Year in Review: Tornado Hits Grayslake; Gliniewicz Coverage

Photo caption: Grayslake Patch Facebook follower Janelle Yaeger shared this photo of a tornado touching down in Grayslake in August. Yaeger says, “It bobbed up and down for several minutes before touching down.” Photo credit: Janelle Yeager

Here is a look at the top ten most read stories from 2015:

1. Police: Man Attempted to Kill Woman Who ‘Annoyed Him’ Before Movie Date: A 24-year-old Vernon Hills woman was critically injured following the January attack outside a Deer Park theater. A teen she thought was taking her to a movie instead stabbed her multiple times in the theater’s parking lot.
2. Tornado Reported in Grayslake: A tornado reportedly touched down in Grayslake in August and is to blame for blowing off pieces of the Grayslake Central High School roof.
3. UPDATE: EF-1 Tornado with 90-to-100-MPH Winds Confirmed in Lake County: Patch readers were definnitely interested in our coverage of this tornado. In this follow-up article, weather officials confirm that a tornado in fact did touch down in Grayslake.
4. Grayslake Norther Cheerleader, Her Father Killed in Weekend Crash: This was a heart-breaking story from this past year. Haylie Winiewicz, 15, and her father, Christopher Winiewicz, 50, both of Lindenhurst, were killed after the car they were in collided with a pick-up truck near Lindenhurst.
5. Attention-Seeking Nanny Disrupted Search for Cop Killers: Police: This is a story that broke in the days following the shooting death of Fox Lake Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz (when police still believed they were looking for three men suspected of killing the veteran cop). The woman is accused of making a false report that forced police to swarm Volo in search of the suspects.
6. Fox Lake Board to Decide Pension Benefits for Gliniewicz Family: This topic received a lot of interest from readers during a time when police were still investigating whether Gliniewicz was killed in the line of duty. We would later learn that he ended up staging his murder after stealing from the Fox Lake Explorers program for years.
7. Police Seek Person of Interest for Murder of Woman Near Grayslake: News broke in September that police were searching for a 30-year-old man accused of killing a 46-year-old woman near Grayslake.
8. Grayslake Central Ranked Among Best High Schools in Nation: Newsweek: Great news for Grayslake Central!
9. Photos from Storm, Damage in Grayslake, Lake County: More from our coverage of the tornado that touched down in Grayslake.
10. Grayslake Woman Attacks Metra Conductor After Argument Over Train Fare: Police: The woman is accused of grabbing a Metra conductor’s hair and throwing her off the train and onto the platform.

Thanks for reading in 2015! Be sure to sign up for the Grayslake Patch newsletter and follow us on Facebook to continue to get the latest in Grayslake news in 2016. You can sign up other Chicago-area Patch newsletters here. Have a happy holiday season and a wonderful New Year! - Amie Schaenzer, Grayslake Patch editor, amie.schaenzer@patch.com