Carol Rofstad // 566

Summary

Going West: True Crime

Episode 566: Carol Rofstad // 566

Original Air Date: December 23, 2025

Hosts: Daphne Woolsoncroft and Heath Merryman

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Overview

In this chilling Christmas episode, hosts Daphne and Heath examine the tragic case of Carol Rofstad, a 21-year-old Illinois college student who survived a terrifying attack in her sorority house, only to be murdered 17 months later in a disturbingly similar fashion. Drawing parallels to the classic horror film "Black Christmas," they explore whether a violent predator stalked the campus, unifying a string of attacks against young women, and discuss investigative missteps that left the case unresolved for decades.

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Main Theme

A devastating exploration of campus safety, persistent predatory violence, and police mismanagement in 1970s Illinois, centered around the unsolved murder of Carol Rofstad. The hosts connect Carol’s murder to multiple attacks on campus, examine botched investigation details, and spotlight a persistent but publicly unnamed suspect.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene & Carol’s Background

[03:05–08:35]

• Carol Rofstad, born in 1954, was a popular, ambitious, and independent student from Elk Grove Village, IL.
• After a year at Illinois Wesleyan University, she transferred to Illinois State University (ISU) in Normal, IL, persuaded by a friend.
• Life in Normal, Illinois in the 1970s: a “safe and predictable” college town; low violent crime.
• Carol was active in Delta Zeta sorority, popular, intelligent, and served as treasurer.

2. The First Attack: July 1974

[08:35–13:08]

• Carol stayed on campus for summer classes and moved into the Delta Zeta house.
• On July 16, 1974, after a night out, Carol was assaulted in her bed by a man in combat boots and a green work shirt, wearing a nylon mask (“Mr. Green Jeans”).
• She was choked, threatened, and thrown into a dresser (breaking her nose); attacker fled after cutting the house’s phone line.
• Distinctive description allowed the pattern of future attacks to be linked.

“Carol was just peacefully asleep… when suddenly she awoke to a pair of clammy hands around her throat. The mysterious man whispered quietly, ‘If you scream, I’ll kill you.’” — Daphne ([09:56])

3. Subsequent Attacks & Escalating Fear

[13:08–15:45]

• Two more women attacked near Delta Zeta within weeks; similar MO (choking, aggression, targeting ISU students).
• All three attacks described a large man, similar clothing and mask.
• Police and students worried about a campus predator:

  “For three attacks to happen within just a few blocks is really fucking weird.” — Heath ([14:52])

4. Carol’s Murder: December 1975

[16:23–26:37]

• Carol stayed behind after finals to work before Christmas; last seen at 9:50pm leaving “The Cellar” pub with a friend.
• She never made it inside her sorority house that night.
• Found badly beaten and hypothermic outside Delta Zeta by a passerby at 10am; she had lain exposed in below-freezing temps for 12 hours ([22:51–25:14]).
• Bludgeoned three times with a bloodied 18-inch railroad tie (found nearby). Not robbed; possibly sexually assaulted (underwear/pantyhose down).

5. Immediate Aftermath & Investigative Missteps

[26:37–32:14]

• Most students had left for winter break; few witnesses.
• Police appealed to the public; two witnesses report seeing Carol and, maybe, the attack ([29:47–31:12]).
• One witness described seeing Carol between two men, one holding what seemed to be a wooden club, matching the weapon description.
• A sketch was produced but proved unhelpful.
• By January 1976, the case went cold; leads exhausted.

6. False Confession & Further Attacks

[32:14–38:21]

• 1977: David Whitmer confessed but quickly recanted; polygraphed and cleared ([34:18]).
• April 1977: Strikingly similar attacks at IWU and ISU sororities. MO: late-night entry, choking, violence, mask. Both victims escaped; attacker never identified.
• Evidence consistently pointed to a man of similar build and clothes as “Mr. Green Jeans.”

“He dragged her to the stairway in the house and attempted to throw her over the railing. But this young woman was able to hang onto the railing and screamed for help.” — Daphne ([36:43])

7. Mishandling of Key Evidence & Missed Leads

[38:21–40:43]

• Police gave the murder weapon (the railroad tie) to an ISU professor as a classroom display, contaminating possible DNA ([38:41]).
• Police failed to follow up on a bar regular matching the attacker’s unique clothing.

“Any DNA on that weapon had been badly contaminated. Wtf?” — Daphne ([39:03])

8. A Possible Suspect: The Student Body President

[40:43–46:23]

• From the investigative podcast “Carol’s Last Christmas,” a sorority sister’s anecdote leads to suspicion of the then-student body president, a Vietnam vet known for a temper and similar dress.
• This suspect was arrested two months after the murder for strangling another ISU female student ([43:45]).
• Retired Chicago detective George Siebel built a 50-page case, confirmed by 25 sources, pointing to this suspect, but police dismissed it due to his passing a polygraph.

“I am 99.9% sure I know who did it.” — Jim, Carol’s brother-in-law ([46:25])

9. Current Status & Potential Hope

[46:47–end]

• A fingerprint found in 2001 remains untested; main suspect believed to be alive out of state.
• A reward remains for information; a memorial is planned at ISU.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the campus atmosphere:

  “It was the type of place where you saw the same face every weekend and learned that Normal really did live up to its name.” — Daphne ([07:00])

• On the lack of resolution:

  “He went on an attacking tirade, attacked numerous different people and wasn’t found and was never found to this day, was never caught.” — Heath ([49:35])

• On police mishandling:

  “The normal police department even gave away Carol’s murder weapon to a criminal justice professor… any DNA on that weapon had been badly contaminated. WTF?” — Daphne ([39:03])

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Important Timestamps

• Background & Setting: [03:05–08:35]
• First Attack Details: [08:35–13:08]
• Murder Night & Discovery: [16:23–26:37]
• Post-Murder Witnesses & Sketch: [26:37–32:14]
• False Confession & Later Attacks: [32:14–38:21]
• Police Missteps (Weapon & Leads): [38:21–40:43]
• Suspect Profile & Cover-Up: [40:43–46:23]
• Case Status, Memorials, Reward: [46:47–end]

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Conclusion & Reflections

Daphne and Heath weave together a haunting narrative blending campus nostalgia with deep unease, critiquing law enforcement’s failures and conjuring empathy for Carol and her family, and for all victims let down by poor investigations. They urge listeners to explore the “Carol’s Last Christmas” podcast for more detail and call for any information that could break the case. The episode closes with hope for closure through advances in forensic science—and a reminder that nearly 50 years later, justice remains elusive.

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For More Information

• Carol’s Last Christmas podcast for a deep-dive investigation.
• carolslastchristmas.com/contact or Detective Nicole Bruno at nbrunonormal.org, 309-454-9702 for tips.
• Memorial fundraiser and details at Hatch Illinois State. Edu.

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Tone: Respectful, somber, with moments of outrage and warmth. The hosts mix investigative rigor with heartfelt empathy.
Special Note: Listeners are encouraged to visit the podcast’s social media for photos, sketches, and updates.

Transcript

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[Heath]

What is going on? True crime fans? I'm your host, he.

[Daphne]

And I'm your host, Daphne.

[Heath]

And you're listening to a very special Christmas episode of Going West.

[Daphne]

Yes, Heath and I, like, we sat down and searched far and wide for a case that was reminiscent of our favorite horror movie, Black Christmas. And somehow one exists and it's this case.

[Heath]

Yeah, and the murder portion of this story happened pretty much exactly one year after that movie came out. And I just can't believe that this story isn't more well known because it is so creepy.

[Daphne]

How did neither of us know about this?

[Heath]

I don't know, but it seems like more people need to know about it.

[Daphne]

Yeah, this is a devastating story about such a beautiful young woman who is attacked more than once as well. Well, happy holidays, everybody. Hope that you're going to be spending time with loved ones. If not, we are here for you.

[Heath]

Yes, we are.

[Daphne]

So without further ado.

[Heath]

Alright guys, this is episode 566 of Going West. So let's get into.

[Daphne]

Sam. In December of 1975, a 21 year old college student headed out for a pub drink with a friend before the Christmas holiday. And that night, a year and a half after, she was attacked inside her sorority by a man wearing a nylon stocking over his face, she was attacked again, but this time she didn't survive. Before and after her murder, this monster would seemingly attack other students from the same school, leading investigators to wonder if there was a violent man stalking the campus's female students. This is the murderer of Carol Rofstadt. Foreign. Rovstad was born on March 10, 1954 in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, which is right next to Chicago, to parents Lillian and Robert Rothstadt. And she had a younger brother named Robert Jr. And a younger sister named Laura, making Carol the eldest. Growing up, Carol was described as a girly girl who loved talking on the phone with friends, but was also quite independent. She was very involved in extracurricular activities in high school, including student government, where she excelled as a leader and was known to be popular amongst her peers during her junior and senior years at Elk Grove High. So in about 1970, 1971, 1972, she worked at a local drugstore in the Chicago area called Osco in the camera department, which I think is so adorable. And her plan was basically to save up enough money to partially pay for college. So this was part of that independence that really helped define who Carol was. After graduating high school in 1972, Carol set her sights on attending Illinois Wesleyan University to study psychology. And that's where she spent her first year of college. During that year, Carol had been in communication, still with a good friend of hers that had also attended Elk Grove High School. You know, staying in touch with friends. But now this friend was a student at Illinois State University, located in the city of Normal, Illinois, which was only and is only 0.6 miles away from the liberal arts college that Carol was attending, iwu. Like they're right next to each other with IWU being a small private college and Illinois State University being a much larger, like campus school. And for whatever reason, whether she was unsatisfied or wanted to go to a different school, this old friend of Carol's convinced her that she should transfer to isu. Now, of course, being young and in a new environment can be a little bit overwhelming at times. So with that, Carol made the decision to transfer colleges in July of 1974, and off she went. So Normal, Illinois back in the 1970s had a population of about 32,000 people. Today it's like 54,000. So not terribly small. Also not very big relative to other cities in Illinois, especially coming from the greater Chicago area. ISU was known kind of as a teacher's college, which is essentially just a university that prepares students to become teachers. But by the 1970s, ISU was expanding beyond education and more into business and even liberal arts. The town itself is described as safe and predictable. And the violent crime rate in Normal was nearly non existent. And because we like to paint the scene here on Going west, the landscape is flat and most of life happens within a few walkable blocks near campus, along with a quaint downtown of bars and like pizza joints and restaurants. Back then, the drinking age in Illinois was 19 for beer and wine. So a typical Friday night in Normal consisted of students packed into smoky bars with sticky floors. Like it was the type of place where you saw the same face every weekend and learned that Normal really did live up to its name. It was steady and unflashy. The summers were hot and the winters, when part of this story takes place, were bitterly cold. In the summer of 1974, 20 year old Carol stayed on campus. Remember, she had just transferred because she wanted to get ahead on her college credits since ISU was at this point transitioning from trimesters to semesters.

[Heath]

Right. So she's just saying, I'm not going to go home for the summer. I'm going to stay and just catch up.

[Daphne]

Yeah, and just be in this, I guess not a new area, but this was a new house for her. You know, there was very close to where she was before, but she's in this new space.

[Heath]

Yeah. So obviously it's going to be kind of exciting to maybe explore somewhat of a newer area.

[Daphne]

Well, also especially because Carol had joined a sorority called Delta Zeta and even moved into the Zeta house. So you know, she's got some, some settling in to do. Her former sorority sisters described Carol as far as very well spoken, intelligent and classy and kind. And she also became the sorority's elected treasurer. So now she was making friends again, really settling into college life. But Something that happened that summer may have been the catalyst that led to today's tragic story.

[Heath]

So it was July 16th of 1974, and 20 year old Carol and her sorority sisters were preparing for a night out on the town, as many students did because many of the girls stayed in their sorority that summer. They got dressed up that night and headed out to a local bar called the welcome in Cellar for a little bit of fun. And this place is kind of known as like the. It's the go to spot for ISU students.

[Daphne]

There's always one of those.

[Heath]

Now, by all accounts, the night went off without a hitch. Everything seemed pretty normal, no pun intended. And eventually the girls made their way back to their sorority house. Now this house, by the way, is basically what you might be picturing in your mind. Your typical big white sorority house with those giant Greek style pillars at the entrance. So the girls did in fact make it home that night safely, and they all settled into bed shortly before 3am But a few minutes later, in the darkness of the night, an unknown man crept to the back of the property, broke the window of the back door, and he snuck inside. Carol was just peacefully asleep in her bed, when suddenly she awoke to a pair of clammy hands around her throat. The mysterious man whispered quietly, if you scream, I'll kill you. Now, of course, Carol was in a total panic, so she couldn't stop herself from screaming. And that's when the attacker began to panic himself. And instead of killing her, he picked Carol up out of her bed and threw her into a nearby dresser, breaking her nose. Her sorority sisters heard this commotion and raced out of their rooms to see what was going on. But sadly, it was already too late. The mystery man was now gone, fleeing into the night. Now, the girls did have a house mother that was living on the property who immediately tried to call the police. But when she picked up the phone line, there was no dial tone. And that's when she realized that the attacker had cut the phone lines to the house.

[Daphne]

So scary.

[Heath]

I mean, it's. This really is such a black Christmas moment.

[Daphne]

Except he calls.

[Heath]

Yeah, he does. But I mean, it feels like that, right?

[Daphne]

Yeah, no, 100%.

[Heath]

But there did happen to be a phone that was in the basement. So she was able to reach police that night, early morning. And then police were dispatched to the house to conduct an initial investigation. And what they found was shocking. It appeared that this unknown man actually tried to gain access to the house through the basement window, but was unable to do so. So he chose the back door. Instead. But how did he escape the house before anybody could catch him? Well, apparently he had slipped out of the kitchen window and descended the fire escape to the ground floor before taking off on foot. Carol, of course, was very shaken up by this, so she was transported to the hospital for evaluation, which is how they discovered that she even had a broken nose in the first place. And then she gave them a description of what she could remember about her attacker, which really was just that. He was a large man wearing green work pants, or possibly army style pants and a long sleeve work shirt, as well as dirty black combat boots. And eerily, he seemed to have a nylon stocking covering his face to protect his identity. And because of Carol's description, this mystery man came to be known as Mr. Green Jeans.

[Daphne]

Unfortunately, the weeks continued to pass and police were not able to apprehend the predator responsible for Carol's attack. So naturally, she and the other girls that were there were terrified that he'd be back or coming for them next. But remember, most students were gone for the summer, but in late August, they all started to return to ISU coming back from summer break. And the fall semester was about to start. So, as you can imagine, even though a few weeks had passed, Carol was still very much on edge about her attack. But she was doing her best to move on and not let it consume her life. And she even got a new job in Normal, working at a clothing store called Hex. But shockingly, the terror in Normal continued because a month and a half after Carol was attacked, two more women would report eerily similar events. The first woman was attacked and grabbed by a man in the 400 block of West Vernon Avenue. So just about five minutes away from the Delta Zeta sorority. But she was able to escape because her screams caught the attention of a few male ISU students who ran to her aid. The second attack happened while a woman went to her car that was parked in the alley directly behind the Delta Zeta house. So this creep, it seems if this is the same person, was very much still right there in the area. And I say that because it does seem like it is, because like I said, this is normally a very. Normally a very safe area. Crime is super low. There's not guys attacking women all the time.

[Heath]

Right. And as we know, you know, in Normal, it didn't seem like there was many of these attacks happening at all. I mean, the violent crime rate in Normal was extremely low anyway. So for three attacks to happen within, like, just a few blocks is really fucking weird.

[Daphne]

Yeah. And it's so Small. So if this is the same person, he's already stacking up multiple charges. Like, how lucky does he think he's gonna get to keep committing crimes against young students here in this short time span and get away with it?

[Heath]

Well, that's the thing is he does keep getting away with it. So at this point he's like, why not go again?

[Daphne]

But also he was so aggressive, which is part of why we think this is the same person too, because the crimes are really similar. Like he grabbed this woman by the throat, the, the second woman, and began to choke her before she was able to escape. This is a violent man, and we.

[Heath]

Know that's exactly what he was trying to do to Carol when she was sleeping in bed.

[Daphne]

Yup. So both of these victims were female and they're 21 years old and they're both students at ISU. So yeah, his target is clear. The normal police also admitted at the time that the description of the man in all three attacks were similar, leading them to believe that they had a habitual violent predator stalking their streets. One female student who lived near the Delta Zeta house explained. I'm going to get out of here. I'm not even going to come back. Honestly. Smart.

[Heath]

I mean, that's just how afraid these students really were. Well, jumping forward a bit to December of 1975, a whole 17 months since Carol had first been attacked. She was probably beginning to think that everything would be okay, you know, having no idea that this man would seemingly be coming back for her. That holiday season, Carol had plans to return to Elk Grove to spend Christmas with her family, as most students do. But unlike most ISU students who left school early for Christmas break, Carol decided that she needed to stay behind at least until December 24th in order to make some extra money to pay for presents for her family.

[Daphne]

Which is pretty easy for her to do anyway. She's only like a two hour drive from home. So easy to pop over there when she's ready.

[Heath]

Exactly. Well, on Monday, December 22, 1975. So two days before she was set to leave, 21 year old Carol worked her regular shift at Heck's and had plans to meet up with a girlfriend afterward. And they were going to head to the welcome in Cellar, which, as you may recall, is the same bar she had been at the night she was attacked in July of 1974. Her boss at Hex, a man named Bill Towler, later explained that Carol left work at 8:30pm that night with her friend and told him that they were headed to the bar and by the way, the Cellar was located in downtown Normal, so it's still. It's basically like a pub. So apparently it wasn't really considered like a campus bar, but anyway.

[Daphne]

And students did go. But not like one of those typical campus bars. Like a cozy pub.

[Heath]

Yeah, exactly. It was more of one of those places. It was kind of a staple for ISU students to go to. But it wasn't right there on campus.

[Daphne]

Right?

[Heath]

Well, according to Carol's friend, the pair arrived at the cellar at about 9:50, but when they didn't see any familiar faces there, they left the bar and just decided to call it a night. Carol and her friend walked together for a few minutes, but eventually they did split off and headed in separate directions with Carol and Root back to Delta Zeta. But Carol never made it inside.

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[Heath]

Uh yeah.

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[Heath]

The morning after, Carol and her friend spent some time at the Cellar. So now it's Tuesday, December 23, 1975. Just after 10:00am, a passerby walking their dog heard what they described as faint moans coming from the side yard of Delta Zeta. When they went to investigate, they found 21 year old Carol Rofstad's badly beaten body lying in the frozen grass. So this person quickly flagged down a motorist who went to Go look for a phone to call police. But anxious to get help, the passerby then rushed across the street where two men were working on a new apartment building. One of them was Galen Biddle, who was the owner of this building, and the other was ISU senior Ken Green. Ken ended up calling the police and Galen raced across to Delta Zeta to cover Carol's legs with a coat and her body with some blankets. You know, it's freezing cold at this point. So when Carol was actually found, her face was blue because she had laid helpless in that yard for 12 straight hours and her head was covered in blood. She was clearly suffering from hypothermia because the night that she was attacked, the temperature in normal hovered around 21 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 6 degrees Celsius. And she had also suffered frostbite on her hands as well as her feet. When help arrived, Carol was quickly transported to a nearby hospital, barely clinging to life. And the doctor, I want to say that the doctor who was trying to save her life said that her internal temperature was incredibly low, nearly 80 degrees. Like, he even told detectives that he had never seen a person with a temperature that low survive. And sadly, Carol wouldn't because tragically, on Christmas Eve of 1975, 21 year old Carol Rofstad succumbed to her injuries. An autopsy was then conducted that revealed Carol had died from blunt force trauma to the head after being struck twice in the front of her skull with a heavy object, and once, which was the hardest blow to the back of her head, causing severe brain trauma, massive hemorrhaging, and also fracturing her skull.

[Daphne]

Going back to the day Carol was found Dec. 23. Police quickly found an 18 inch railroad tie with blood on it in the yard. You know, one of those big, like rectangular logs essentially, which are quite heavy. Like, that's a really strange murder weapon.

[Heath]

But, yeah, super weird.

[Daphne]

They quickly identified it as the murder weapon just a few yards away from Caril's body. They also discovered her house key lying in the grass and her purse, which still contained some coins and cash in it. So it appeared that robbery was not a motive in this case.

[Heath]

Yeah, and I did read in one newspaper that one of the detectives said that because that key was lying right there next to her body in the grass, that they assumed that she had almost made it inside Delta Zeta. Like she was. Had her key out, ready to put it in there. Yeah, yeah. And that's when she was attacked, Right, right.

[Daphne]

Probably when she was about to enter the house, which then makes you wonder if Somebody was waiting for her. If they followed her.

[Heath]

Yeah, how?

[Daphne]

Like, how exactly this happened? And we also read one news article that described Carol as being partially unclosed. But police wouldn't confirm whether or not she had been sexually assaulted because. Or they couldn't. Sorry, confirm because a rape kit was never conducted. Which is just like, what the hell?

[Heath]

Why didn't they do that?

[Daphne]

But I will say her pantyhose and underwear were pulled down around her ankles. So the crime did seem, at least from the outside, to be somewhat sexually motivated. It's very possible that she was assaulted. Now, the reason this case is so freaking tricky is because most of Delta Zeta had already traveled home for the holidays, which only left a few girls behind in the sorority house, including Carol, and very few students on the street in general. So obviously we remember that Carole was supposed to leave that next day, but the street was really quite vacant. In fact, normal almost felt like a ghost town without all the students that usually inhabited the city. So unfortunately, few people saw or heard anything.

[Heath]

Right. Because had there been more sorority sisters that potentially had stayed behind, maybe somebody might have seen something, maybe somebody might have heard something. But it just seems like nobody really did.

[Daphne]

Which in a way, if you're thinking about this from the investigation standpoint, if you're looking at students or suspects, it's kind of like, oh, well, all these people were gone. So you would think, which is also in Black Christmas, you know, determining if the suspect is a student, if they're a member of the faculty, if they're a permanent resident.

[Heath]

Yeah. Or they just, you know, typically or generally live in normal, and they aren't associated with the schools at all.

[Daphne]

Yeah. So maybe in a way, this could help you. But let's talk about the witnesses. Now, one older neighbor who lived nearby, obviously a permanent resident, said, quote, I didn't hear anything Monday night. We'd be glad to help anyone who needed it. But there are too many screams to investigate them all. They want to be on their own to take care of themselves. And so many of them come from small towns where something like this wouldn't happen, where you can walk any place. But here you get so many people in one place, things like this are bound to happen. So obviously this neighbor is saying, Monday night, that would have been December 22, which it seems is when Carol was attacked, and then she was found at 10am the next morning.

[Heath]

Right. And I think some of these normal residents that live there year round, I think that they are kind of describing just how this really is a college Town. She's basically saying, you know, you can't investigate every scream because every night there's college kids screaming and partying and, you know, having fun.

[Daphne]

Yeah. And also, even though crime is low, they're still acknowledging that there's a lot of students, there's a lot of craziness. Like you're saying it's college age, so.

[Heath]

Right. Things can happen.

[Daphne]

Absolutely. So police put out a plea to the public for any information. They're trying to find more witnesses to just help put the puzzle pieces together and figure out what happened to Carol the night she was killed. They ended up questioning about 50 or 60 people that week, and it didn't take them long to get their first real hit because as it turns out, there were two reliable witnesses that had seen Carol walking home from the bar that very night.

[Heath]

So two witnesses said that they saw Carol at 8:45pm at the intersection of Fell Avenue and Irving street, which was just less than one block from her sorority house. Shortly after this, at 10pm, a man had been driving by the Delta Zeta house when he witnessed three figures, two men and a young woman, partially obstructed by the shadows, standing just north of Delta Zeta. Now, the witness described that the woman had been standing between these two men and that she was bent over with.

[Daphne]

Her arms dangling, which is kind of hard to imagine.

[Advertisement Voice]

Like.

[Heath]

Yeah, I don't exactly know what that means. I'm kind of assuming that maybe she had been hit, but maybe just hadn't fallen to the ground yet. Like she was kind of in a daze after that first strike. Because we do know that she was struck three times.

[Daphne]

Yeah, actually what you're about to say has a lot.

[Heath]

Yeah. So essentially he described one of the men being white, between 18 and 25 years old, with a blonde or brown short beard, and wearing a knee length coat and a dark colored stocking cap. So, of course, a beanie, as most of you know. Now, he was roughly 6 foot to 6 foot 3 inches tall and weighed between 200 and 225 pounds.

[Daphne]

That's a pretty good description. That's like, yeah, you really saw that guy.

[Heath]

Sometimes you really don't get a very good description in cases like this. And it's just like, oh, well, he had some bushy hair or something like that. But yeah, this is pretty good. The witness also explained that the man was holding what he believed was a wooden club, which we now know would have been that railroad tie if this was the man that killed Carol, which based on these descriptions, it seems like it was but unfortunately, the witness didn't think twice about what he had seen until after learning of Carol's murder. Because, of course, as we talked about just a second ago, he just chalked it up to the incident being college.

[Daphne]

Students messing around, which is interesting, considering how much he noticed. It's not like he glanced and was like, maybe he thought it was weird enough to be like, what's going on over there? Clocking what he's wearing. Clocking what's going on. But if you think a guy's holding a wooden club and there's a woman dangling down, I don't know, like, hindsight's 20 20, I guess it sounds like a kind of concerning scene.

[Heath]

I mean, it definitely does. But I also can, on the flip side, see, he might confuse this attack as being, like, horseplay or just. You know what I mean? I don't know. It's a college town, so sometimes things like that happen, and you just don't really know what you're seeing. And obviously, this seems like a really good lead, right? Well, a sketch artist was brought in to try and identify the suspect, but it didn't bring anybody forward. And within just two weeks of this investigation, investigation lead detective Daniel Sadler said the investigation has exhausted its leads. But still, we do want to post that sketch for you guys on our socials so you can see exactly what it looks like. Even though Carol's case felt like it was completely solvable. And although the Illinois State Crime Lab combed the crime scene extensively, the investigation quickly lost its momentum. And soon enough, Carol's case went cold. That is, until September of 1977. So around a year and a half later, when a man named David Whitmer came forward and confessed to killing Carol. But here's the kicker. David was a patient at a psychiatric institution. And when he was questioned by detectives, he recanted his confession, saying, while I was in jail, I did not want to go back to Adolph Meyer, one institution. So I confessed to a murder so I could go back to Chester, a different institution. I didn't really do it. I would never hurt anyone. And I'm sorry I confessed, because I'm still not going back to Chester. And it wasn't the truth. But of course, detectives really had to do their due diligence here, and they needed to be sure. So they gave David three different polygraph tests, and he passed all three of them. So, of course, what seemed like this perfect suspect falling right into their lap turned out to be nothing but a lie. And David was then off the hook. Well, earlier that same year, In April of 1977, two new incidents took place in the general area, making police question whether or not they were connected to the attacks years prior at isu and of course, the murder of Carol Rothstad. Weirdly, one occurred at Illinois Wesleyan University, which was Carroll's old school just up the street, and the other happened at isu. And strangely, they occurred within an hour of each other. So police basically said that at 3:15am on Tuesday, April 12, a sister of the IWU Alpha Omicron PI sorority was awakened when a mysterious man put his hand over her throat. Sound familiar? Well, that's because it is. She told campus security that when she saw this man standing over her and she made a noise, he placed his other hand over her mouth and eyes. She then bit this intruder on the hand and screamed. And her screams were loud enough to wake up the rest of the sisters living in that house, causing the man to flee.

[Daphne]

Which is essentially exactly what happened to Carol in July of 1974.

[Heath]

I mean, almost to a T, other than being thrown into that dresser and breaking her nose. Right. So she described her attacker as being around 6 foot tall, stocky, and around 220 pounds, which also kind of fits the description of the other attacks that had already occurred. It was later discovered that the man entered the house through a second story bathroom window, the window screen of which had been left on the roof, and there was a ladder found on the ground outside.

[Daphne]

So creepy when you see that. Evidence of how they got in and the fact that they put a ladder to the house. So scary.

[Heath]

Yeah, it really is. Well, unfortunately, the attack hadn't been reported to police until 5pm on Thursday. So two days later, for whatever reason.

[Daphne]

Then about 45 minutes after that attack on Tuesday, an ISU sorority sister was awakened in her room by an intruder approaching the bedside of her sleeping roommate in their second floor bedroom. So she wakes up and looks over and sees an unknown dark figure approaching her friend's bed. Which is just frickin horrifying.

[Heath]

Yeah, terrifying.

[Daphne]

So she screamed when she saw this man, who she said was wearing a nylon stocking over his face, which it seems like this guy is doing consistently. And then he turned his attention to her. He dragged her to the stairway in the house and attempted to throw her over the railing. But this young woman was able to hang onto the railing and screamed for help. Once again, the man got away down the stairs and out the front door.

[Heath]

So it's crazy because he goes into this house, he thinks he's gonna attack one girl, but that doesn't happen because the roommate is sitting there watching him, trying to attack this girl. So then he goes and tries to attack the other girl and tries to throw her over the fucking railing of.

[Daphne]

The sorority house with that same aggression and violence, trying to throw her over a railing, just like how Carol was thrown into a dresser. Like it's so similar. So police said the woman wasn't injured in the attack because obviously she never got over that railing luckily, but that she was justifiably shaken up. So there are those two new incidents 45 minutes apart. And remember, these colleges are just two minutes from each other. So it is very possible that the same man was responsible for both attacks as well as the attacks on Carol and others two years earlier. Or at least that's what we and police were thinking. So you've got all these attacks happening close together over a span of about 3ish years, and you'd think that there would be an abundance of evidence that police could use to solve the cases.

[Heath]

Yeah, I mean, this guy is not only getting into these houses somehow, but he's also, you know, he's also touched the victims, he's put his hands on people. You know, it's possible that he had sexually assaulted Carol. So yeah, you would really think there would be some evidence here, but hardly any was collected.

[Daphne]

In fact, the case was so botched that the normal police department even gave away Carol's murder weapon to a criminal justice professor at ISU to use as a classroom display for his students. Which of course meant that any DNA on that weapon had been badly contaminated. Wtf?

[Heath]

I mean, you can imagine the amount of students that had handled that railroad tie in that classroom.

[Daphne]

Like, I know this is 1975 and 1976, but you've got to be kidding me.

[Heath]

Get it together.

[Daphne]

Get it together. So then of course, this very important crucial critical item to the case could not be preserved and tested when DNA technology would advance. Now, let's talk about a suspect that has never been publicly named. And before we dive into that, I wanted to mention that these next pieces of information come from a long form podcast on Carol's case. It's called Carol's Last Christmas and it's hosted by award winning journalist Demetria Kaladimos and retired Chicago detective George Siebel, who did a ton of independent research and investigations into this story. They are truly incredible. You know, this is their job. A journalist and a detective. So they have about 19 episodes on this case. If you would like to do a deep, deep dive into Carol's story, We would definitely suggest checking them out. So going back to just after Carol's first attack, a tip came in from a bartender in Normal who said that she remembered a man coming in for cocktail hour about two to three times a week, and she described him as creepy. And more importantly, this man always wore, like, a green work shirt and combat boots. Like an outfit essentially very similar to the nylon stalking attacker. But in another botched moment, when this tip was reported to police, they never followed up by going to that bar to investigate or figure out who this guy is, even though he was a regular.

[Heath]

Yeah, they just blew off that tip.

[Daphne]

Completely, like two to three times a week. You can go find this guy. Even before Carol's first attack, it seemed that one chance encounter could have held the answers that police were seeking. So in the podcast, Carol's Last Christmas host, Demetria the journalist was interviewing one of Carol's old sorority sisters. And this woman explained that she used to be acquaintances with the student body president of isu, who has not been named, and that they would sometimes hang out in the quad together.

[Heath]

Yeah, she basically explained, you know, we weren't, like, super good friends, but we were acquaintances. You know, we were both a part of student council, so we did hang out sometimes.

[Daphne]

Yeah. And when they would hang out, she learned that he was a Vietnam veteran and that he had been injured during the time he served. This sorority sister also said that one day she had a meeting with student council and that this man came by Delta Zeta to pick up her. Her up so that they could go together. Remember, he is the student body president, and that's when he met Carol. The man came into the front door, and Carol's sorority sister introduced the two. Allegedly, at this point, Carol said something like, just based on his outfit, you always hang around with those political activists.

[Heath]

Which, at that time, a lot of people that were getting out of Vietnam did become political activists because they didn't think that the Vietnam war was right. And there was. There was a lot of things that happened in Vietnam that were questionable. So, yeah, you could easily see how an ex Vietnam veteran who is now a student body president at ISU would maybe wear some army fatigues around school.

[Daphne]

Yeah, but he didn't like this. He didn't like that she called him a political activist. So he. He is faced. His face changed physically. Like, he.

[Heath]

He basically thought that this was a dig towards him.

[Daphne]

Yeah. And so then the sorority sister had to say, oh, she's just joking. And now, okay, let's get out of here. Let's go to this meeting. So after they left for the meeting, the student council meeting, this man explicitly told her that he didn't like being called a political activist. And again, she just tried to calm the situation down. She's like, my friend was just joking. It's not a big deal.

[Heath]

Yeah, you got to let it go.

[Daphne]

So, yeah, we. We never include other podcast information on our show, but since this was an interview that has been discussed elsewhere, this is a journalist and an investigator who pulled all this together. We felt like this was a potentially important piece to share, especially with what is to come as well. But of course, all credit to Demetria and George because it makes you think about the connection between green jeans and the student body president. Like, really?

[Heath]

Yeah, yeah, you really do start making connections to the two.

[Daphne]

Yeah, the almost military style green work shirt, the combat boots, the anger towards Carol. And there's more.

[Heath]

Yeah, because this student body president was arrested in February of 1976 for beating and trying to strangle an ISU co ed that he was on a date with outside of a bar.

[Daphne]

Which is crazy. And also, if he was arrested, he was the student body president. We're sure that his information would be easy to find, but we have not seen seen his name. So we're just gonna have to keep calling in the student body president. But here's proof. Two months or less than two months after Carol was killed, he's being violent with an ISU student.

[Heath]

A woman. Exactly. So not your stand up student council member. Well, luckily there were other students around to jump in during this attack and rescue this student. But this shithead was only given 12 days in jail for this. But they allegedly were staggered over 12 weeks. And then he was also placed on probation for about a year a few months later, in the summer of 1976. Remember, this is months after Carol's murder, the normal police department contacted the Chicago PD where George Siebel was working as a homicide detective at the time. And this is exactly how he got involved in Carol's case. He was asked to check out a potential lead connected to a specific address at this time and said that the name of this person that he was looking for actually sounded familiar to him. And through the work of George Siebel, he came to the belief that this person, this student body president, was responsible for Carol's murder. Although again, for legality reasons or for whatever reason, this person's name was not released to the public. And a lot of his personal investigation has just been kept under wraps as well, but George claims that as many as 25 sources have confirmed to him that this unnamed person is the perpetrator. After conducting more than 200 interviews, George handed over 50 pages of documents about his findings. But to the surprise of just about everybody, the normal police department said that they were not interested in his information because apparently this suspect was given a polygraph test back in the day and he had passed it.

[Daphne]

I mean, at least look at what the guy has to say. He has 50 pages for you. He has all this reason to believe this person is involved.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

I mean, come on, just take a goddamn look.

[Heath]

And obviously, as many of us know, those tests are not foolproof. Like, you know, sometimes they can be inaccurate and someone can pass a polygraph test even if they are guilty.

[Daphne]

Yeah, you can lie through it.

[Heath]

Carol's younger sister Laura's husband Jim said of the most recent investigation, quote, I am 99.9% sure I know who did it. Now, he obviously didn't name who this person is, but I'm under the belief that it's probably the person that everybody else thinks it is.

[Daphne]

The student body president.

[Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

Right now there is a five thousand dollar reward for information being offered up by the Illinois State Police Department. There is also a fundraiser that you can donate to that preserves the memory of Carol. And on their website, which is Hatch Illinois State. Edu, the contributions go towards, quote, developing a memorial bench for Carol Rofstad at Illinois State University, specifically located in Redbird Plaza behind Fell Hall. A combined effort between current ISU students, ISU alumni, the Carol's Last Christmas team, and Carol's family and friends believe these efforts will bring a sense of closure to those involved. We hope this memorial will allow visitors to learn more about Carroll and keep her memory alive on campus. Any additional money raised will be used to plant a memorial tree on the quad in Carol's honor. There is still hope that even after 50 years, Carol's case is solvable. In 2001, a fingerprint was discovered on a personal item of Carol's that had never been tested before. And it is believed that the main suspect in this case is still alive and now lives in a different state. If you have any information about Carol's case, you can send your tips over to carolslastchristmas.com contact or contact Detective Nicole Bruno at nbrunonormal.org or call 309-454-9702. Hopefully, someday soon, the truth of what happened to 21 year old Carol Rothstad will be unveiled. Thank you so much everybody. For listening to this episode of Going West.

[Heath]

Yes. Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. If you want to see photos of Carol, please head on over to our socials. We're on Instagram at goingwestpodcast. We're also on Facebook. There are a lot of old sorority photos that you can find of Carol.

[Daphne]

Oh, yeah, we'll. We'll include some. She was so beautiful. All those pictures. Are you talking about like the formal ones?

[Heath]

Yes.

[Daphne]

So cute.

[Heath]

And we will post that sketch for you guys as well.

[Daphne]

Yes. What a crazy story. I don't know that we've ever covered a case where somebody was attacked and then later they were attacked again and killed. It's like, it makes you wonder so much, Is it the same person which I personally very much believe that it was?

[Heath]

Was she targeted?

[Daphne]

Yeah. Why did they come back for her? Who is this person and how are they still at large?

[Heath]

And also, the one thing that's really confounding is the fact that this person went on an attacking tirade, like attacked numerous different people and wasn't found and was never found to this day, was never caught.

[Daphne]

Like, it's just unreal real. So thank you guys so much for tuning into this story again. Happy holidays and we'll see you on Friday.

[Heath]

Happy holidays and Merry Christmas, everybody.

[Daphne]

We love you.

[Heath]

For everybody out there in the world.

[Daphne]

Don'T be a stranger. Sam.

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