ISP says volunteers were vital in solving case

This location is found at a pond about two miles to the south and west of the village of Watson; a purple ribbon marks the spot near where Willow Long’s body was reportedly found.

EFFINGHAM, Ill.—- The Illinois State Police honored four Salem women, who found the body of seven-year-old murder victim, Willow Long.

District 12 Commander, Captain Kelly Hodge presented the certificates of appreciation to Hattie Williams; her daughter, Jamie Thompson; and Thompson’s two daughters, Frankie Smith and Jonny Smith.

“Despite being turned away due to sheer number of volunteers, they continued to search the area on their own. The girl’s body was found as they located a barely visible object in a nearby pond.  Their persistence and decisive actions were crucial to the criminal case and subsequent arrest of the killer,” said Hodge.

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Willow Long

The above information came from a press release; interestingly, it’s the first time authorities have identified the people who actually made the discovery. Many media outlets were advised that Salem people had actually located Willow’s body, but were lead to believe that it was a group with a professional search-and-rescue unit out of Marion County, which was why ISP was keeping the identities of them hush-hush at the time. Now we can understand why they were keeping identities quiet: The searchers were unsanctioned, and not a part of the regular organized search team, but were searching on their own…a wonderful act of compassion, given the soaring temperatures and chaos that was surrounding the search.

Hats off to ISP, who overcame the apparent problems this situation presented at the time, and acknowledged the concern these four showed in their tenacity to find little Willow. The man who murdered her, her uncle, Justin DeRyke, is in prison on a natural life sentence.