Search For Missing Deputy Ends

JOLIET, IL — The excavation of a Joliet home by federal agents and state investigators searching for a Will County deputy who vanished more than 26 years ago has ended.

A state police source confirmed the operation — which entailed digging through the basement floor of a house on Margaret Street — has ended. Will County Coroner Patrick O’Neil said he received no report of any recovered human remains.

FBI agents and investigators from the Illinois State Police were searching for former Will County Deputy Robin Abrams, who disappeared 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, according to Walsh and law enforcement sources. The house was also searched soon after Abrams disappeared, Walsh and the sources said.

In the midst of her turmoil with Marque, 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.

"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.”