Lane Bryant Murders: Last Piece Of Case's Puzzle Needed, Cops Say

TINLEY PARK, IL — For many longtime Tinley Park residents, Feb. 2, 2008, was one of the darkest days the village have lived through. That's when six women were shot — five fatally — inside the Lane Bryant store at the Brookside Marketplace shopping center at 191st Street and Harlem Avenue. A decade later, the killer remains at large, and no arrests have been made or charges filed in the slayings. But investigators say that could change if they uncover one, final piece to the puzzle of this unsolved crime.

Over the years, the Lane Bryant tragedy hasn't been an event that solely defines Tinley Park as a community. But the memories of the horrific incident still linger like shadows in the corners of residents' minds. And every February, those shadows swell into a roiling, grim stormfront of rememberances that spreads across the village as individuals mark that awful incident.

The 10th anniversary of the Lane Bryant killings is Friday, and a memorial service for the victims' families will be at noon at St. Stephen Deacon and Martyr Church, 17500 84th Ave. The nondenominational service will be open to the public.

RELATED: Prayer Service Set For 10th Anniversary Of Lane Bryant Murders

The focus of Friday's memorial will be to remember the women who died in the shooting. And it's the memory of those victims that is pushing the detective who has been working this unsolved case for a decade.

A Case Of Immense Magnitude

Tinley Park police Chief Steve Neubauer wasn't the village's top cop when the 2008 slayings occurred. He was hired in 2011 after the death of Chief Mike O'Connell. But as the face of the department, Neubauer has been confronted by residents curious about the status of the case.

"I do get asked about it," he said. "One thing I've noticed is how much this has affected the community. … I've thought about people's relationship to the victims — they were all local [from around the area] — and how that has affected them."

Neubauer hasn't met with any of the victims' family since joining the department, but he plans to talk to those who attend Friday's prayer service. While he hasn't heard from those who lost loved ones in the tragedy, Neubauer stays connected with the open case thanks to the updates from his detectives still working leads and tracking down tips that will hopefully lead to an arrest.

RELATED: New 3D Image Of Lane Bryant Shooting Suspect Released By Tinley Police

"I've never been involved in a case of this magnitude. … The magnitude and the different shapes it's taken, it's very challenging," said Neubauer, who had been an officer in the Elmhurst Police Department for 37 years before becoming the village's chief of police.

The immensity of the case — both in the volume of clues and information, as well as what it represents to the community — is why Neubauer says he's amazed by the work of Det. Ray Violetto, who's in charge of the investigation, with his partner, Det. Tim Poulous.

"It's a very large case to manage with all the evidence," said Violetto, adding that the department still averages a tip-and-a-half a week concerning the killings. Annually, calls to the hotline and emails to the tip inbox increase in February when the crime is in the media spotlight, he said.

A 19-year veteran of the Tinley Park Police Department, Violetto has been investigating the Lane Bryant murders since Feb. 5, 2008. Until last year, it was the only case he was working, the detective said.

Finding the Missng Piece

After a decade investigating the shooting, Violetto says he has "a lot of pieces of the puzzle," and he believes uncovering a final missing piece could lead to an arrest and close the case. What that elusive piece is and how it fits into the overall investigation isn't something Violetto will reveal.

RELATED: Remembering Lane Bryant Shooting Victim Rhoda McFarland

In fact, police haven't released many details about what happened inside the shopping center store near Interstate 80. Here's what officials will say about the incident: On Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008, at around 10:44 a.m., four shoppers, the store's manager and an employee were shot by a gunman in the Lane Bryant store at Brookside Marketplace. One of the victims survived the attack, and the five other women — Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor; Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; Carrie Hudek Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort; Rhoda McFarland, 42 of Joliet; and Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Indiana — died from their wounds.

No motive for the slayings has officially been given by police, and when asked why someone would open fire inside the women's clothing store, Violetto responded: "The suspect is someone who has no regard for life, is dangerous and still at large."

This week, Tinley Park police released a new 3D rendering of the suspect in the Lane Bryant murders. The alleged shooter is described as:

• between 6 feet and 6 feet 2 inches tall with a husky build and broad shoulders;
• between 25 to 35 years old, at the time of the murders, making him 35 to 45 years old today;
• having braided hair that day, with three to five puffy cornrows pulled toward the back of his head and a single braid with four light-green beads on its end dangling down his right cheek; and
• wearing a charcoal gray ski or skull cap at the time of the murders, with a dark-colored, waist-length jacket and black jeans that had embroidery on their back pockets resembling a cursive letter “G”.

Working The Case

When it comes to the routine of working the case, Violetto approaches the job in 2018 the same way he approached in 2008: He sorts through the gathered evidence and received tips, looking for information that can help the case. He then follows up on the pertinent leads. Some of the tips in the case have come from across the country, thanks to the national attention the incident has received over the years. In turn, those leads have sent Violetto around the United States, to places like Texas, Minnesota, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

The case also has sent Violetto out of state twice in order to get help in the investigation. He's gone to Washington, D.C., so the slayings could be featured on "America's Most Wanted," a move that brought an influx of tips, the detective said.

In November 2016, Violetto, Poulous and Neubauer traveled to Philadelphia to present the case to the Vidocq Society, an exclusive crime-solving group. Formed in 1990, the organization is made up of current and former law enforcement professionals — police detectives, FBI profilers, coroners, forensic scientists, etc. — who aid investigators in solving difficult cases.

Although the society doesn't take an active role in investigations, members review cases that meet the group's requirements and give their input from the evidence presented. Violetto said the society's contributions were beneficial for two reasons: They validated the work already done by investigators, and they provided ideas and suggestions for detectives to pursue.

How Time Helps … And Hurts

In a murder investigation, time is the enemy. The more minutes and hours that tick away after a killing, the harder it becomes to catch the killer. But the march of time can indirectly help detectives as technology and crime-fighting strategies advance.

Improvements in fingerprint, DNA and shell casing analysis have provided new investigative tools that weren't available when the murders happened in 2008, Violetto said. Those improvements, along with staying current on evolving techniques in criminal investigations, have been crucial in helping move the case forward, he added.

For Violetto, there is another, more personal aftereffect to the passage of time, as the years pile up without any arrests or charges filed: the frustration factor.

"The frustration [in working the case] would be you as a police officer want to identify the person responsible for the crime for the families of the victims," he said. "There's a little bit of personal pride. You want to do everything humanly possible to bring the case to a conclusion for them."

Violetto still keeps in touch with victims' families and provides them with annual updates in the case and when new developments warrant it. He also is in contact with the one survivor of the attack, but he refuses to give any information about her in order to protect her anonymity with the gunman still on the loose.

Giving The Victims A Voice

While the case remaining open after all these years might needle Violetto as a veteran detective, he's clear and insistent that that's not what's motivating him as an investigator in the killings.

"I'm not working this case for myself," he said. "I'm working it for the five murdered women and the one [woman] who survived.

"I'm not doing this for glory or self-satisfaction. What I do, it's for them because they don't have a voice anymore."

It's a sentiment shared by Chief Neubauer, who said so long as the department has leads, it will continue investigating this tragedy. Even after 10 years, Neubauer and Violetto still urge people to look at the artist's rendering of the suspect and listen to the recording of the 911 call from the store that has the alleged gunman's voice on it (both can be found on the village's website). Anyone with information about the crime can call the tip hotline at 708-444-5394 or email lanebryant.tipline@tinleypark.org.

With nearly 20 years of police experience under his belt, Violetto said he's learned that every case comes with its own individual challenges. The Lane Bryant slayings are no different. While brutal and grisly, the case and what's been uncovered so far haven't surprised Violetto.

When asked if he's thought about what it will feel like to make an arrest in a case that has occupied nearly half of his time on the Tinley Park police force, the detective takes a long pause before answering:

"I think there will be some satisfaction to be able to call the families and tell them the we've identified the suspect."

Go to the Lane Bryant shooting investigation page on the website for the Village of Tinley Park to see the artist's rendering of the suspect and listen to his voice on the 911 recording from the incident. The recording also can be heard by calling 866-853-6222. Anyone with information about the crime can call the tip hotline at 708-444-5394 or email lanebryant.tipline@tinleypark.org.

Lane Bryant Shooting Memorial Service

When: Noon Friday, Feb. 2

Where: St. Stephen Deacon and Martyr Church, 17500 84th Ave.

Tinley Park police investigate the scene of the shooting at the Lane Bryant store at Brookside Marketplace on Feb. 3, 2008. (Photo by Jerry Lai, File / Associated Press)