Lane Bryant Shooting
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On February 2nd, 2008, a man posing as a delivery driver walked into a Lane Bryant clothing store in a Chicago suburb with a gun. He ordered the six women inside the store to the back room, where he duct taped their hands behind their back and eventually shot all of them. Despite a massive manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies, the shooter remains at large.

What forensic evidence is there, and will it help identify a mass murderer? This is Forensic Tales, episode number 263, The Unsolved Lane Bryant Murders. ♪

The temperature is in the mid-20s in Tinley Park, Illinois on the morning of Saturday, February 2nd, 2008.

Although it's February in the Midwest, this morning feels especially frigid. Snow covers the ground, it's foggy, making visibility tough. And even with a warm winter coat on, the cold still chills your bones. It's on this particular morning that a couple of employees at the Lane Bryant clothing store at the Brookside Marketplace shopping mall are getting ready to start their day.

Lane Bryant Inc. boasts itself for being the largest plus-size retailer in the entire United States. With over 440 stores across 46 states, only Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, and Wyoming are the few states without one. So chances are you've shopped at a mall that has one.

It's also a company that employs thousands of workers, from part-time to full-time employees, store managers and assistant managers, seasonal employees for the busy holiday season, corporate employees, buyers, security workers. A lot of people call Lane Bryant their career home. Prior to 2008, when you thought about Lane Bryant, you thought of plus-size fashion trends, a staple in many American shopping malls.

But after February 2008, you might only think about the five people who were shot and killed inside of one of its stores and how the gunman is still at large today. The Brookside Marketplace Shopping Mall in Tinley Park is the perfect location for a shopping center its size. It's right off the I-80 freeway, so it's easy to get in and out. And it's only about 30 miles southwest of downtown Chicago in Cook County.

It first opened its stores in 2005 and quickly became a shopping megacenter with stores like Target, Kohl's, Dick's Sporting Goods, Best Buy, almost every popular store you could think of. And because it's easy freeway access, popular stores, good places to eat, the Brookside Marketplace Mall took off quickly. One of those stores was Lane Bryant.

On the morning of Saturday, February 2nd, 2008, the store's general manager, 42-year-old Rhoda McFarland, arrived at the store for the opening shift. She was also joined that morning by a part-time employee, who has remained anonymous, and we'll talk about why that is a little bit later on. Right at 10 o'clock, the two of them opened up shop for the day, and a few minutes later, two female customers entered the store to start their shopping.

About 15 minutes later, a man knocked on the store's back door, posing as a delivery person. It's a retail store at a busy shopping mall, so they get delivery people all the time for different things. He talked with two of the employees and customers for a few minutes, and everything seemed just fine. A normal delivery guy making a normal delivery. But in an instant, everything changed, and it became anything but a normal delivery.

The man pulled out a gun from his jacket, announced this was a robbery, and led the employees and customers to the back of the store. While all of this was happening, two more female customers entered the store, completely unaware of the gunman. So as soon as a suspect saw them, he ordered them to get to the back of the store as well.

Now, to keep track, that's a total of seven people, the gunman, two employees, the store manager and the part-time employee, and four female customers. We'll talk about who they are in just a moment. Once everyone was in the back room, the suspect ordered all of them to get on the ground with their face to the floor. He then tied their hands behind their backs with duct tape.

Now somehow, someway, at 1044, Rhoda McFarlane, the store manager, was able to quietly call 911 on her cell phone. She did this while the suspect was somewhere in the store and her hands were tied behind her back. Here's clips of that 911 call.

911 emergency. Are you Brian? No! No! It's up here. Thank you for your help. See you in a bit.

So a lot of this call is hard to understand, and it's only clips put together. But Rhoda's whispering, you can sort of hear the suspect in the back, but it's all very hard to understand.

Now, at some point, the gunman sees that Rhoda has called for police. And that's when you can hear on the call him saying something like, I'm losing it and this is bullshit. So before we talk about what happened next, let's discuss this 911 call. Because anytime we have one in a case like this, it's almost always important.

The first is Rhoda. This 911 call is chilling for so many reasons, but I find it especially disturbing because right after she places this call for help, she's murdered. Maybe she doesn't know it at the time. Maybe she thinks the police are going to be able to get to her, but she still had the wherewithal to do something and call for help.

She risked her life by getting on the cell phone, calling the police to try to save herself and these other women. But the other thing about the 911 call, the gunman. We get to hear his voice. Even though it's really difficult to understand most of it, we still have his voice, which may or may not be important somewhere down the road. Anytime you can get an audio clip of the suspect's voice, that's huge.

So after this 911 call is placed, the suspect begins shooting the women execution style at around 1046. He went one by one and killed all but one of them. Then once the gunman believed that they were all dead, he ran out of the store. Now all of this happened at what we believe was 1046 a.m., which is a very important timestamp to remember here.

That's because 1046, that's when the first responding officers from the Tinley Park Police Department got to that store, 1046. So this means the suspect was able to get out of the store within seconds of the cops getting there. They probably even crossed paths with each other and not even known it.

It's possible the shooter walked right in front of them, but the cops were so busy trying to respond to the scene that they didn't even notice. Now, some people might consider that a huge mistake on behalf of the police, but others might say it's a chaotic scene and these things can happen. But all we know is that the shooter left the Lane Bryant store at pretty much the same exact time the cops got there.

So after they arrived, the police immediately blocked all entrances to the mall, and all the other stores were put on lockdown. But if the shooter was already gone, then all of this might have been for nothing. He's already gone.

By 11 o'clock, the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force was activated, and eight armed officers positioned themselves in the adjacent Target store. Then across all the shopping center, other police officers searched the other stores looking for a possible suspect.

Maybe after he left the Lane Bryant store, he went inside one of the other retailers, which we now know probably didn't happen. If the suspect went into another store to blend in, he didn't commit another shooting. He could have just blended in with the rest of the shoppers. We don't know.

Beyond the perimeter of the mall, the police also used helicopters to search the surrounding area. And on top of that, Interstate 80 was heavily patrolled looking for any suspicious vehicles.

So that's all to say this was an all hands on deck investigation. We've got a shooter on the run. We've got multiple victims. We don't know the motive here. So after this, is this guy going to go shoot up another store, a bank? Nobody knows at this point.

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While the search for the gunman heated up, the police and paramedics finally got inside the Lane Bryant store and were immediately confronted with a massacre. Almost all the women were dead. Only one of them managed to survive. The part-time employee who pretended to play dead so that the shooter wouldn't shoot her twice. She was shot once, but it wasn't fatal. So she just laid on the floor, played dead until he was gone and the cops showed up.

So that's why her name, age, identity, everything's been kept a secret. She's the only survivor from all of this. But among the dead were 42-year-old Rhoda McFarlane, the store manager who called 911, 34-year-old Jennifer Bishop from South Bend, Indiana, 33-year-old Carrie Chusow,

22-year-old Sarah Szafranski from Oak Forest, and 37-year-old Connie Woolfolk. They were all customers who just showed up that morning to go shopping. So who are these innocent people? Rhoda McFarlane was born Rhoda Hamilton on January 10, 1966. She grew up in a rather large family. She had three brothers and a sister.

Anyone who knew her described her as hardworking, kind, and smart. She graduated from Lyons Township High School in 1984, and then shortly after that, went into the Air Force. That's where she would eventually become a nurse practitioner.

After she left the Air Force, she returned to Chicago and became very involved in her local church. She even got a job there and was credited for creating several youth programs. She also became a full-time ordained minister, but she would eventually leave that position after reported disagreements with the other church leaders. This is something that we're going to touch on again a little bit later in the episode once we get into some of the theories.

By the time she was in her mid-40s, she found herself divorced and looking to start a new career. And that's when she found Lane Bryant. At first, she only intended to work there until she found something better. It was just meant to be a stepping stone. But as soon as she was offered a store manager position, she jumped on it. It's a good company, stable, good money. It checked all the boxes.

34-year-old Jennifer Bishop was from South Bend, Indiana, and unlike the others killed, she left behind several young children. Three of them were under the age of eight. She was known by family and friends as Jenny and worked at South Bend's Memorial Hospital as an intensive care nurse. By all accounts, she was an adored co-worker and had worked at the hospital for over a decade.

Before the shooting, Jenny had traveled to Tinley Park with her husband, who was attending a work conference in town later that day. So to pass time, she decided to stop into the Lane Bryant store to pick out a new outfit for the night. The third victim, 33-year-old Carrie Chusow, was from Frankfort, Illinois. She was newly married. She and her husband, Tony, had just tied the knot two years earlier and were talking about having kids.

She had earned both a bachelor's and master's degree and worked as a social worker, helping at-risk children at the same high school she graduated from. Like Jennifer Bishop, she had stopped by the Lane Bryant store to pick out an outfit for that night. She had plans to meet up with an old college friend and wanted to look nice.

Sarah Szafranski, the youngest of the victims, was just 22. She was the oldest of three kids from Oak Forest and had just graduated from Northern Illinois University in May of 2007. She even had a job lined up for her. She had gone into the store that morning looking for new winter work clothes for this new job of hers. Next, 37-year-old Connie Woolfolk lived about eight miles from Tinley Park.

At the time she was killed, she worked overnights at Target. This was the same Target that shared the parking lot with that Lane Bryant store. She was working there just to make ends meet. But she also looked forward to starting a mortgage company with her mother. She also had two sons, who were 16 and 10 at the time of the shooting.

Now here's something else you should know about Connie. It's believed that she was the one who tried to fight the gunman that morning. She fought as hard as she could, not to just save herself, but also the other women. She had blood underneath her fingernails, and her body just looked like it had been beaten up. The reason she went to Lane Bryant that morning was because she needed an outfit for an upcoming girls' night out.

It was something she was really looking forward to because between work and taking care of her two sons, she didn't get much time to go out with friends. So everything we know at this point, these were completely innocent victims. Two were simply doing their jobs. They worked there to pay their bills. And others were just there shopping for new clothes, something that many of us do all of the time.

Now going back to the investigation, unfortunately, this particular Lane Bryant store didn't have any security cameras. To me, that's a little surprising. I feel like most retail stores have some type of surveillance cameras set up. Audio, video only, but this particular store didn't have anything. So the only video evidence the police had to work with were the cameras from the surrounding retail stores.

But here's the other piece of bad news. None of the cameras caught anything obvious. Now, there was some video evidence that we're going to talk about, but as far as concrete video proof of a gunman, there is none. The police also used scent dogs. Dogs were brought in to search the parking lots, but nothing turned up there.

Now circling back, at this point, the biggest lead the police have is the surviving victim, the employee who played dead. There are no cameras, no other witnesses that we know of, so this woman is it. It's also worth mentioning here that the police initially announced that everyone inside the store was shot and killed. They didn't publicly say that anyone survived at first.

No one knows why they initially withheld this information, but they did. Whatever the reason though, the police went to speak with her and this is what she had to say about the shooter. Support for this episode comes from Smart Labels. It's the new year and whether it's your new year's resolution to get more organized or it's just time for your annual cleanup, there

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She described him as being somewhere around 5'9", 230 to maybe 260 pounds. He was also wearing a black waist-length winter coat, a knit cap, and dark-colored denim jeans. So for the police, this was a pretty decent suspect description. Not only was this woman able to survive by playing dead, but she was also able to give a really good description of the suspect. To me, that's pretty remarkable.

So at the same time the manhunt continues, the police released more information about the case to the public. They said that the murder weapon was believed to be a .40 caliber Glock. Now, this was good because it told the public that at least the police knew what type of gun they were looking for. But on the other hand, a .40 caliber Glock is really, really common. There are so many of them out there.

So it wasn't like the shooter used a very unique or a very specific type of gun that maybe the police could easily track down. Glocks are virtually everywhere. So yes, we feel pretty good about what type of gun was used, but was there anything unique or special about it? Probably not.

After the police got the survivor's statements, she was released from the hospital. They had treated her for a gunshot wound to the neck and was right away put into protective custody. No one had any idea whether the gunman would try to come back and finish the job. That's also why they kept her identity a secret. All we know is that she worked part-time at the Lane Bryant store and also worked part-time somewhere else while attending nursing school.

She was also from the Chicago suburban area. But beyond that, we don't know her name or anything else. Let's talk more about what she remembers. Not only did she provide the police with that physical description, but she also explained to them exactly what happened.

Let's not forget, had she not played dead, we wouldn't have any of these details. There are no cameras, no audio beyond that 911 call, and no other witnesses. So this woman is not only a true hero, but she's also a vital piece of evidence here. She said that the shooter wasn't wearing a mask or trying to disguise his face in any type of way.

So right away, this triggers some red flags. Why wouldn't he want to try to conceal his face? She also said she thought the guy, quote, fondled one of the victims, but it wasn't described as a sexual assault. And beyond this, quote, fondling, she said that none of the other women were inappropriately touched.

Now, as far as who might have been fondled, I don't know. I've read some pretty conflicting reports about who exactly was touched, and if the police released that information, I wasn't able to find it. Next up, she said that as soon as he found out that Rhoda had called 911, that's when he began shooting them. And had she not played dead after being shot, she would have been gone too.

So on top of overcoming her physical injuries, she was shot in the neck. She also had the emotional side to deal with, the survivor's guilt. Not long after the shooting, she released an open letter to the families of the victims. The letter was published by the Tinley Park Police and reads, quote,

On Saturday, February 2nd, an unspeakable tragedy occurred and five of the bravest women I have ever met were senselessly murdered and taken from their families. My deepest sympathies and condolences go out to their families and friends. Please know that during the events of that day, their thoughts were focused on you and coming home.

My heart aches that they were unable to do so, and I am working with the authorities in any way possible for all the victims. I ask that the media please respect all of our families and allow us to grieve and cope privately with the horrific crime that ripped our worlds apart. I also ask that everyone respect that neither I nor my family can discuss the horrible events of that day.

So after getting this additional information from her, the police released the first composite sketch of the shooter to the media. They also told everyone what they thought about why this happened, the first theory.

They thought this was most likely a robbery gone wrong. The shooter was probably some drug addict. He needed to score some quick cash fast so that he can get his next fix. They had only taken about $200 in cash from the store, so drug money seemed to be the most likely explanation. They also thought it was possible the gunman was already high on drugs at the time. Who shoots this many people for just $200?

The answer? A drug addict who's high and needs drugs fast. Plus, why did he decide to target the store at the beginning of the day instead of the end? Most retail stores deposit their cash at the end of the night, not in the morning. So by the time the gunman went inside, there wouldn't be much cash, if any, inside the store.

Also, why Lane Bryant? Sure, it's a busy and popular store, but with a shopping center with places like Target, Best Buy, why didn't he target one of those bigger stores instead? Lane Bryant isn't exactly the place you think of when wanting to score some cash. Well, maybe he knew he could get in and out pretty quickly, and the on-ramp to the freeway was super close to the store.

So maybe he thought he could get in, get the money, and hop on the freeway before the police were even called. But here's another strange detail. The shooter was in the store for close to 30 minutes. What was he doing in there for so long? If robbery was the motive, why not just get in, get the little amount of cash that was in there at the beginning of the day, and then get the heck out of Dodge? What took him so long?

So that's another really, really strange detail about this case. There's also the murders themselves. Did he decide to shoot them because Rhoda called the police and he knew the women would be able to identify him? We know he wasn't wearing a mask, so at least one of them could probably identify him. But if robbery wasn't the motive, the police weren't sure what else it could be.

The only other explanation they thought of was maybe the gunman knew one of the victims and this was a targeted attack. So all of the victim's family members and friends were interviewed to see if this could be a viable theory, but nothing really stood out. If one of the victims had any enemies, no one who cared about them knew.

And based on the timeline, with the shooter being in the store for about 30 minutes, none of the women said they recognized him. If one of them knew him, the survivor would have said something about that. Now, the only personal connection they found involved Rhoda McFarland. But even that was a stretch. The police knew that she left her church position because of some personal disputes with the other church leaders.

So the idea became, was this some type of retaliation for her leaving the church? Or did it have something to do with a personal dispute there? Well, the police followed up on this and they really didn't find any supporting evidence. I also feel like if Rhoda knew the gunman, she would have said something about it on that 911 call.

Now, I guess it's possible that someone from the church could have hired a hitman, but that theory doesn't really make much sense either. Because why also take the cash? Why shoot the other people? If Rhoda McFarlane was the primary target because of this church conflict, why wouldn't he just shoot and kill her? So this theory just doesn't really make sense to me, and it doesn't make sense to a lot of other people.

One week after the shooting, a candlelight vigil was held at a local business called Angels Among Us, and a $60,000 reward was being offered for anyone with information. $50,000 of that reward was offered up by Lane Bryant. But despite the awareness, the reward money, everything, the shooter still remained at large, which is extremely rare in these types of mass shootings.

Now, over the course of the first month of the investigation, the police reportedly received around 1,500 tips, but none of them led to any arrests. And there was a real fear out there in the community that we would never find this guy. If they could somehow avoid capture after a full month, then it became a real possibility that he would get away for good.

As time went on, a few different things happened. Detectives from the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force were reassigned to other cases.

Tinley Park police officers got new cases to investigate. And life just went on. Nobody forgot about the shooting, how could you? But there were other crimes that needed to be investigated too. More shootings. More murder victims to find justice for. So it wasn't like people forgot. Life just went on.

As part of the investigation, the Tinley Park Police released several still photographs that were pulled from surveillance cameras at the Target store next door. And in several of the photographs, a dark colored SUV and sedan are seen in the parking lot at the same time the shooting happened. They showed up at 1039 and 1040 respectively.

This means that both of them got there just minutes before Rhoda's call to 911, and they left just minutes afterward. Now, the police didn't say whether they thought this was the gunman's car or not. They just wanted the public's help in finding the owners so that they could sit down and speak with them.

I think the most likely theory is that one of them could be the shooter's getaway driver. But it's also possible it's not, and that neither one of these cars has anything to do with the case. So despite releasing these photographs, having them forensically enhanced by NASA, they were never able to track down the owners, at least not yet.

Other evidence included a coffee cup, which apparently had been carried into the store by the shooter, according to the survivor. Even though the police have not confirmed that they do in fact have a coffee cup, it's been speculated that they were able to get the killer's DNA.

They also might have gotten his DNA from the blood found underneath one of the victim's fingernails. So let's stop there and talk about this because, in my opinion, these are the two biggest pieces of forensic evidence that we have in this entire case. According to several different news reports, this has led the police to confirm two things. One, the gender of the suspect, male, and his ethnicity.

But beyond that, the DNA has not generated a match yet, since we know the gunman is still out there. So if the police have DNA, either from the coffee cup or the victim's fingernail scrapings, they know they're looking for a male and they know his ethnicity. But here's the problem with forensic evidence. You can find it everywhere at a crime scene. Maybe it's a latent fingerprint, blood, whatever it is.

but you have to have a known sample to compare it to. Otherwise, that piece of forensic evidence might not be very helpful. So when it comes to the shooter in this case, if the police have his DNA, they don't have a sample to compare it to yet. His DNA also isn't in the system. They haven't found a match there.

or they were never able to get DNA in the first place, either from that coffee cup or the fingernail scrapings. And since this information has not been confirmed by the Tinley Park Police, we can only speculate about whether they have DNA or not. When it comes to the other forensic evidence, here's what the police have beyond DNA.

Almost all the bullets and shell casings were recovered from the crime scene. That's how they know that the killer used a .40 caliber semi-automatic Glock. We also know that he took the gun with them because only the shell casings and bullets were found at the crime scene, not the actual gun.

So to try and find it, the police searched everywhere. Bodies of water nearby, trash cans, wooded areas, anywhere they could think of that might be a good place to dump a gun used in a mass shooting. It seems likely the shooter would want to get rid of it, but no traces of the actual gun have been found yet.

The shooter either successfully got rid of it for good or he still has it with him. Now, there's also the possibility of fingerprints. If the police recovered the bullets, there's a chance that the shooter's prints might be on them from handling them. It's also been rumored that the police recovered a potential suspect's shoe print on the day of the shooting.

So we're looking for a black male between 25 and 35, 5'9 to 6 feet tall, clean shaven, a little husky, somewhere between 220, 230, maybe 250 pounds.

puffy cornrow hair with one of the strands having a four light green beads on the end of it, no visible scars or tattoos, and was wearing a dark colored winter coat, a dark gray knit cap, black jeans that had rhinestones on the back pocket, which according to the survivor, the rhinestones looked like they were in the shape of a cursive G.

We also might have his DNA, fingerprints, and a shoe print. But even more than just the physical description, the police also have and they've used criminal profilers to come up with a possible suspect profile. This is also what many other forensic psychologists have said about who the shooter might be.

The same two criminal profilers who also worked on the Unabomber case believe the shooter has been incarcerated before. They think he's probably been to prison before simply because of the way how it was so easy and he shot these women so indiscriminately he had to have been to prison before.

He knew they could identify him, and he didn't want to go back to prison. So the only way to make sure of that was to kill them. They also speculated about things like, did this individual feel like he's been mistreated by society? We know from research that a lot of mass shooters feel like this, and their attacks are often motivated because they feel mistreated by society.

Has he been in trouble since the shooting? Has he been sentenced to jail or prison? One of the profilers said this about that, quote, If he, the gunman, feels that anyone is in a position to help the police catch him, he will kill again. Even if it's his girlfriend or a relative or someone else that's close to him, he's still very dangerous, end quote.

Then there's, is he from the Chicago area? Did he know he was going to target that particular shopping center because he's been there before? Does he have some type of delivery experience? And that's why he was able to convince the workers that he was legit. Maybe he drove for UPS or some other delivery service so he would know exactly what to do once he got into the store.

Is he impulsive? Was he just so desperate for money that he was willing to do anything and everything possible to get it? Was he really a drug addict like the police initially believed? Did he just need to score a little bit of drug money and didn't care who died or got in his way? He also has some very clear weaknesses. A major lack of sophistication shows with a crime like this.

Why try to rob a store in broad daylight at approximately 1030 in the morning with no mask on, all for $200? None of that screams that this is a criminal with any type of sophistication or experience. So maybe he checks some of the boxes, or maybe he doesn't. This is just what many criminal profilers and experts in forensic psychology believe we're looking for.

In 2018, a new 3D composite sketch of the shooter was made public. This was right around the 10-year anniversary. The new images were enhanced versions of the original sketch created back in 2008.

The hope was this new 3D image would be a lot more lifelike and could possibly jog someone's memory or cause someone to call in a possible tip after seeing these new images and thinking that they recognize the gunman. This was also around the same time the police released the full 911 call.

And both the audio of this call and 3D sketches can be found on the Tinley Park Police website if you want to check them out for yourself. This now brings us to today, 2025. The Tinley Park Police Department is still the agency in charge of the case 16 years later.

They've reportedly received close to 10,000 tips and have gotten help from the Illinois State Police, the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force, the Secret Service, and the FBI. They even got help from NASA, who helped them forensically enhance those target surveillance images of the two vehicles seen in the parking lot at the same time of the shooting.

So with all of these tips, law enforcement partners, possible DNA belonging to the shooter, will the Lane Bryant shooting ever be solved?

According to an October 2024 article by Fox News, two new detectives have recently been assigned to the case, which means we could be getting closer and closer and arrest might happen at any moment. Other newspapers like ABC7 Chicago say a break could come from the digital evidence in the case, like the 911 call of the shooter's voice,

or his digital footprint in the area. And it's only a matter of time before we find that digital footprint. If they can use advanced technology to find out who is in the area at the time of the shooting, we might be able to identify this guy.

So here's a breakdown of what I think could solve this case. 1. DNA. That seems to be the most obvious one. If we got it from that coffee cup, fingernail scrapings, or anywhere else, DNA seems to be our best shot. If we can't find an exact match, maybe this is a good case and a good candidate for genetic genealogy.

Let's take whatever DNA might exist and run it through DNA databases to look for relatives of the shooter. The same process, same technology that we used to catch the Golden State Killer in California a few years back.

If the criminal profilers are correct and this individual either has been arrested before or after the shooting, let's see if we can get that DNA tested, if it even exists at all. Number two, identify those two vehicles. We know they were in that Target parking lot, the same parking lot that is adjacent to the Lane Bryant store. They were in that lot when the shooting happened.

So let's do everything we can and everything possible to identify the drivers. They might be the getaway cars. Or they might have nothing to do with it at all. But let's keep searching. Keep releasing the images, enhancing them with new forensic technology, whatever can be done. Because I've got a hunch that at least one of these vehicles might know something. We just gotta find the driver.

Number three, the 911 call. Maybe technology is out there to really enhance the audio and use it to find the suspect, maybe through comparison or maybe through something else.

If the technology isn't out there now, let's work on creating something. We have the killer's voice. Let's use it. Maybe you, maybe one of my listeners has some type of experience with forensic audio enhancements. If that's you, I would love to hear from you. Now, number four, the gun or the shell casings.

We have the shell casings. We know what type of gun was used, a Glock. If we can recover the murder weapon, we can use it to compare it to the shells found at the crime scene.

maybe the gun will be recovered during the commission of another crime, or it's going to turn up a different way. However it happens, those shell casings can be forensically compared to a potential murder weapon, if we can just find it. And finally, number five. The Tinley Park police have been extremely tight-lipped about what forensic evidence they actually have.

that tells me they probably do have something. Whatever that piece of forensic evidence might be, DNA, hair, fingerprints, anything else, let's get it tested. And if we don't get any immediate results, let's send it somewhere else and get it retested using different technology, genetic genealogy just being one of those options.

That shooter is out there somewhere, whether he's still alive or dead, whether he's in jail or not, he's out there. So that means there's at least one person who knows who shot and killed all of those innocent women. We just need to find that one critical piece of forensic evidence.

In the aftermath of what happened, the Lane Bryant Tinley Park Memorial Fund was created on February 6, 2008, and the company offered to pay all of the victims' funerals. The building itself where the shooting took place remained unused until November 2013, when TJ Maxx took it over and turned it into a retail outlet.

Anyone with information about the unsolved Lane Bryant murders is asked to contact the Tinley Park Police at 708-444-7867. You can also submit tips to the Cook County Crime Stoppers Unit at 1-800-535-7867.

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