Lane Bryant Slayings Remain Unsolved After 12 Years

TINLEY PARK, IL — Another year has gone by without an arrest in Tinley Park's Lane Bryant slayings. It was on Feb. 2, 2008, when six women were shot, five fatally, inside a Lane Bryant store in the Brookside Marketplace at 191st and Harlem in Tinley Park.

A gunman forced the six women — four shoppers, the store manager and an employee — to the back of the store and opened fire around 10:44 that Saturday morning. Killed were Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor; Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; Carrie Hudek Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort; Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet; and Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Indiana. Only one woman, the store employee, survived after playing dead and waiting for the gunman to leave.

In a chilling recording, the killer's voice can be heard here as part of the 911 call store manager Rhoda McFarland made to police while he was still in the store.

Tinley Park police Detective Ray Violetto has led the charge in the investigation into the killings alongside his partner, Detective Tim Poulos. Violetto said that last year alone, police received 58 tips associated with the case and that all of them have been investigated.

"Having that many tips come in ... that's astonishing considering the case is 12 years old," Violetto said. "That means (the case) is still out there and on everyone's mind."

Since the investigation began, Violetto said police have received nearly 7,500 tips.

Violetto wouldn't say if there are any suspects, just that the case remains an active investigation and the police department "remains very dedicated to solving this crime."

Two years ago, a 3D sketch of the suspect was released during a media "blitz" on the 10th anniversary of the crime. That year alone, more than 100 tips came in after the release of the sketch, Violetto said.

In 2012, then-Mayor Ed Zabrocki told Patch he believed it was a matter of time before the killer is caught. "I'm convinced that somewhere along the line, someone is going to trip up. Someone is going to talk," he said. "They have to."

He recalled driving to Lane Bryant that winter day in 2008 after getting the call from now-late Tinley Park Police Chief Mike O'Connell.

"Mike saw me, and I remember rolling down the window," Zabrocki said. "I looked at him, and he had tears in his eyes. He said, 'Ed, we've got five dead.' My heart sank."

There is precedent for cold cases like the Lane Bryant killings to be solved in the Chicago area. In 2002, the murders of seven people at the Palatine Brown's Chicken in 1993 were solved. The case was cracked thanks to DNA evidence and a tip from a woman who said the killers confessed to her shortly after the murders.

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The sketch of the Lane Bryant killer can still be found on the Tinley Park village website and remains on the wall of the Tinley Park police station.

Police say the suspect is a man between 6 feet and 6 feet 2 inches tall with a husky build and broad shoulders. He appeared to be 25 to 35 years old at the time of the killings, making him 37 to 47 years old today. He has a medium to dark skin complexion.

The suspect was wearing a dark-colored waist-length jacket and black jeans with embroidery on the back pockets similar to a cursive "G." He also was wearing a charcoal gray skull cap.

The Lane Bryant murders tip hotline at 708-444-5394 is still open and tips can be emailed to lanebryant.tipline@tinleypark.org. Tips can be anonymous.