Woman Vanished From Shorewood House 33 Summers Ago, Suspect Dies

SHOREWOOD, IL — More than 30 years ago this summer, Jeri Lynn Duvall, a 29-year-old mother of two girls, vanished from her Shorewood house at 205 Oakwood Drive. She was never seen alive again, and her body remains missing.

However, last November's out of state death of her husband, Bob Duvall, has Shorewood Deputy Police Chief Jason Barten optimistic someone may finally come forward with important information to help solve the mystery.

Bob Duvall was long regarded as the prime suspect in his wife's disappearance and presumed homicide, Barten told Patch during a recent interview.

In June 1990, the couple's young daughters went to Michigan to visit their grandparents for a few days. When the children returned, "Bob was scratched up, and he acknowledged there was a dispute between him and Jeri," Barten explained. "Bob's allegation was that Jeri left him."

But aspects of his story left Shorewood police investigators suspicious. Jeri Lynn's car was still in front of the house and the car was mechanically disabled, according to Barten.

"All her personal belongings were left behind," Barten said. "There was no communication (by her) with anybody. It would have been completely out of the ordinary for her to leave her two children behind."

Bob Duvall ultimately filed a missing person's report with the Shorewood Police Department at the request of Jeri's family, Barten said.

Jeri Lynn Duvall disappeared on June 8, 1990. The couple lived at 205 Oakwood Drive, right off Route 59, near the DuPage River.

"There was a preliminary search in and around their house and known places that she and they frequented," Barten said. "We know there was some sort of domestic."

As time passed, Barten said the missing woman's children discovered their missing mother's identification and her credit cards inside their house.

Shorewood police are of the belief that Jeri's husband killed her and then disposed of her body, perhaps far away from the Joliet and Shorewood area.

"Bob was involved in concrete work, and he would be working all over northern Illinois and northwest Indiana," Barten said. "There was property (searched) in Michigan. We've had federal agencies involved in this, the Army Corps of Engineers, state and local officials in other states, so the search has been well outside Shorewood and Will County."

Victor and Josefina Ochoa let Joliet Patch interview them Thursday afternoon in their backyard. They purchased the Duvall house in 1993 and have lived there the past 30 years.

The Ochoas recalled that Shorewood police did some excavation work many years ago inside their basement near their sump pump, but nothing was found.

According to Josefina Ochoa, there were reports that Bob Duvall painted his basement and dug a hole around his sump pump after his wife's disappearance.

Another area where the police did a partial excavation, about 15 years ago, was near the Ochoas' attached garage over near their backyard garden. At the time of Jeri Duvall's disappearance, the garage did not exist, the Ochoas said.

After the Ochoas moved into 205 Oakwood, the kids in the neighborhood "always kept saying the house was haunted because somebody was killed here," Josefina Ochoa told Patch during Thursday's interview. "I just kept telling them that's not true. I don't think she's buried in the house."

On the other hand, some of their long-time neighbors have told the Ochoas over the past 30 years of "a huge fire over there" near their garden, where their attached garage now stands.

The bonfire supposedly took place around the time when Bob Duvall's wife went missing.

Josefina Ochoa said she remains apprehensive about walking around near the garden.

"Honestly," Josefina Ochoa remarked, "I think she's somewhere over there.

"I hardly ever go over there," she added.

She and her husband said they are willing to let Shorewood police conduct further excavation near the garden and attached garage "as long as they fix it the way it was. We don't care. We're not opposed to it."

At no point during the past 31 years have authorities discovered Jeri Lynn's bones, Barten said.

After his wife's disappearance, Bob Duvall moved to Florida within three years, and he identified himself on Florida records as being divorced, according to Barten.

During the initial investigation, Bob Duvall "was forthcoming with some information, but eventually he had legal counsel and no longer cooperated with us as the investigation focused more so on him," Barten said. "Obviously, we had the basic statement at the time of her initial disappearance."

Meanwhile, Shorewood police continued to aggressively pursue new leads over the years, knowing that Bob Duvall remained in Florida. He moved into an assistant living care facility, where he died of natural causes last November, according to Barten.

Barten was not with Shorewood's Police Department when Jeri went missing in 1990.

"When he left the area, he really cut ties with Illinois," Barten said. "I can't attest to what was done in the 1990s, but he's been the prime suspect since early in the investigation. We've done some excavation based on information and tips ... but obviously, we're still unable to find her."

Following Bob Duvall's death, Barten said he and another detective went to Edgewater, Florida to review the personal belongings Bob Duvall kept at the assisting living facility.

"There was all sorts of stuff," Barten said, explaining Shorewood police did not find any written confession surrounding his wife's disappearance and presumed homicide.

Despite Bob Duvall's death, Barten said he is optimistic somebody with inside knowledge of Jeri Lynn's death may finally feel comfortable speaking with Shorewood police.

Police believe Duvall may have spoken with some people in the Joliet and Shorewood area years ago surrounding the events of his wife's disappearance.

"Bob was known to have a very significant mean streak in him, a violent history," Barten said. "Two decades later, people were still leery of him coming back. It's our hope that somebody will come forward with her final whereabouts."

To this day, Barten said he remains in regular contact with the grown children of Bob and Jeri Lynn Duvall.

"I know they believe that she's gone," he said. "So finding her whereabouts would just give that family the closure. We're all seeking the same answers."

If you have information that may help the Shorewood Police Department solve Jeri Lynn Duvall's disappearance, call deputy police Jason Barten at 815-815-725-1460.