BROWSE THE ARCHIVE
Stories in this collection: 10
Darnell Donerson, 57; Jason Hudson, 29; and Julian King, 7 — victims of the 2008 Chicago case.Case at a GlanceDateOctober 24–27, 2008LocationEnglewood, Chicago, IllinoisVictimsDarnell Donerson, Jason Hudson, and Julian KingCase outcomeWilliam Balfour was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder on May 11, 2012Jennifer Hudson Family Murders: The 2008 Chicago CaseOn the morning of October ..
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Joe Aiello — 1930On the evening of October 23, 1930, Joe Aiello walked out of a West Side apartment building in Chicago and into a planned crossfire. He was a Sicilian-born bootlegger and one of Al Capone's most persistent enemies. Police and newspapers immediately suspected Capone's organization. No one was ever convicted, and the documented record does not establish who fired the guns or who g..
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Ranko Carol Yamada (left) and Evelyn Okubo.In July 1970, two young women from Stockton, California, went to Chicago for a Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) convention. One of them, 18-year-old Evelyn Okubo, did not leave the Palmer House hotel alive. Her roommate, 17-year-old Ranko Carol Yamada, survived with a slashed throat.More than half a century later, no one has been convicted of th..
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On July 6, 2001, two sisters, 10-year-old Tionda Bradley and 3-year-old Diamond Bradley, were reported missing in Chicago. More than two decades later, no public record explains what happened to them. Their mother reported that a note in Tionda's handwriting said the girls had gone to the store and the school playground, and an enormous search found nothing. No one has been publicly charged. Pol..
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Image of Clem Graver from newspaperOn the night of June 11, 1953, an Illinois state representative pulled his car toward a garage on Chicago's West Side. A sedan stopped in front of it. Moments later he was gone. More than seven decades later, no one has been charged and his body has never been found. The abduction itself is the best-documented part of the story. Almost everything else is disput..
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The Disappearance of Kierra Coles: The Unsolved Case of a Pregnant Chicago Postal WorkerKierra Coles photo.On Oct. 2, 2018, Kierra Coles, a 26-year-old U.S. Postal Service employee who was about three months pregnant, vanished from Chicago's South Side. Her car was found outside her apartment, with her purse, cell phone and a packed lunch still inside. More than eight years later, no arrest has ..
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Case at a Glance⌖LocationChicago, Illinois◷Two shootingsJuly 5 and July 17, 1997⚖Salas murder caseSoto was acquitted in June 1999§Arroyo shooting caseConviction vacated and case dismissed in 2024◆Appellate ruling · September 22, 2026The court affirmed denial of a certificate of innocence. It did not decide whether Soto committed the Arroyo shooting.Oscar Soto (second from left) with members of h..
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Kent Projansky (Courtesy of Todd Projansky)Case at a Glance📅 DateDecember 18, 2004📍 LocationGold Coast, Chicago, Illinois👤 VictimKent Projansky, 40⚖️ Case statusFirst-degree murder charge reported in November 2025; no verdict reported in the sources cited here.Kent Projansky was 40 when he was shot and killed in his Chicago apartment on December 18, 2004. For more than a decade, the evidence ..
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On December 28, 1956, two sisters left their Chicago home to watch an Elvis Presley movie. They were expected back that evening. They never made it home.Barbara and Patricia Grimes were missing for nearly a month before their bodies were found in a wooded area near Willow Springs, southwest of Chicago.The discovery ended the search for the sisters but left investigators with a much harder questi..
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For decades, investigators had physical evidence but no name. Modern DNA analysis, genetic genealogy and a fingerprint comparison eventually led Chicago police to a former officer who had died years before the case was publicly resolved. On the morning of November 12, 1960, eight-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz left her family's home in Chicago's West Englewood neighborhood to walk a few blocks to Ma..
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