Search For Deputy Missing 26 Years Leads to Basement of Joliet House

JOLIET, IL — FBI agents and state police investigators dug up the basement of a Joliet house Thursday morning in search of the body of a Will County deputy who vanished more than 26 years ago.

The house on Margaret Street was searched at least once already — shortly after Robin Abrams vanished in October 1990. It had just been built, and the first residents had yet to move in, Abrams’ sister, Jody Walsh said.

The current residents moved there within the last year, a neighbor said.

“They just did all the new concrete,” he said.

Another neighbor, Johnny Ray, said he also recently moved onto Margaret Street. He was taken aback by the large law enforcement presence, as well as by the media and TV helicopters hovering overhead.

“It’s wild,” Ray said. “I mean, I don’t know.”

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.

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.

Walsh said Marquez’s stepbrother, John Romo, had a construction company and poured the concrete foundation of the Margaret Street house, Walsh said.

A neighbor said a smaller group of investigators has been at the house since Tuesday. A pile of rubble was on a tarp on the house’s yard Thursday.

Walsh said she was encouraged by the activity on Margaret Street.

“I never lost hope, I’ll never lose hope,” Walsh said. “If this isn’t the location, we’ll keep going, keep trying.”

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

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