3 IL Cold Case Victims ID'ed Decades After Deaths: State Police

ILLINOIS — Illinois State Police have made significant progress this year on multiple cold cases, identifying three long-dead women and charging a man with murder, authorities said, giving partial credit to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville criminal justice students for their role in the developments.

“The Illinois State Police investigates hundreds of new cases each year, while also following up on cold cases from years past,” state police Director Brendan Kelly said in a news release.

“Improvements in technology and advancements in forensic testing over the years can breathe new life into old cases. SIUE students have helped us review cold cases to prioritize them based on how close they are to solving.”

Each semester, the students review cold cases and apply a solvability matrix to help prioritize cases based on the likelihood they could be furthered. The students have worked closely with special agents to review dozens of cases. As part of that process, they have also created what they call a “Murder Book,” which includes searchable information for cold homicide cases in the Metro East.

“Every person deserves to be identified and remembered,” Ryleigh Franklin, a graduate involved in the program, said in the news release. “I’m proud to have played a part in giving two women their names back.”

In 2002, the bodies of three women, all discovered by road workers and believed to be victims of serial killer Maury Travis, were found along Illinois roadways, according to police.

This year, they were identified as Kelly Johnson, found on the side of an Interstate 64 overpass near Mascoutah months after she died; Crystal Lay, discovered along Interstate 70 near Highland; and Carol Jean Hemphill, whose skeleton was found in a creek bed near Illinois Route 3 in Columbia, police said.

In a separate case, 34-year-old Alan Davis of East St. Louis was charged in May with first-degree murder 14 years after Truman Smith was shot while making a delivery to a business in the city, according to police, who said Smith was able to describe his attacker but later died.