Robin Abrams Disappeared 31 Years Ago From Will County

JOLIET, IL — Oct. 4 marked the 31st anniversary of Robin Abrams' disappearance. The missing 28-year-old Will County Sheriff's deputy from Beecher has never been found. Nobody was ever arrested in connection with her disappearance or presumed death.

Joliet Patch has written several articles about Abrams over the years.

At the time of her 1990 disappearance, Abrams had a pending federal civil rights lawsuit that accused several people at the Will County Sheriff's Office of sexual harassment and for bringing phony criminal charges against her as a way to humiliate her and get her fired.

Her lawsuit named then-Will County Sheriff John Johnsen as a co-defendant. Other deputies named in the lawsuit included Tony Marquez, Robert Brown, Charles Misicka, Thomas Carey, Lawrence Lauffer, Raymond van Dyke and Anthony Luccenti.

The victim's relatives believe Abrams was killed and that her death was orchestrated by Marquez, who was her former boyfriend and a Will County Sheriff's Office Auxiliary Deputy at the time, along with help from his relative John Romo.

Earlier this year, Marquez died at age 78.

According to his obituary, Marquez grew up in Lockport and served in Vietnam. After his military service, he joined the Hancock Insurance Company and continued in the insurance industry for 43 years.

This past summer, Jody Walsh announced the news of Marquez's death on her Facebook page.

"A very painful chapter of my family's life has come to an end," Walsh informed her followers. "We just found out the Murder suspect in our sister Robin Abrams case has met his maker! He will not be able to Lie any more. Hebrew 9:27."

The last major development in Will County's high-profile unsolved disappearance and likely homicide happened in early March 2017. At that time, FBI agents and investigators from the state police dug up the basement of a house on Joliet's Margaret Street in hopes of finding some sign of Abrams.

Patch reported that Marquez's stepbrother, John Romo, had poured the concrete for the basement when the house was built shortly before Abrams vanished. The 2017 excavation at the house on Margaret Street was not a success. Abrams' remains were not found there.

At the time of the Joliet property search, former Joliet Patch staff writer Joe Hosey spoke with Marquez over the phone.

"I'm not interested, OK," replied Marquez, who was having an affair with Robin Abrams prior to the former deputy's disappearance in October 1990. Hosey reported Marquez hung up the phone when asked if he killed Abrams.

Also in 2017, a prominent true-crime show, The Generation Why Podcast, aired a 49-minute segment on the Robin Abrams case.

Co-hosts Aaron Habel and Justin Evans told their listeners how they have closely studied the Abrams case and spoken with several members of the missing woman's family on multiple occasions as part of their research.

"It's either total corruption and a cover-up or total incompetence. You choose. There's no other explanation. I hate conspiracies," one of the Generation Why Podcast co-hosts opined. "Even in this case, I don't want to believe it, but, if I believe this isn't a conspiracy or a cover-up, then I have to accept the fact that this is the worst investigation I've ever seen in my life."

In 2020, another true-crime podcast, The Unfound Podcast Channel, aired a 92-minute segment called The Disappearance of Robin Abrams: Victim of Corruption.