Wendy Gessing Disappearance: Person Of Interest Revealed By Crest Hill Police Chief

CREST HILL, IL — Next weekend marks the somber four-year anniversary of Wendy Gessing's disappearance from the Pizzas By Marchelloni in Crest Hill, where the 50-year-old worked for several years. Now, after four years of investigation, Crest Hill's Police Chief Ed Clark said he is finally ready to reveal some noteworthy details surrounding her case.

"At this point, there is a person of interest in the case," Clark told Joliet Patch's editor during Friday afternoon's interview inside the new Crest Hill Police Station off Weber Road. "There is someone that is very much of interest to us.

"There is evidence this person was in contact with Wendy Gessing about a month prior to her disappearance," Clark said. "This person of interest is alleged to be involved in the drug scene."

Joliet Patch has chronicled Gessing's disappearance over the past four years. The Crest Hill woman disappeared June 12, 2021, and Gessing's vehicle was recovered June 17, 2021, parked along the street in the 400 block of Buell Avenue in Joliet.

One house on the street where Gessing's vehicle was found has been the subject of numerous Joliet Patch crime stories and Joliet police arrests over the past several years.

"This person of interest was known to frequent the Buell Avenue area where the vehicle" was found, Crest Hill's police chief revealed on Friday.

Wendy Gessing's missing person investigation not only spanned Joliet and Crest Hill, but also the Romeoville area, where Gessing's cell phone was recovered by the police near Taylor Road.

"The cell phone location ended up in an area where the person of interest was known to be located," Clark revealed. "There were extensive video reviews from her home, and it did not show anything as to her return after she went missing."

Clark said that besides his agency, Crest Hill police have received assistance from numerous outside police agencies including the Will County Sheriff's Office, Joliet Police Department, Romeoville Police Department, the FBI's Chicago Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory, Will County Emergency Management Agency and several out-of-state agencies.

According to Clark, Gessing's missing person investigation has been spearheaded by Crest Hill Detective Conor Sweeney, with help from fellow investigators David Reavis and Sgt. Joel Steen. Reavis was recently promoted to become one of the deputy chiefs of police.

Clark shared the following investigation data during Friday's exclusive Joliet Patch interview:

• A total of 25 search warrants have been served on the Gessing case.
• Eight geographic locations have been searched in trying to find Gessing and or her personal belongings such as her clothes.
• Nearly 200 items of physical evidence have been collected on the case.

Gessing's abandoned vehicle remains in police custody.

"As to the scope of this investigation, a massive amount of investigation has been done by Conor Sweeney and work has been conducted on the investigation as recently as a few days ago," Clark revealed on Friday afternoon. "It's an active investigation. It's been impressive to watch."

"He is on this case, and he has intimate knowledge of this investigation," Chief Clark said. "He's not discounting anything. He's basically lived and breathed this case the entire time, and he's doing a great job. He's on it and he remains on it. We're going to keep working this case."

Clark said his agency's person of interest has ties to the Joliet and Will County area.

He did not want to divulge whether the person is male or female, or whether they remain in the Joliet area at the moment. In 2021, the person of interest resided in the Will County area, Clark explained.

"I will just say we do know where the person is," Clark said. "I will say we've been in contact with that person. We have had contact throughout the investigation."

In 2021, when Gessing disappeared, "they were in the area, yes," Clark said.

As far as how long Gessing may have known the person of interest in her disappearance, Chief Clark chose not to divulge that information.

"Those are some intimate details we may want to hang on to," he said.

Clark said his agency's person of interest was in contact with Gessing in the days and weeks leading up to her June 2021 disappearance.

During Friday's interview, Clark said he would not speculate on whether an arrest or criminal charges are imminent.

"I would not want to be hasty," Clark said, before adding, "We've made progress on the case. I am very confident our investigators did absolutely the most professional job to bring it to a conclusion.

"We have gotten tips. We searched eight different areas," Clark explained. "We have not found anything that showed where she was. We're just waiting for that one tip. There's one person we are very interested in this time."

Crest Hill's chief said he did not want to offer any theory as to how Gessing may have died.

"It's a tough case. It really is," Clark explained. "It's fair to say that common logic would say she's probably no longer with us. As an agency, I don't want to make that a 100 percent call. We still have her vehicle, and it did have physical evidence that was helpful for us."

In previous interviews, Scott Harris has told Joliet Patch that he always remained cooperative and helpful toward the police in any way he could. He insisted that Crest Hill police did not consider him a suspect in connection with his live-in girlfriend's disappearance.

On Friday, Chief Clark said that Harris and members of Gessing's family are not considered persons of interest in his investigation

"We have nothing to indicate involvement by Scott and her family. They have been cooperative with us," Clark pointed out.

Clark said his agency's last noteworthy search to find Gessing took place in March 2024.

Joliet Patch has previously covered several of the searches for Gessing. Some of these searches took place along the woods and brush off Route 6 near the I&M Canal Trail from around Brandon Road in Rockdale over toward Channahon Road in Joliet.

Clark said that people with information are urged to call Crest Hill Police Investigator Conor Sweeney at 815-741-5111. CrimeStoppers of Will County can be used by people wishing to share information anonymously and receive cash reward money.

"The Gessing missing person investigation is active and ongoing. We will see where this goes," Clark said. "The first thing is to bring either closure or an answer to the family. We are working for the family at this point. They deserve that."

Related:

• Wendy Gessing Last Seen Alive Leaving Pizzas By Marchelloni
• Chief: Missing Crest Hill Woman's Car Found In Joliet
• Buell Ave. Remains Big Part Of Wendy Gessing Mystery
• Wendy Gessing's Boyfriend Waits For Answers From Police
• Wendy Gessing's Family Can't Find Closure 16 Months After She Vanished
• Is Wendy Gessing Dead Or Alive? Crest Hill, Joliet Mystery 3 Years Old
• Wendy Gessing's Boyfriend: 'I Hope It's Not A Homicide'