Wendy Gessing's Family Can't Find Closure 16 Months After She Vanished

CREST HILL, IL —Close family and acquaintances of missing Crest Hill resident Wendy Gessing are losing hope that the long-time girlfriend of Pizzas By Marchelloni owner Scott Harris is still alive. Harris shares the same sentiments.

On Wednesday, Joliet Patch's editor asked if Harris believes his girlfriend of nearly 15 years is still alive somewhere.

"I sure hope so, but after this long, how long do you hold on?" Harris replied. "I don't know the answer to the question.

"My general doctor told me maybe it's time to go on living with my life," Harris remarked.

Patch conducted the unscheduled interview inside the Crest Hill takeout restaurant, near the corner of North Raynor Avenue and Theodore Street.

Gessing, who was 50 at the time, disappeared during the middle of her work shift on June 12, 2021, which was a Saturday. She was scheduled to work from about 4 p.m. until close, according to Harris, who has managed and owned the pizza place since the 1990s.

"I talked to her mom last night," Harris told Joliet Patch during Wednesday's interview.

Gessing's mother, who now lives in Morris, is starting to fear her daughter may not be alive anymore, given the passage of time, according to Harris.

Harris said there has been no activity on his girlfriend's bank account or credit cards since her disappearance 16 months ago.

None of the Joliet area officers investigating the case have recovered any of the clothes that Gessing wore to work on the evening of her disappearance, according to Harris.

The Crest Hill couple shared a house on Hosmer Lane and did so for many years.

Harris said he usually communicates with Crest Hill Police Detective Conor Sweeney on multiple occasions every month.

"I just don't know where they're at with things," Harris said.

In one of their recent conversations, Crest Hill's detectives inquired about his missing girlfriend's credit cards.

"It sounded like to go over what she had," Harris explained.

Inside his house, Harris said he still displays pictures of Gessing, and he has not gotten rid of her clothes "and stuff."

On Wednesday, Patch noticed the takeout restaurant's interior decorated with black cats, jack-o-lanterns, creepy monsters and a picture of three witches that makes scary noises if you press a button.

Harris and his employees agreed to decorate the inside of their pizza place, plus the storefront windows, because Gessing was always into Halloween-themed decorations.

"Wendy used to always do that," Harris said.

Gessing also liked to decorate for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and St. Patrick's Day.

Harris has tried "to get back to living a normal life as much as you can. It's still in your head all the time," he said.

On the evening of her disappearance, Harris said he drove to the Lockport Moose Club to socialize with others at the club. It's his understanding that after 6:30 p.m., Gessing notified a fellow Pizzas By Marchelloni employee in his 60s named John that she was going to give someone a ride.

Harris said Gessing also worked at several area food pantries, and often donated clothes and other items to help the less fortunate. Harris said Gessing was supposedly giving a ride to someone who perhaps lived at a halfway house.

"John said she was planning to be back in a few minutes," Harris said.

During a previous interview, Harris told Patch that the employee named John had serious heart problems and has since died.

As for his girlfriend, Harris said she never returned to work that Saturday night, and a few days later, "my Honda" CRV was discovered in the 400 block of Joliet's Buell Avenue along the dead-end street that does not connect with Western Avenue.

Harris said he wonders why his gray CRV was left parked along Buell Avenue, of all places.

"I wouldn't know anybody there," Harris explained. "She didn't know anybody down there. I have not been down there on a (pizza) delivery in a long, long time."

As for Gessing's phone, it turned up along Taylor Road in a warehouse parking lot in Romeoville.

At the time of her disappearance, Gessing had a posting on Facebook celebrating her life of sobriety.

"To my knowledge, she was alcohol-free at least four years," Harris said.

Patch asked if she was a recreational user of marijuana.

"No marijuana," Harris answered.

Patch asked her boyfriend whether she used heroin or cocaine.

Gessing did not use heroin or cocaine during their relationship, lasting roughly 15 years, he said.

During Wednesday's interview, Harris asked Joliet Patch's editor whether there are still missing person posters on the main entrance doors for the Will County Courthouse. The posters are not there anymore, Patch told Harris.

Harris said on a couple of occasions, the correctional officers at the Will County Adult Detention Facility ordered Pizzas By Marchelloni for the downtown Joliet jail and the missing person's fliers were still displayed.

"It's nice to see there are still fliers," Harris remarked.

Before concluding Wednesday's interview, Patch asked if Harris had any advice or suggestions for people in the Joliet area regarding his missing girlfriend.

"Just keep an eye out for her," he answered.

Harris said he would like to learn, once and for all, whether the detectives ever corroborated whether his girlfriend gave someone a ride after leaving the pizza place on the Saturday night tha she disappeared.

"Who knows?" Harris said. "We can assume (but) that's not hard facts.

"I understand they can't tell me everything. Sometimes, you'd like to know what happened. The detectives, they're just hoping for closure for the family," Harris noted.

Harris said he's very impressed with the efforts of the Crest Hill Police Department, notably the lead detective assigned to Gessing's case, investigator Sweeney.

"He just seems like a good, level-headed (detective), he's always steady," Harris said.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Wendy Gessing's Boyfriend: 'I Hope It's Not A Homicide'

Wendy Gessing Case A 'Very Active Investigation': Crest Hill PD