Basement Dig For Missing Deputy Continues

JOLIET, IL — The search for a Will County deputy missing for more than 26 years continued Friday.

FBI agents and state police investigators tore up the basement of a Margaret Street house and hauled the debris out in plastic buckets, working Thursday in the rain and again Friday in an effort to unravel the mystery of Robin Abrams, who vanished in October 1990.

Abrams was 28 when she was last seen at a gas station near the corner of Jefferson Street and Larkin Avenue. Prior to her disappearance, Abrams was having an affair with Joliet businessman Tony Marquez, who was also a Will County auxiliary cop, said Abrams' older sister, Jody Walsh. The couple's tumultuous relationship was punctuated by the two exchanging allegations of harassment. Walsh accused Marquez of stalking her sister.

Marquez’s stepbrother, John Romo, poured the concrete for the basement of the house on Margaret Street when it was built shortly before Abrams vanished, Walsh said. The house was also searched soon after Abrams disappeared, according to Walsh and law enforcement sources.

In the midst of her turmoil with Marquez, the sheriff's department fired Abrams. According to the website Missing Persons of America, Abrams was let go two weeks before her probationary period was to end. But she didn't take it lying down.

"On Dec. 13, 1989, Robin filed a federal lawsuit against Marquez and seven other members of the sheriff's department alleging wrongful termination and sexual harassment," the site said. Abrams disappeared while the suit was still pending.

Patch visited Marquez at his Elwood home in September 2012. He refused to discuss Abrams at that time.

“Sorry sorry sorry," Marquez said. "Zero.”

Steve Knickrehm, a retired police lieutenant, said he investigated the Abrams case while he was working for the sheriff’s department. Knickrehm has remained active in probing Abrams’ whereabouts and was called before a grand jury in April 2014.

Knickrehm said a search dog alerted police to something beneath the Margaret Street house.

“Apparently the dog hit where the holes were drilled” in the basement floor, he said.

“I’m just hoping and praying for the family,” Knickrehm said.