← Somebody Knows Something
Somebody Knows Something
S2E6: Stabbed In The Alley (1977)
00:28:09
It was a warm, summer evening when 68-year-old Cayce D. Kyles strolled down an alley behind the Douglas Hotel in downtown Elgin on July 21, 1977. Moments later, he was attacked and stabbed to death less than a block from the Elgin Police Department....
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- [00:00]
Narrator/Host
From unsolved mysteries to unexplained phenomena, from.
- [00:03]
Amazon Music Advertiser
Comedy gold to relationship fails, Amazon Music's.
- [00:06]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Got the Most ad Free Top Podcasts.
- [00:09]
Amazon Music Advertiser
Included with Prime Download, the Amazon Music app today.
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Podcast Disclaimer Voice
This podcast is based on information sourced primarily from police and media reports, but certain names and other identifying details may have been changed or altered from for privacy and security reasons. While the events and cases discussed are based on real investigations, some aspects may be simplified for time and for narrative purposes. Voice actors have been used to read from statements or documents. All information presented is intended solely to inform and raise awareness. Hosts may discuss theories regarding the cases examined in this podcast, but such discussions are not intended to and should not be considered by the listener to be legal. Conclusions all persons discussed are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Listener discretion is advised.
- [01:17]
Chief Anna Lally
This is Chief Anna Lally. Welcome to Somebody Knows Something, a podcast from the Elgin Police Department's Cold Case Unit. In this podcast we will shed new light on cold cases in the city of Elgin by sharing untold details and by encouraging anyone with information to come forward. You will come along with real cold case detectives as they investigate active cold cases in real time and seek justice for the victims and closure for their families. We believe that the Elgin Police Department and our community can work together to bring closure to cold cases because we know that in these cases, somebody knows something.
- [01:59]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Hello and welcome to Somebody Knows Something, the Elgin Police Department Cold Case Podcast My name is Detective Andrew Houghton and.
- [02:06]
Detective Chris Hall
I'm Detective Chris Hall.
- [02:09]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Last episode we revisited a case that we initially thought could have links to season one of this podcast. Barbara Glueckert was 14 years old when she disappeared on August 21st of 1976. The prime suspect in her disappearance, Thomas Erlacher, was murdered in 2004 and to this day Barbara's whereabouts remain unknown. Hopefully with new attention to her case, new information will come forward to help us find her.
- [02:35]
Detective Chris Hall
In this episode we are diving back into our homicide files and jumping ahead one year to the summer of 1977. In the early morning hours of July 21, a 68 year old black man named Casey D. Kyles, who was blind in one eye, walked down an alleyway outside the Douglas Hotel in downtown Elgin. Moments later he was stabbed to death. We will seek new information and tips in Casey's case and remember him as we discuss both the life and death of Casey D. Kyles. July 20, 1977 was an unseasonably hot mid summer day here in Elgin, Illinois with temperatures reaching 94 degrees nearly 10 degrees above the average temperature for mid July here in Elgin. Casey went out with several friends for some drinks at Paul's Tap in downtown Elgin, escaping the heat with a few cold drinks and some conversation. As the evening progressed, anyone with the radio or television who enjoyed baseball that summer sat and listened or watched as Milwaukee Brewer slugger Hank Aaron hit his 755th home run against the California Angels. It was the last home run of his historic career.
- [04:01]
Detective Andrew Houghton
By 1am on Thursday, July 21, that unseasonably hot summer day cooled to a more comfortable 76 degrees as Casey Kyle strolled down the alleyway behind the Douglas Hotel, softly singing to himself. He passed by a man and a woman sitting on a bench who were enjoying the cool evening air, and he continued on his way. Casey Kyles would be dead a few minutes later, but before we discuss his tragic murder, we want to talk a little bit more about who Casey Kyles was in life.
- [04:34]
Detective Chris Hall
Kacey D. Kyles was born on November 24, 1908 in Durant, Mississippi to D. Kyles and Tommy Young. Durant was a very small and very rural town along the Big Black river in central Mississippi, surrounded by several former plantations from the South, Civil War era. The population by 1980, just a few years after Casey's murder, was still under 2,000 people and the area was heavily African American. Even today, the town is nearly 90% African American. So there's where Casey grew up in the segregated south in rural Mississippi along the Big Black River. Like many African Americans from the South, Casey moved north during the Great Migration which occurred between 1910 and 1970. These men, women and children sought a better life life for themselves and many, like Casey, settle right here in Elgin.
- [05:32]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Elgin has a deep and proud black history that dates back to the Civil war era. In 1862, the First Baptist Church of Elgin invited the city's first black residents, refugees who were mostly women and children, and they went on to establish the settlement. It was one of the first black communities in Illinois that was founded for and by black people. This powerful history is explored in the documentary project 231. Two boxcars, three blocks, one city a story of Elgin's African American heritage. It was produced by the Elgin History Museum, Grindstone Productions and Elgin resident Ernie Broadnax. The film traces the journey of those 110 individuals who arrived in 1862, and it follows the evolution of Elgin's black community through the Civil Rights era and into the present day. If you're interested in learning more about Elgin's black community and history, a community that included Casey Kyles that documentary is a great place to start. You can also visit the Elgin History Museum for more in depth information and exhibits that help tell the story of Elgin's black heritage.
- [06:35]
Detective Chris Hall
Casey came to Elgin in 1949. When he arrived, he began working at the Elgin State Hospital where he stayed for a number of years before changing employers and moving to Burgess Norton Manufacturing Company in Geneva. Casey worked hard. He held a steady employment and retired with a pension in 1974 after turning 65, according to his family. Even after retiring, Casey stayed busy. He worked for the Elgin Department of Grounds and Buildings to help keep active and to continue giving back to his community.
- [07:08]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Casey was a well known member of the Elgin community too. He attended St. Paul's Baptist Church, he worked at several well known businesses in the area and he lived in Elgin for 28 years. Casey married his wife, Ida May Kyles and they had two sons, John and George, and they had a daughter too, Chaney. We had the pleasure of meeting with several of Casey's family members as we prepared this episode and they remembered him as very kind and very generous, similar to many families we've met this season. They did not want us to use their voices in this podcast, but we do appreciate them meeting with us to give us personal stories about Casey Kyles. As our listeners surely understand by now, even talking about these cases years later is hard for the family, so we truly appreciate them meeting with us multiple times to talk about Casey.
- [07:51]
Detective Chris Hall
According to family, Casey was always available to help out or provide money for his family. One granddaughter even recalled that when she needed a prom dress, it was Grandpa Casey who came through with the money to make sure she got exactly what she wanted. From everything that we have heard about him, Casey is an example of yet another victim from our case files who was very well liked, very well respected and is dearly missed. Casey had a very large family as well. In addition to his three children and other family members. By 1977, Casey was a grandfather of 15 grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. One of his granddaughters told us something about Casey that really hammers home how important family tradition was to him. She told us that Burgess Norton Manufacturing gave their employees a turkey every November and so many of their fondest memories of Casey included him bringing the big turkey over every Thanksgiving to see extended family.
- [08:45]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Yeah, and as you said, Casey had a large family and he was very close with them. You know Chris, I mentioned his wife Ida May Kyles a few minutes ago. I think listeners should know that Ida lived to be 97 years old before she passed away in 2006. But even then, she still never learned who killed Casey. Who knows, maybe Casey would have lived another 30 years too, if someone didn't take his life behind the Douglas Hotel on July 21, 1977.
- [09:16]
Detective Chris Hall
Well, as we said, on the night that Casey was murdered, he was walking along an alleyway behind the Douglas Hotel in downtown Elgin. As Casey passed by the hotel, he walked past a man named Lanny who was sitting on a bench with a woman in the courtyard. Lanny, for his part, even recognized Casey. As we said, Casey was pretty well known in the area and he lived less than a block from the Douglas Hotel.
- [09:39]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Lanny described Casey as singing softly to himself as he passed by in the moments before his murder. Then Casey walked out of sight. Here is part of Lanny's actual police statement, which has never been publicly released until now.
- [09:52]
Witness Lanny
I was sitting in the back on a bench with another resident of the hotel. And we had been sitting out there for a couple hours. We went to a bingo game earlier. Got out around a little after 10 and went for a little ride. Probably back there, 10:30 or quarter to 11. I know she kept asking what time it was, and my Watch stopped at 2012, so it wasn't. I actually don't know when we actually first seen him. I wasn't really paying attention. We seen him a couple times that night. You know, we're sitting there talking and he would just go up the alley.
- [10:26]
Detective Chris Hall
After Lanny saw Casey pass by and head up the alley. A few minutes passed. Here is Lanny describing the last moments of Casey Kyles's life.
- [10:35]
Witness Lanny
He went up the alley towards his house, and a little while later he come back down, still talking, and I just ignored him. I didn't think anything of it. It might have been a half hour later, I guess he walked back up the alley again towards his house. And he got out of sight and he was out of sight for about a minute or two and he come running out of the alley screaming. And that got our attention. We was both watching him and he was staggering, looked like he was gonna fall. So we started running over towards him. He did fall and landed flat on his face. We got about halfway over to him and. And I told the girl I was with, you better go call an ambulance. So she run inside and I went over to him and he was laying face down, ah, gurgling, breathing his own blood or somethin'. I didn't know how bad he was hurt. I just thought that he was just drunk and fell down. I told him that he Better roll. And I kinda shook him. And he didn't make any sounds or anything, Just the gurgling. The gurgling sound.
- [11:37]
Detective Andrew Houghton
The woman with Lanny ran and immediately called an ambulance. Within a matter of a few minutes, multiple people came to check the situation, including an Elgin police officer and several medics from the fire department. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, Casey Kyles was already dead. During our preparation for this episode, as we said, we had the pleasure of meeting with several of Casey's family members. As we explained the case to them, they asked us why witnesses couldn't see more of the incident. So at their request, we walked them across the street from our office and showed them the exact site where the incident occurred. A few days ago. Both Chris and I walked over to the site as well, because standing in the exact area where Casey was killed helps you get a feeling of what happened and where everyone was when he was killed.
- [12:24]
Narrator/Host
Okay, so we are in the courtyard of what used to be the Douglas Hotel. It's basically laid out the same as it was back then. There's several benches out here. One of them is facing north. And we are sitting on that bench that's facing north. It's literally where Elaine and his friend were sitting the night Casey got killed.
- [12:40]
Amazon Music Advertiser
Yeah, I would say it's roughly 30.
- [12:41]
Detective Chris Hall
To 40ft, maybe a little more to.
- [12:43]
Amazon Music Advertiser
The opening of the alleyway. And you can see north into the parking lot and alley, but you can't really see east or west. Based on the case report, Casey walked along the alley, which runs east to west a few times as Lanny and.
- [12:56]
Detective Chris Hall
His friends sat there.
- [12:58]
Narrator/Host
Yeah, as we get up to walk, you kind of have to go around. There's a tree with, like, a. Almost like a planter box, like, in.
- [13:04]
Detective Andrew Houghton
The middle of the courtyard.
- [13:04]
Narrator/Host
You have to kind of go around it, and then it takes you out into the alleyway.
- [13:10]
Amazon Music Advertiser
Once you get out here, you can literally see where the police Department was in 1977 in the north end of City Hall. Today was actually the Elgin Police Department until 1997, when we moved over to our current building.
- [13:28]
Narrator/Host
Yeah, and the building just a few hundred feet to the north of us, across the parking lot, is the police department. Like, you cross the parking lot in Dexter Court, and then you're at the new PD it's, what, 150ft, you know, right across the parking lot.
- [13:39]
Amazon Music Advertiser
I'm looking at some of the photos here from the case file, and it looks like Casey fell just to the east of the opening of the courtyard, but there was blood up near the east end of the alley.
- [13:50]
Narrator/Host
Yeah, I think they measured this to be about 80ft from the blood to where he fell. As you kind of walk east, you.
- [13:57]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Know, there's two large buildings on the.
- [13:58]
Narrator/Host
South side of the the alleyway. The north is just like a little retention wall and some parking lots.
- [14:07]
Amazon Music Advertiser
And so this brick building, as you get to the end of the alley, is where the witness is playing gin rummy, right?
- [14:12]
Narrator/Host
Yeah.
- [14:14]
Amazon Music Advertiser
It makes sense that she'd be able to hear Casey. The second floor is literally right above where he was stabbed.
- [14:23]
Narrator/Host
Yeah, it's crazy, too. As you stand here, you can literally see the window to the office that we have, you know, a few months ago. We're standing in the office, looking at the case file, and we look out the window and we're like, oh, you can see it. It's right there.
- [14:35]
Detective Andrew Houghton
You can see where Casey got killed.
- [14:37]
Amazon Music Advertiser
The east end of the alley here has a wall and a parking garage. You can't go east unless you walk up a set of stairs to the south. And based on the layout, the killer could have come from the west and stabbed Casey, but then he fled west again, never passing by the courtyard.
- [14:53]
Narrator/Host
Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, Lanny and his friend said they didn't see anybody else walk down the alleyway. So if they're looking out in the alley and the guy came from the.
- [15:01]
Detective Andrew Houghton
East, they would see him, but if.
- [15:02]
Narrator/Host
He came from the west, they wouldn't see him.
- [15:06]
Amazon Music Advertiser
Man. I mean, you could see the police department from here there. There are people sitting in the courtyard. This spot is literally in the dead center of downtown. And all Casey was trying to do.
- [15:17]
Detective Chris Hall
Was just go home.
- [15:19]
Narrator/Host
Yeah, so he walked east along this alleyway. He passes Laney and his friend right here and then goes up the alley. A few minutes later, he's saying, don't do that. And he gets stabbed and he runs back west and collapses just outside the courtyard.
- [15:34]
Amazon Music Advertiser
And when Lanny and his friend heard him yelling, they jumped up and came out into the alleyway. And they probably missed the killer by mere seconds. But being able to stand here in the scene really does bring it all to life, even 40 plus years later.
- [15:49]
Detective Chris Hall
After visiting the site during the day on a few occasions, we decided that we could also want to see it at night. We went back out to the scene during the dead of night to see what the scene may have looked like the night Casey walked down the alley for the last time. As you can imagine, it was markedly different.
- [16:05]
Amazon Music Advertiser
It's nighttime now, and we're in the same spot we were this afternoon. And I can honestly say even in 2025, there's very little illumination out here. Even in modern day lighting. Yeah.
- [16:22]
Narrator/Host
I mean, other than like a brand new looking halogen light that's down at.
- [16:26]
Detective Andrew Houghton
The end of the alleyway.
- [16:27]
Narrator/Host
If that was not there, this would be a very dark alleyway. There's a few lights in the parking lot, but a lot of this wasn't here then. Like, if this whole parking lot was dark, it'd be very, very dark over here.
- [16:40]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Yeah.
- [16:40]
Amazon Music Advertiser
And this is a clear night with no clouds, full moon, and it's still very, very low visibility. So. Yeah, if you're not aware of your surroundings out here, you would not see somebody coming around a corner, I would imagine.
- [16:57]
Narrator/Host
Yeah, we're standing in the, like, opening between the alleyway and the, the courtyard here and it is pretty far down.
- [17:05]
Detective Andrew Houghton
To see where he would have been.
- [17:06]
Narrator/Host
Stabbed to run to here. So, yeah, in darkness it would make sense you would miss someone or by the time you get out here, the guy or girl. But we assume guy, you know, if he goes west. You can't even see west of here from. From our vantage point because the parking lots are raised. If you go up those stairs and take off, you. You can't see that location.
- [17:29]
Witness Lanny
Yeah.
- [17:29]
Amazon Music Advertiser
Plus, you know, we're not talking like the scene is in a field, you know, open air. Like we're in the heart of downtown here and there's a lot of places to hide, it would appear. And if you add the darkness factor.
- [17:44]
Detective Chris Hall
Into it as well, you're gonna have.
- [17:47]
Amazon Music Advertiser
A good chance of getting away from the scene quickly.
- [17:49]
Narrator/Host
Yeah, it makes, it makes sense if Lanny and his friend make it out here and the guy's already up the steps, that he's gone. There's no way you're gonna see him in the dark and in the distance that you have.
- [18:00]
Amazon Music Advertiser
Yeah. There's already a disadvantage for law enforcement. It would, it would appear to be.
- [18:04]
Narrator/Host
Yeah.
- [18:05]
Detective Andrew Houghton
So hopefully by visiting the site and describing it, our listeners now have a better understanding of the location.
- [18:11]
Detective Chris Hall
Yeah, for sure. It really helped to see where Lanny and his friend were sitting versus where the actual attack occurred. And it helps explain why they didn't see the suspect. It was just a little too far, a little too dark, and they had to get up from the benches and run over to see the alley before they could see anything to the east.
- [18:28]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Yeah. And by the time they made it to the alley, it is entirely possible that the offender ran east as well and vanished into the night. Well, as with many 1970s and 1980s cases, Lanny agreed to take a polygraph test, and he met with the police multiple times.
- [18:44]
Polygraph Examiner
Do you know who stabbed Casey Kyles on July 21?
- [18:48]
Witness Lanny
No.
- [18:50]
Polygraph Examiner
On July 21, did you stab Casey Kyles?
- [18:54]
Witness Lanny
No.
- [18:55]
Polygraph Examiner
Are you withholding any information about the stabbing of Casey Kyles?
- [18:59]
Witness Lanny
No.
- [19:02]
Polygraph Examiner
It is the opinion of this examiner, based on these polygraph records, that the subject told the truth in his answers to the above questions.
- [19:13]
Detective Chris Hall
Okay. So police obviously wanted to be able to rule out that Lanny and this lady somehow hurt Casey. And they felt very confident that both Lanny and his female friend were simply witnesses. Both stayed at the scene with one calling the police. Both cooperated and gave statements, and Lanny even took a polygraph, which he passed with flying colors. But they were not the only witnesses to this murder, right?
- [19:34]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Yeah, that's true. There were several windows overlooking the area from an apartment building along the alley where Casey was murdered. The resident there reported that she and several other people were playing gin rummy in her apartment on the second floor. They had the windows open to let in the cool night air, and the group heard a commotion outside in the alley below them. The woman who actually knew Casey told police she recognized his voice and heard him yelling, don't do that. Don't do that. When she looked out the window a few moments later, she saw him lying in the alleyway on his stomach. Lanny was there trying to comfort him and waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
- [20:07]
Detective Chris Hall
The witness, who, as we said, knew Casey, described him as a very nice gentleman who she never knew to be violent or mean to anyone. Literally. No one who was interviewed, including this woman, had anything bad to say about Casey. In our case file, police spoke with the witnesses from the gin rummy game and also with several friends who had been with Casey earlier that evening at Paul's Tap. They even spoke to bar staff to see if there was any type of altercation at the bar prior to his death that might explain what happened. But the bartender simply said that Casey and several friends sat in the bar with no issues whatsoever. The bartender even described that Casey was very friendly with everyone and that there were no arguments or other issues within the bar when Casey was there with his friends.
- [20:49]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Police interviewed other patrons at the bar, too. One recalled Casey calling him a nice old man who would often buy drinks for other people and enjoyed playing the jukebox. In fact, that night, witnesses said that Casey was standing over by the jukebox for part of the night, playing songs and chatting with various people in the bar. All in all, the witnesses described him as a fun loving guy who would regularly talk to people, buy drinks, play a few songs, and then walk back to his apartment at the end of the night. Unfortunately, several people also noted that it was common knowledge that Casey would carry a decent amount of cash with him. It's possible that Casey's friendly demeanor and generosity at the bar made people, even strangers, notice that he carried cash on him when he went out. Right, Chris?
- [21:29]
Detective Chris Hall
Yeah, it definitely seems that way from the case file. Plus that witness who heard him out of the window while playing gin rummy. She also told police that Casey often kept a large amount of money on him when he went out as well. She even told police that in the fall of 1976, Casey had also been reportedly attacked, robbed, and dumped into a ditch after the robber took his money. Casey never reported the incident to police, but she remembered him telling her about it. And she recalled that he had some significant injuries from that robbery. Could this incident have been a robbery gone wrong? It surely seems that way, at least as a possibility.
- [22:02]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Yeah, it's certainly possible. While we know that Casey was reportedly robbed in 1976, we still can't say for certain if this incident was some type of robbery. If it was, it doesn't seem like the offender had gotten anything from him. When the police and the ambulance arrived, Casey still had his wallet, $17 in cash, a silver watch, and the keys to his apartment.
- [22:22]
Detective Chris Hall
Yeah, and our research shows that $17 in 1977 is the equivalent of about $90 today. That's a decent amount of cash. Plus, we know that Casey had just cashed a $20 bill shortly before he walked to the alley. So it seems like he had all of his possessions, including his wallet containing cash. His silver watch was probably fairly expensive, too.
- [22:44]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Yeah, I mean, I suppose it's possible that because he took off running and that Lanny and the other witness came into the alley, that the person who stabbed him, if it was a robbery, maybe saw them and decided to run away. But we don't know for sure.
- [22:57]
Detective Chris Hall
And just to give some perspective, Casey Kyles was 5ft 4 inches tall and weighed about 180 pounds. He wasn't a very tall guy, and he was 68 years old. We also know him to be blind in one eye, and we knew that he had been drinking alcohol with some friends. Toxicology reports from the case file documented that he was slightly under the influence of alcohol. So given all those factors, plus the fact that he kept cash on him, maybe somebody thought that he was a Good target for a robbery.
- [23:23]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Yeah, that's certainly an option. A single person walking alone in the early morning hours, especially an older gentleman, might make him a target. The problem is we just don't know what happened in the alleyway with a witness saying that she heard him saying, don't do that repeatedly. It is possible that Casey was talking to his assailant while the person was trying to hurt him or rob him. But the case file also suggests another scenario.
- [23:45]
Detective Chris Hall
Yes, that's right. The case file includes a rumor that Casey may have interrupted the suspect harming her and harassing someone else, perhaps a female in the alley. Could he have tried to intervene in some other crime and been attacked himself? Certainly possible, but no other crime it was ever reported as far as we can tell. There's just this rumor included in the case file that he came across someone also being victimized.
- [24:07]
Detective Andrew Houghton
From what we've gathered, Casey was a family man with daughters and grandchildren and he kept himself active. So it seems like he might be the type of person who would try to intervene on someone else's behalf. If the rumors in this case file are true, there could potentially also be another witness in the alleyway who was never spoken to by police. That's why we want to put out information like this in this podcast. A new witness could be a game changer in a case like Casey's.
- [24:38]
Detective Chris Hall
Andrew, I think we should talk a little bit about the injuries that Casey sustained from this case just to help listeners understand how he was killed and to help explain a little bit more about what happened.
- [24:47]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Yeah, that's a good idea.
- [24:49]
Detective Chris Hall
Police released to the media in 1977 that Casey was stabbed one time in the left shoulder area and that the stabbing severed his brachial artery, causing him to bleed profusely and die rather quickly. Essentially, he was stabbed in the shoulder area and began to bleed profusely. The medical term is extreme exenuation, which means that Casey bled to death. Reports documented that the stab wound was nearly five inches deep. So Casey was stabbed one time and ran just 80ft before collapsing near the alcove where Lanny and his female friend were sitting. As Lanny described, he heard Casey yelling and stepped out into the alley where he saw Casey stagger toward him before collapsing. The injury was severe and 68 year old Casey D. Kyles died within minutes.
- [25:36]
Detective Andrew Houghton
Maybe the motive in this case was robbery or maybe it was something else. Maybe Casey did come across another citizen in distress and tried to help, or maybe someone he knew targeted him for some reason. Regardless, just before 1:30am on a midsummer's night in 1977, someone attacked and stabbed Casey Kyles as he was walking home less than a block from the Elgin Police Department and to this day that someone has never been identified. Casey's sons died never knowing who killed their father and a number of those grandchildren and other family members have also died without receiving an answer in Casey's case. Kayce was a 28 year resident of Elgin who moved north from the Mississippi in the years following World War II and he's buried on a hillside in Bluff City Cemetery where his living grandchildren and other family members still visit to place fresh flowers on his grave in his memory and where he still waits for justice for his murder.
- [26:50]
Detective Chris Hall
Next episode is our final episode of the season. In it we will revisit the murder of 24 year old Renee Tovar, which occurred on what would have been Casey Kyle's 71st birthday, November 24, 1979. Andrew and Matt briefly touched on Renee's case in season one because it may have ties to a serial killer group called the Ripper Crew who operated in the area in the early 1980s. We will discuss both Renee and that group as we review files from Ripple. Renee's Case this brutal murder of a promising young woman in the heart of Elgin just days after Thanksgiving was the final murder of the decade in 1970s Elgin and it today remains unsolved. We will discuss Renee and her case as we seek new answers for her and her family. Because we know that in all of our cases, somebody knows something.
- [27:42]
Chief Anna Lally
If you or anyone you know has information about this case or any other cold case in Elgin, please contact the Elgin Police Department Cold case email@coldcasetipselginil.gov or the cold case tip line at 847289 cold. You can also review cold case information on the Elgin Police Department's Transparency Hub by going to Elginil.gov and navigating to the Elgin Police Department's Transparency hub where every cold case, homicide and missing persons case is listed with photographs and information about each case.