeah, I am surprised a documentary hasn't been made on this since it happened. I mean, this is Chicago. It's the third largest market. I mean, I'm looking at this and saying, is it me? I mean, how come a documentary hasn't been done on this? How come we're not talking about this more? It's the largest unsolved crime in the nation. Tied with the Las Cruces Bowling Alley massacre out of New Mexico. It's so rare to hear those words. An unsolved mass shooting. I mean, does Tinley Park Police Department want that distinction? Would any PD want that distinction?
- [36:40]
A
Yeah, well, you're the man who's. Who's bringing it to light. And so let's stay. Let's stay close on this. Thank you so much, Charlie.
- [36:46]
C
Are you very welcome.
- [36:48]
A
So there it stands. 17 and a half years. Someone who never wore a mask was inside that store 40 minutes. Brought duct tape. We all know duct tape is like the magical unicorn in a crime, right? Fibers, dust, DNA, finger residue, all of that sticks to duct tape, right? You've got all that in this crime. How on earth. You've got a survivor. Got a survivor with a description. You were there within two minutes of the last trigger being pulled. How on earth could this not be solved? Who would do this? What possibly could a motive be? Mark my words, we're going to stay on this case. And that film. I can't wait for it in February. Meantime, I'm Ashley Banfield. Thank you so much for watching. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead serious.
- [37:42]
C
Sam.