Here's a letter to the editor that we received late last week; it raises questions about unsolved murders - for which there is no statute of limitations, so people can still be charged - but also why they remain unsolved.
Mr. & Mrs. Howser;
In January 1982, 19-year-old Norris City resident Linda Keown, wearing a red sweater and jeans, left home to go visit a friend. Allegedly, she never made it to where she was going.
Twenty-plus years later, on October 14, 2002, local resident Zach Short was horseback riding near Big Hill Cemetery in Hamilton County, not too far from Norris City. Zach thought he saw some trash, but he located a piece of plastic along with what he thought was a human skull.
The authorities were notified. Later, it was discovered that human remains and a 1980 Norris City class ring were found. The ring had the initials “L.K.” engraved on it. Was this the final resting place of Linda Keown?
Back then this incident made local newspapers. Then-Hamilton County Sheriff Greg Brenner and now-retired Illinois State Trooper Harry Sutton were both quoted in an article or two.
Keown’s relatives submitted DNA samples after the discovery of the remains.
Subsequently, according to retired Sheriff Greg Brenner, the remains were later positively identified as those of Linda Keown.
Google “Linda Keown of Norris City” yourself.
Back then, none of the cops went on record, but the person who many thought was a “person of interest” in Keown’s disappearance either died or killed himself, in the 20-year time period between 1982 and 2002.
To my knowledge, this case must be either “open” or “closed, unsolved.”
On July 3, 2014, 15-year-old Megan Nichols went missing in Wayne County.
On December 26, 2017, human skeletal remains were located in a remote rural area near Lakeside Bridge in Wayne County. The FBI came here and took over the case.
On January 27, 2018, those remains were identified as those of Megan Nichols.
Now, after almost a year, virtually no other information has been made public. Perhaps the FBI suspects something, but isn’t saying. SUSPECTING is one thing; PROVING something is quite different.
Some say “drugs”; some say “human trafficking”; some say “a prominent person or a cop is involved”; that’s all gossip, speculation, theory.
Sometimes even cops have a propensity for having “loose lips” or gossip; that is a bad thing. Too many cops are braggarts; “legends in their own minds.” Silence by the cops is a good thing, even though that may frustrate the public.
I sure hope that the FBI does have one/several “person(s) of interest,” and is waiting for that one break in the investigation to move forward.
Even though the finest forensic science techniques are available, not every case can be or will be solved. Neither scientists nor police have a "crystal ball,” nor can they turn water into wine or walk on water.
There are THOUSANDS of people, men, women and children who are “missing” in this country. I cannot imagine the constant anguish these families must experience on a daily basis, the not knowing…
The November 18, 1987 multiple murders of the Dardeen family from Ina, Ill. (near Rend Lake) remain unsolved, although it is believed (by some) that serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells (executed by the State of Texas in 2014) was responsible for the Dardeen family slaughter.
On January 27, 1993, the partially-decomposed human head of a female with bad teeth was found in some bushes at Wayne Fitzgerell State Park, close to the Rend Lake Resort. That case is still unsolved, as is the identity of the deceased.
I wonder if that serial killer truck driver Bruce Mendenhall from Albion ever drove through there on his way home, exiting off I57 at Rt. 154, driving through the park and throwing the head out of the window of his semi, then reentering I57 at the Ina on-ramp?
Will the Megan Nichols case ever be resolved, or will it end up being akin to the Linda Keown case?
Note: the first five parts of this letter are attributed to news articles which were published decades ago, “The Southern” and “KVFS12” being two of them.
Rich Gurka
Enfield, Ill.