Pilcher Park Bench To Remember Murder Victim: GoFundMe

JOLIET, IL - Just a few years ago, Marissa Koziel was busy running to class at Lincoln-Way Central like other teenagers trying to find their place in the world. Koziel made her friends smile. She was caring and kind, a fun person to be around. "Marissa was my absolute best friend," remarked Madison Gill of New Lenox. "She was beautiful, a very loving young girl."

On Feb. 23, a group of kids walking along a lonely stretch of California Avenue on Joliet's far east side made a grim discovery. That Friday afternoon, the kids stumbled across Koziel's body. The killer may have dumped her there several days earlier. On Feb. 14, her family had reported her missing to the Manhattan Police Department.

The Will County Coroner's Office ruled her death a homicide. Someone had ended the 21-year-old woman's life with a single bullet to her head.

The Will County Sheriff's Department is in charge of solving the violent crime. So far, the killer has eluded authorities, and that sickens the murder victim's best friend.

Koziel had lived around Manhattan at the time she went missing. She grew up in the Lincoln-Way area and had several friends around Joliet and throughout the Lincoln-Way region.

"For someone to do this to her and take her life away at such a young age, it's horrible," Gill told Joliet Patch on Wednesday. "I don't know how to describe it. It's just horrible. It's been really hard. What am I going to do without her for the next how many more years I live?"

Gill remains hopeful that her best friend's slaying will not turn into a cold case. She realizes the person who fatally shot Koziel will never walk into the Will County Sheriff's building, pull up a chair and confess. On the other hand, she wonders if there's a friend or an acquaintance who knows the killer's identity but has chosen to zip their lips, for now anyway.

"If someone has information they're withholding," Gill said, "please talk to the Will County Sheriff's Department about it and say something if someone you know did it."

Intuition tells her that the killer may be the type to brag about committing the slaying. "I believe that someday whoever did this will be caught," Gill said. "And I just want justice for Marissa. I definitely do think they are still working on putting their all into it."

On Wednesday night, Joliet Patch spoke with Will County Sheriff's Deputy Chief Dan Jungles to ask about the status of the unsolved murder probe.

Jungles said Koziel's case remains a high priority for Will County, and it's being actively investigated. "It is still open, and we're working on it. We still have some individuals we need to interview.

"We still have some evidence that we want to come back from the crime lab."

Generally speaking, Jungles said, in many murder cases, police detectives get a flood of leads and tips during the first few days of the investigation, but as days and weeks pass, fewer people take the initiative to contact police. He agrees with Gill's suggestion that the killer may not be the type to stay silent about the crime. Oftentimes, violent criminals do like to "brag to their friends," he said.

"People do talk," Jungles said. "That's one of the ways to get information."

More than anything, Gill said, she wants to see her best friend's killer unmasked, thrown in the Will County Jail and charged by State's Attorney James Glasgow's Office. In the meantime, she also wants to create a lasting memorial to honor her best friend.

She recently created a GoFundMe account. She is seeking a modest amount, $1,500, to have a bench located at the Pilcher Park Nature Center in Joliet.

"I would like to do something in honor of her," Gill told Patch.

"Going to Pilcher with Marissa was something that we did often, and it became a cornerstone of our relationship," the GoFundMe page called Bench for Marissa Koziel reads. "Anything is greatly appreciated and I will make sure to invite everyone who donated to come check out the bench when it's done."

If you want to donate to the Pilcher Park memorial for the Joliet murder victim, please go here.

"It's just a small thing I can do for her and Pilcher Park was where we used to go with several of our friends," Gill told Patch.

So who does Gill think might have killed her friend?

"I wish I could picture in my mind who could this person be," she said. "From my perspective, they're horrible. In my mind, they took away my best friend."

ORIGINAL STORY: Body Dumped In Joliet Was Murder Victim

Image of Marissa Koziel via GoFundMe