Oak Lawn Convict Charged in Unsolved 2002 Stabbing of Woman Left to Die in Storage Locker

Caption: (Top) Memorial balloon launch on twelfth anniversary of Jennifer Boyd’s murder last August. (Left) Jennifer Boyd, 27, of Alsip (Right) Former Oak Lawn resident Steven Podkulski, 40, who was charged with Boyd’s murder| Photos: Self-Storage Association blog / Cook County Sheriff

It was a cold case that has haunted the southwest suburbs since the day it happened in 2002: the fatal stabbing of an employee at a Bedford Park Public Storage center.

Charges were brought against a former Oak Lawn resident in the murder of 27-year-old Jennifer Boyd. Boyd, of Alsip, was the manager of the storage facility in Bedford Park, when she was stabbed multiple times and left to die in an empty unit on Aug. 3, 2002.

Steven Podkulski, 40, was charged with first-degree murder after investigators from the Bedford Park Police Department and the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force investigated the case until 2004 when the trail went cold, NBC Chicago reported.

The case was reopened last year. Investigators say interviews with those questioned years earlier pointed them in the direction of Podkulski.

In August 2002, Bedford Park police received a call around 6:15 p.m. Aug. 3, of someone banging and calling for help inside a storage locker at 6990 W. 79th St. Firefighters were called to help get into the locker where Boyd was eventually found with multiple stab wounds, but it was too late.

Police at the time believed that Boyd may have been attacked while showing a prospective renter one of the lockers, the paper said.

In August of this year, on the 12th anniversary, police revealed that they were pursuing solid leads on two persons of interest.

The former Oak Lawn resident was due to be paroled from the Stateville Correctional Center on Wednesday, where he was serving a sentence on an unrelated charge, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections website.

Podkulski’s criminal career began in his teen years. His long rap sheet includes convictions for burglary, weapons and drug charges.

Prison records show Podkulski admitted to the Illinois Department of Corrections in October 2002 where he began serving a 10-year sentence for burglary. He was discharged from that sentence only to land in prison again on another burglary charge in 2009.

A Cook County judge set bail at $3 million where Podkulski appeared in Bridgeview on Thursday for a brief court hearing, NBC Chicago reported.

Last August, on the 12th anniversary of her murder, Boyd’s sister organized a memorial balloon launch along with Bedford Park police at the Public Storage site to bring attention to the unsolved murder, Burbank Beat reported.

“Even after 12 years we hold out hope that Jennifer’s killer/killers are caught and brought to justice,” the Alsip woman’s sister Rebecca Hernandez said.

Podkulski’s next court hearing is on Nov. 3.