28 Unsolved Murders In Joliet Since 2013

JOLIET, IL — When it comes to solving violent crime, 2013 was an outstanding year at the Joliet Police Department. That January, Joliet's detectives quickly nabbed Adam Landerman, Joshua Miner along with their girlfriends for the Nightmare on Hickory Street deaths of Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover Jr.

Most of the 2013 homicides led to an arrest, including the mysterious disappearance of 59-year-old Black Road resident Joan Smith that October. Her son, Shane Smith, a hardened ex-convict, was arrested for her first-degree murder. He had suffocated his mother, put her body into a trash bag and disposed of her dead body into Joliet's canal. Last year, Shane Smith pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 32 years in prison.

But in more recent years, Joliet's investigation unit has not had the same rate of success of solving murders quickly. Nationally, crime statistics show, if a murder remains unsolved after more than a month, the odds of the killer being caught diminish.

Murders that remain unsolved after a year or longer have an even more dismal outlook at being solved. In 2015, NPR published a special report called Open Cases: Why One-Third Of Murders In America Go Unresolved.

"Those (uncleared) homicides tend to occur in poor communities, minority communities," University of Maryland criminologist Charles Wellford told NPR. "What is the impact of an unsolved homicide when those unsolved homicides are primarily in the very communities (where) we're trying to build stronger relationships with law enforcement?"

Through the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, Joliet Patch obtained five calendar years of homicide data, 2013 through 2017, through the Will County Coroner's Office. The data includes the victim's name, age, location of murder and how they died.

Next, Patch cross-referenced the homicide data with all known news media coverage of these homicides, utilizing news archives from Joliet Patch, The Joliet Herald-News newspaper, Joliet's primary news radio station, 1340-WJOL and the Chicago Tribune. The analysis determined that there appears to be around 28 homicides that remain involved in the city of Joliet since 2013.

There is a chance the number of unsolved homicides could be higher because the Will County Coroner's Office does not list a case as a Will County homicide if the victim died in another county, regardless of whether the homicide was solved or not.

Such was the case of last December's solved homicide of little Cherish Freeman.

The nine-month-old baby was airlifted from Joliet's Presence Saint Joseph Medical Center to a children's trauma center in Oak Lawn where the child died on Christmas Eve. The Joliet Police Department arrested the baby's mother, Shanquilla Garvey, accusing her of throwing her at a dresser and then on the floor at the Bel-Air Motel on Joliet's Plainfield Road. Garvey has remained lodged in the Will County jail facing murder charges since Dec. 20, where she's being held without bail.

For purposes of this article, Joliet Patch analyzed only the murder cases being handled by the Joliet Police Department, the largest city in Will County. Therefore, any additional unsolved homicides handled by Will County's Sheriff's Department, Lockport Police or other nearby police agencies are not reflected in this Patch report.

ALIYAH SALAZAR, 17, VICTOR JOSE ARROYO, 15

Fatally shot about 20 minutes before midnight on New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, 2017. The two teens were sitting in the backseat of a 2017 Nissan Sentra transporting five people, including a 21-year-old driver from Joliet. The killings occurred on Rosalind Street, at Fairview's Public Housing complex. A GoFundMe to help the Arroyo family pay for their funeral costs nearly doubled its goal.

MILES STALLINGS, 34, killed Sept. 15, 2017, outside the Fairview Public Housing complex on Robin Lane. Stallings suffered multiple gunshot wounds near Fairmont Avenue. He was fatally shot just before 10:30 p.m. on a Friday night.

GREAT FALLS DRIVE TRIPLE MURDER

ANTHONY MCGEE, GABRIELLA RUEDA, EMMANUEL HERNANDEZ-ARROYO, all 22. During the early morning hours of Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, the three friends were all fatally shot inside McGee's family home on Great Falls Drive. Police have said McGee hosted a small party that night. McGee was an ex-convict with suspected gang ties. He was killed just a few months after his release from prison.

ANTON MABLE, 25.

Fatally shot shortly before 1 a.m., July 12, 2017 in the McDonald's parking lot on West Jefferson Street. Joliet Police have said that Mable and another person were sitting inside their 2013 Chrysler 200 when somebody fired several gunshot rounds at their car, striking Mable in the head. The killer ran off, heading northbound on Woodlawn Avenue. Mable previously lived in Chicago.

HOWARD BLANKENSHIP, 47.

Fatally shot on a Friday night, Jan. 27, 2017 as he and another man were parked in a car outside a barbershop at Ruby and Center Streets. Police found Blankenship slumped behind the wheel of a Buick.

DASEAN CLARK, 21.

Fatally shot in the stomach around 9 p.m. on New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, 2016. Clark was shot multiple times while sitting behind the wheel of a Hyundai Sonata. The shooting caused Clark to crash the car into the brick wall of a garage in the 400 block of Grover Street.

JAMES DAVIS "Curtis" WADDELL, 56.

Fatally shot on Friday night, Dec. 9, 2016 at the corner of McDonough and Ottawa Street. Waddell was pronounced dead shortly before 11 p.m. at St. Joe's hospital. Police said that a witness heard multiple gunshots and saw someone wearing a brown Carhartt jacket. "Curtis was a very strong willed individual, he loved animals and was especially fond of his family. Curtis worked in the manufacturing industry as an assembly line worker," his obituary handled by Minor-Morris Funeral Home reflected.

DINESTY TILLMAN, 23.

Fatally shot around 10:35 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016. She was driving a four-door Ford Fusion near the intersection of Washington and Richards Streets. Tillman's 21-year-old brother, a passenger in her car, was also covered in blood after being shot on his left arm. "Neither her nor her brother has any gang ties that we know of," deputy chief of investigations Al Roechner said at the time. "The only contacts we've had with either one of them is for traffic."

JONATHAN FAIRLEY, 25, CLARK TRAVIS, 49.

The two were shot multiple times in an alley near the 419 Sherman Street on Aug. 1, 2016. The two homicide victims were found inside a stolen maroon SUV shortly after 2 a.m. Travis was from Urbana; Fairley had an extensive criminal rap sheet in Joliet, past news articles reflect.

SEQUITA "Quita" WALSH, 34.

Fatally shot in the lower back shortly before midnight on July 9, 2016. Walsh was outside on a porch in the 500 block of South Joliet Street when the gunman reportedly walked around the corner from Jasper Street, approached a group of people on the porch and started shooting. Walsh was the only one hit, police said. "Quita attended local public schools and was recently employed as a home health care provider. She was known to many as a fun and outgoing person who enjoyed making others smile," her obituary noted.

JEEVIT RAI, 20.

Suffered multiple gunshots on Dec. 16, 2015 in the 100 block of South Briggs Street. Rai, formerly of Aurora, was shot around 6:05 p.m. After being mortally wounded, he walked into the Jam Food Mart asking the store clerk to call for an ambulance because he was shot. Rai then collapsed on the floor and was pronounced dead at Silver Cross Hospital.

ROBERT "Bobby" BARSKI, 60.

Fatally stabbed in his back and in his the side inside of his trailer in the Joliet trailer park off Cass Street, Criswell Court. Barski had been dead for some quite time before police were summoned on Oct. 13, 2015. Neighbors told Patch that "Bobby" was a "nice guy" who was quiet and kept to himself. His family was from Texas.

DAVID M. KELLY JR., 22.

Suffered multiple gunshot wounds on Sept. 13, 2015 in the 1400 block of Englewood Avenue, at the Fairview Public Housing complex. Kelly was found dead shortly 4:30 a.m. inside of a car near Cardinal Lane.

JOURDYN WILLIAMSON, 20.

Fatally shot in the head on March 10, 2015 near the 100 block of Mississippi Avenue. Williamson was a passenger in a car that got fired upon by several people. Williamson's car was headed to a convenience store on Richards Street at the time of her slaying. Her obituary states that "Jourdyn held two jobs, she was employed at Thomas Toyota as a porter supervisor and at Kmart as a cashier. She also had a dream to become a nurse and was getting ready to attend nursing school."

MICHAEL C. BROCK, 24, and CHINESICIA HILL-KING, 24.

Hill-King died of multiple gunshot wounds and her body was found on March 11, 2015 at a ditch near Brandon Road and Zurich Road. She had been missing for two months at the time of the gruesome discovery. As for her boyfriend, Michael C. Brock, he was found slain about the same time she disappeared. He was killed on Jan. 10, 2015 in the 500 block of South Ottawa Street. His body was found in an alley.

KEON KELLY, 30, TARIQ PURNELL, 17.

Kelly and Purnell were fatally shot in the 400 block of Strong Avenue on Dec. 2, 2014. According to past news coverage, the two were killed and an 18-year-old man was wounded during an ambush. The three were apparently going to visit a friend when someone opened fire on them as they exited their car.

DANTE CAMPBELL, 34.

Fatally shot several times on Joliet's east side. His dead body was discovered on a neighborhood sidewalk on Henderson Avenue near the 700 block of Chase Avenue on Nov. 27, 2014.

JONATHAN Q. ADAMS, 25.

Gunned down in the street on Joliet's south side early Saturday, July 19, 2014. Adams was still alive when police found him around 2:45 a.m. in the middle of Fourth Avenue near Richards Street. But he was unable to speak and died after surgery less than seven hours later.

MARKUS TANZY, 25.

Fatally shot on June 3, 2014 while on a porch in the 100 block of South Joliet Street, just a couple blocks away from the police station.

CHRISTOPHER PERRY JR., 24.

Found laying in the street around 6:20 p.m. on Jan. 22, 2014, a Tuesday night. Perry and another man, 23, were both targeted during a drive-by shooting. A passenger leaned out the window of a maroon SUV and fired upon the two men. Perry died of multiple gunshot wounds. Perry and the other man were shot as the two walked outside of Perry's residence in the 200 block of Hunter Avenue, on Joliet's west side. "Christopher was a very devoted, kind, and generous person. He always made sure he looked out for family and friends. He had a great sense of humor and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind when he thought something was wrong," his obituary at Minor-Morris Funeral Home stated.

JARROD MARKS, 43.

Just a month after arriving in Joliet after growing up on a small South Dakota Indian reservation, Marks died of multiple stab wounds on May 6, 2013. He was killed on a Sunday night or early Monday morning. His body was found on a Bluff Street sidewalk along a dark and secluded part of Bicentennial Park. Family members told Patch at the time that they knew he was with a group of people drinking Sunday night but they're at a loss as to how that could lead to murder. "Everybody's still in shock over the whole situation," one of his relatives said.

BEATRICE ORSBORNE, 47.

The Joliet woman was found dead on Sept. 26, 2013 between some houses along Richards Street. Her body was discovered in the 200 block of Richards Street near 2nd Avenue. She died after being strangled. Orsborne's criminal past -- in which her name was also spelled Orsborn -- shows she was arrested in 2011 on a possession of a controlled substance charge and in 2010 for driving under the influence of alcohol.