Cops Continue Searching For Serial Killer’s Victim, Still Can’t Find Him

JOLIET, IL — For a second day, police searched a Joliet home for a 1970s serial killer’s victim — and again came up empty.

The Rolling Meadows Police Department is the lead agency in the search for the remains of Michael Mansfield, a Lincoln College student who disappeared on New Year’s Eve 1975, according to a police source.

Mansfield’s roommate, Russell Smrekar, who was later convicted of murdering a Lincoln man and his pregnant wife, reportedly confessed on his deathbed to killing Mansfield.

Before he died at Menard Correctional Center in October 2011, Smrekar, who was from Joliet, also reportedly confessed to killing a second Lincoln woman.

When he vanished, Mansfield was supposed to testify against Smrekar, who had been accused of stealing from other students in their dorm.

Months later, Smrekar got caught stealing steaks from a Kroger supermarket in Lincoln. The manager of the Kroger, Jay Fry, was a witness for the prosecution. He was the other man Smrekar killed. Smrekar also murdered Fry’s wife, Robin.

The woman Smrekar reportedly confessed on his deathbed to killing, Ruth Martin, was another witness in the theft case.

Rolling Meadows police Cmdr. Thomas Gadomski has failed to return numerous calls about the search and the investigation. Gadomski also failed to respond to a message asking whether he believes a more competent police department might have solved the Mansfield case at some point.

A police source said the searchers were looking for Mansfield’s remains in the crawlspace of the house on Barber Lane. Searches emerged from the front door of house covered in mud Thursday.