Body From 1975 Murder Hidden in Joliet House?

JOLIET, IL — Police searched a Joliet house Wednesday for remains from the 1975 murder of a Rolling Meadows man, a police source said.

Convicted killer Russell Smrekar reportedly made a 2011 deathbed confession to the murder of his college roommate, Michael Mansfield of Rolling Meadows. Mansfield vanished on New Year’s Eve 1975. At the time of his death, Mansfield was scheduled to testify against Smrekar for stealing from Lincoln College dorm rooms.

Police were searching the crawlspace of a house on Barber Lane for Mansfield’s remains, the source said.

The Will County Sheriff’s Department was assisting the Rolling Meadows Police Department in the search. The Rolling Meadows police failed to return calls for comment.

The Mansfield murder was not the only killing linked to Smrekar.

“Smrekar, who died at age 56, was convicted in April 1977 of the brutal shotgun slayings of Lincoln bait-shop owner Jay Fry and his pregnant wife, Robin. Smrekar was sentenced to two 100- to 300-year prison sentences,” the State Journal-Register reported in 2011.

“Jay Fry, the produce manager at a Kroger grocery store, was scheduled to testify against Smrekar, who was accused of stealing three steaks from the store,” the Journal Register said. "(Ruth) Martin (who disappeared), who was in the parking lot when store employees confronted Smrekar, also was on the witness list.”

Russell Smrekar | image via Illinois Department of Corrections