Man slain a year ago, but Hoffman Estates family still waits for arrest

Sitting at his kitchen table with his tattoo-covered arms folded, Jeffery Ziegler appears as comfortable as he's ever going to be inside his Hoffman Estates home.

It was there where, on a cold and rainy Thursday, that he found his 19-year-old son, Joseph, shot in the head, dead on the basement floor. A year later, police haven't made an arrest.

"Lock me up with the guy in the basement," Jeffery Ziegler said. "We'll save the justice system some money."

The family lit candles at "Joey" Ziegler's grave Friday, marking the anniversary of his Sept. 4, 2008, murder.

His father has suffered more than his share of tragedies. When his son was in sixth grade in 2001, Jeffery's wife and Joey's mother, Cynthia, died of cancer at 37. Jeffery's older brother, Frank, took his own life. Before that, his father died unexpectedly after a stroke. To add to the pain, last month, he had to put down his dog Molly. He wonders why tragedy keeps following him.

"Am I that bad of a person?" Jeffery Ziegler said. "I thought that to myself many times."

Pursuing leads

Hoffman Estates police Chief Clinton Herdegen said his department is pursuing a variety of leads and is in contact with Joey's father.

"Our investigators have not put this on the back burner. It's still on the forefront," he said. "Of course we want this solved already, but we're confident we'll get it in the end."

He declined to share details about the leads.

Ziegler was found in his bedroom on the 300 block of Payson Street, police said. Ziegler died of a gunshot wound to the head, the Cook County medical examiner's office said.

Authorities believe the shooting was targeted, not random. There were no signs of forced entry or a struggle, and there was nothing reported stolen from the home.

Jeffery Ziegler is haunted by the thought that his son might have known his killer or killers. He believes two people were inside the house at the time.

"If I find out it's one of his closer friends, a kid that I've known since fourth grade, yeah, it will make a big difference to me," the elder Ziegler said. "If it's somebody that (I haven't known as long), that's a bad seed, that's different."

John Cosgriff, a close friend who met Joey in second grade, said he was questioned by police five months ago and asked if he was inside the house when Joey was killed. Cosgriff called his trip to the station unsettling.

"If I was in the house, I would be the first person to jump on one of those persons," said Cosgriff, 20.

Joey's sister, Rachael, 18, who lives with her father, said there must be people who know something. She called those withholding information cowards.

Herdegen stressed there are safeguards to ensure the safety of anyone who provides information to police. There's also an agreement with the Cook County state's attorney's office stating that anyone who ultimately comes forward can get immunity from prosecution, if their tip leads to an arrest.

"I know police, they're doing their jobs. It's just hard," Rachael Ziegler said. "It's already been a year."

Weights and tattoos

Joey Ziegler played football for Schaumburg High School and worked out on weight machines in the basement. They remain there and have become a means of coping for his father, who uses them almost daily. But Jeffery Ziegler also feels imprisoned by the tragedy surrounding him.

"If you want to do us a favor, find someone who wants to buy the house," he said.

He got his first tattoo after his son's death, a cross to remember Joey. He now has six, each a tribute to a family member. The bags under his eyes suggest a man who doesn't sleep well. He hobbles around the house, as construction jobs he worked over the years left him with a degenerative back condition, forcing five spinal operations.

A ticket from a White Sox game lies on his work table. Ziegler went with his daughter and her boyfriend.

"Joey was a White Sox fan. I couldn't care less," he said.

Joey and his sister were close. He'd give her boyfriends a hard time, and the siblings enjoyed a baseball rivalry, as Rachael is a Cubs fan.

Joey also had a large group of friends who would show up at parties at the house when his dad was out of town for work. Neighbors would complain about numerous cars parked outside.

That may have fed the rumors that swirled after Joey's death, that he was running with a bad crowd.

But his sister said the fact he had parties when their dad was away doesn't say anything about Joey's character.

"What teenagers wouldn't?" she said. "Come on."

Cosgriff is aware of the rumors. He said the circumstances don't matter.

"That doesn't take away from the fact that a life was lost," he said.

Many of Joey's close friends still come around to the house to visit with Jeffery. The elder Ziegler didn't address the rumors about his son, except to acknowledge that, outside of Joey's close inner circle of friends, he didn't know much about some of Joey's other acquaintances.

Cosgriff remembers running around with Joey with toy guns as boys. They thought they were going to grow up to be cops. Cosgriff outgrew that, but Ziegler had enrolled at Harper College to study criminal justice.

Waiting for closure

Of all the tragedies he's endured, the loss of his son hurts Jeffery Ziegler the most. He doesn't want to wait much longer for closure.

"If you know something," he pleads, "come forward and say it."

Herdegen asks those with any information to call police at (847) 781-2868. They can do so anonymously.