1990 Murder Of Will County Sheriff's Deputy Still Unsolved

JOLIET, IL - In Will County, some murder cases seem destined to stay unsolved. On Oct. 4, 1990, 28-year-old Robin Abrams vanished. Patch reported that she was last seen at a gas station near the corner of Jefferson Street and Larkin Avenue. Her red 1989 Dodge Daytona hatchback later turned up in Harvey. Two men who are still alive remain at the center of the criminal probe into her disappearance and her death, though her body was never found. Abrams had worked at the Will County Sheriff's Department, but the sheriff's administration during that dark period was hardly energetic about getting her killer off the street.

On Nov. 10, 2013, U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski sent a letter to Inspector General Ricardo Meza in Chicago "respectfully asking that an investigation be initiated into this case."

"... Ms. Abrams was hired as a Will County Deputy Sheriff in January 1988," the Illinois Congressman's letter states. "During that time she was involved in an affair with Tony Marquez, who was in charge of the Will County Sheriff Department's Auxiliary Police force.

"When she learned he was married and tried to end the affair he became abusive, forcing her to seek an order of protection against him. That action began a campaign by Mr. Marquez and other members of the police force of false complaints and false arrests," Congressman Lipinski's November 2013 letter explained.

In 1989, Abrams filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Will County Sheriff's Department. John Johnsen was sheriff at the time. Other men named in her lawsuit were: Marquez, Robert Brown, Charles Misicka, Thomas Carey, Lawrence Lauffer, Raymond van Dyke and Anthony Luccenti.

"Abrams was fired from her position just weeks before she finished her probationary period," Lipinski's letter stated. "She was scheduled to appear at a deposition (in) October, 1990. On October 4, 1990, Ms. Abrams went missing. Her car and personal belongings were recovered. Ms Abrams has not been seen since then. Will County Prosecutors believed Abrams was a homicide victim."

Now, it's been 13 months since a home in Joliet in the 100 block of South Margaret Street, where John Romo, the stepbrother of Marquez, had poured the concrete in the basement, was dug up by FBI agents and the Illinois State Police. The State Police have told the Abrams family that Marquez and his stepbrother are suspects in her disappearance, according to Jody Walsh, the sister of Robin Abrams.

UNSUCCESSFUL DIG

Last March, Patch reported that the search failed to turn up the missing woman's skeletal remains. According to Walsh, a human bone was recovered at the property. "I was really believing she was there and my hopes were deflated when they told us it was an Indian bone," Walsh told Joliet Patch recently.

She said that cadaver dogs from Quantico, Virginia were brought into Joliet for the event. She said the dogs got multiple hits in the basement, but, "all that guy found was a 1,200-year-old bone from an Indian. That's what they told us. It's my belief that she was there. We believe she was killed there and moved out to another place, near Monee and then Manhattan."

EXPERT HELP REJECTED

Walsh said the most frustrating aspect of the almost 28-year-old unsolved murder is how the lead agency, the Illinois State Police, has shown an unwillingness to seek qualified expert help.

One of the country's leading experts on prosecuting no-body murder cases, former federal prosecutor Tad DiBiase of Washington, D.C, has offered to assist in reviewing their case files. However, Illinois State Police have turned down his help, Walsh said. Efforts to bring in Pennsylvania cold case consultant Kenneth Mains, founder of the American Investigative Society of Cold Cases, were also turned down, she said.

"There's been at least four outside (experts) that wanted to help our family, and due to the laws that are in place, the Illinois State Police have the case, so it's their call. They get to call the shots," Walsh said.

"With all the evidence, the family is puzzled on why they won't accept the help from outside people. This case could have been solved a long time ago. All of us honestly believe that."

On a positive note, Walsh said, the Illinois State Police District 5 have assigned the case to special agent Anna Wasylyszyn, making her the first female detective to work on the unsolved homicide. "She's around Robin's age. She told us she will do everything in her power to bring this case to justice," Walsh said.

According to Walsh, the family believes that Wasylyszyn's supervisors at the Illinois State Police are in control of the investigation, and they don't want the case to move forward with an arrest. Walsh said she and her husband once threw State Police Lt. Jeffrey Padilla out of their house in Crestwood.

That day, she said, Padilla refused to accept documents in Walsh's possession as well as court records that pointed to Marquez and a possible burial ground in Monee. "We can't go on theories and speculation," is what she remembers as Padilla's reasoning for refusing to sign for the paperwork.

She said that Padilla, among others at the state police, have reminded the family that you "only get one shot to try them for murder," Walsh said.

"And I have our family's reply to that. Our family's reply is, "Just Do It!" Walsh said, raising her voice. "The evidence speaks for itself. Marquez was stalking my sister, and he still has to answer for it because he hasn't yet."

In September 2012, former Joliet Patch Editor Joseph Hosey visited Marquez at his Elwood home. Marquez refused to discuss Abrams at that time.

"Sorry sorry sorry," Marquez said. "Zero."

CASE HAS STALLED AGAIN

It's now been more than a year since the last big development, the excavation in Joliet. No arrests resulted. The homicide investigation has not made any major strides since, Walsh said.

On Sunday night, Walsh told Joliet Patch that her family has not been contacted or updated by the Illinois State Police on the progress of the case since April 2017.

Patch asked her why she believes the investigation is moving at a snail's pace.

"Well, it was one of their own," Walsh said, referring to the fact that Marquez and the Will County Sheriff's Department was suspected of being involved in her death and hiding her body.

"It's a brotherhood. The good ole boys. They run deep, and they cross the boundaries. 'You wash my back. I'll wash yours.' They're like kissing cousins of the South. But their dirty little secrets will be revealed one day."

Several Patch articles also identify Marquez as being a Joliet businessman.

"He was an auxiliary officer at the time, but he was best friends with Will County Sheriff John Johnsen, who was also my sister's boss, and he was running for re-election and she had a lawsuit against them at the time," Walsh explained.

But after more than 27 years without an arrest, why would the state police be reluctant to receive outside help from nationally renowned police and scientific experts, Patch asked the victim's sister.

"Pride and ego and incompetence. That's how we feel about it," Walsh said. "The cover-up still goes on."

THE ROMO ENCOUNTER

Within the past two years, Walsh learned that Romo frequented the VFW Hall off Laraway Road in Joliet. She went to the club and got permission to display missing person fliers of her sister. When she returned at a later date, Romo was at the bar hanging out with his wife, she said.

"I walked up to him and I says, 'Are you John Romo?" Walsh recalled.

"'He wouldn't say a word. His wife stepped in to defend him, and I was asked to leave the VFW Hall."

Walsh said the missing person flier was no longer being displayed at the VFW.

"Those pictures were taken down because I was asking about John Romo," she said. "An employee at the bar told me that."

So how did Romo react to the face to face encounter, decades after her sister's murder?

"He had no expression," Walsh told Patch. "It was like dead. Dead eyes is all I could describe. He knew damn well who I was."

NOT GIVING UP YET

Walsh said her sister's unsolved Will County murder case shows that some violent crimes are less important for the police to solve than others, especially when the crime involves the police in Will County.

"We got nothing for Robin. It's like she just disappeared off the face of the earth," Walsh said. "I'm hoping to keep it in the news. Maybe someone who knew about it would come and clear their conscience so we can bring her home. John Romo is getting old, so is Tony Marquez. They are going to be meeting their maker soon. Get it off their conscience."

Walsh provided Patch with a letter she sent to Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow around 2012. An excerpt from that letter states, "I know you are a busy man and have a lot on your plate at this time. But sir if you can recall you gave a promise to my mother Barbara Abrams that you will do all you can to bring justice for Robin."

During a March 2015 interview, State's Attorney Spokesman Chuck Pelkie said the Abrams investigation remained active. "It's a case that's still under review," Pelkie said. "The state's attorney said the Robin Abrams case and a number of other cases will be looked at."

Walsh applauded Congressman Lipinski for taking a sincere interest in her sister's case and in exposing corruption at the Will County Sheriff's Department. However, she does not know whether the Office of the Executive Inspector General for the Agencies of Illinois ever conducted a probe into the Abrams case as the Illinois congressman's letter sought.

"I would respectfully request that an investigation be initiated into this case," Lipinski's November 2013 letter stated. "According to other documents enclosed herein, this case of harassment is not an aberration within this department, but common practice. There is no reason that I can see that a murder case should lie dormant for 23 years. If not for her sister, this case would never have come to light."

Images via John Ferak/Joliet Patch Editor