20 years later, family and police seek answer to woman's disappearance

Twenty years after she disappeared, Laura Johnson's daughters, her parents and Arlington Heights police officers are still hoping for answers.

No one expects good news.

All believe firmly in the mother's love demonstrated by the then 24-year-old Johnson. They are convinced she would never have voluntarily left her two tiny daughters, who have grown into accomplished young women.

That means she met with foul play on or around that May night in 1990, although no body or evidence of a crime has been found.

"We get teary-eyed on big days like Christmas, birthdays and big events," said Ashley, who is 22 and the older daughter of Laura and David Johnson. "It would help us with closure. When are we going to find out? It was hard growing up not knowing."

Ashley and her 20-year-old sister, Amber, give "props" to their grandmother, Joyce Desecki, the mother of Laura and five sons, who took the girls and raised them in a small Wisconsin town near Hayward.

And while Ashley and Amber have no memory of either of their parents and talk fondly of growing up hiking and riding snowmobiles and off-road four-wheels, both moved back to the Chicago suburbs soon after finishing high school.

Ashley lives in Schaumburg and is studying at Illinois Benedictine University to be a teacher. Amber, who has finished cosmetology school and plans to study photography, lives with Desecki, now in Belvidere.

"We had nothing to do with Dad," said Ashley. "He tried contacting us once. His mother used to send us birthday cards, but I think she passed away."

May 4, 1990Laura and David Johnson went to Arlington Park racetrack that Friday, May 4, while Laura's brother Richard Desecki stayed with the girls.After the track, David Johnson dropped Laura off at the Billy Club in downtown Arlington Heights about 10:30 p.m. and went home to relieve the sitter. The Johnsons lived in a house at 26 S. Highland Ave., rented from Paddock Publications.They sometimes went to the Billy Club, which was only a few blocks from their home. The staff knew her, police said.She was wearing a blue jean skirt or dress, a pink sweater and high heels. Laura had several tattoos but they were not necessarily visible in street clothing.Laura had no car with her. She had some money, but she left her purse at home.Laura left the Billy Club at closing time, apparently with a group overheard talking about going to the Hob Nob in Palatine. But the staff working that night didn't know any of the people she seemed to be with.That was the last confirmed sighting anyone had of Laura Johnson. A week later, after a Daily Herald article about Laura's disappearance, two people called police and said they thought they had danced with her at the Hob Nob that night.And, they said, she might have left that bar with a truck driver from Tennessee. Sgt. Tom Seleski, who as a new investigator took over the case three months after Laura disappeared, said police checked hotel logs in the area, talked with traffic enforcement officials in Nashville who were in charge of trucking, and sent fliers about Laura to Tennessee. Nothing popped up.Twenty years later, police aren't closer to solving the mystery. They believe Laura is dead."By all accounts she was a doting mom who would never leave her children," said Sgt. Nathan Hayes, who for four years has been in charge of investigating the cold case. "She packed no bags."While Laura might have been a party girl when she was younger, becoming a mom changed her and made that lifestyle less appealing, said her mother, who said she and Laura were close and talked all the time.Seleski said there is no evidence that Laura Johnson had a relationship with another man. "This wasn't the Cleaver family," he said about the Johnsons. "But everybody - her friends, family, anybody we contacted - said she had a strong maternal instinct. Women just don't get up and go, not with two babies. That's highly unusual."Originally, police looked closely at David Johnson, Seleski said, because anytime a woman disappears under questionable circumstances, "the man is going to be a person of interest."Police also were curious why Johnson waited two full days to report his wife missing, Seleski said. At the time, Johnson said at first he thought his wife was staying with friends. He also told a reporter Laura would never have left her daughters.Seleski said that in a typical investigation, "when you do your victimology you start close and start working further and further out." But he said the original detectives did a number of interviews with Johnson "and never got anywhere."Joyce Desecki says David Johnson voluntarily turned the girls over to her three months after Laura disappeared. At that point, virtually all communication between the Deseckis and David Johnson ceased.Arlington Heights police have not talked with David Johnson for a number of years, and the Daily Herald could not locate him for this story. His last known address was in Georgia.When the house on Highland Avenue was demolished in 2001, police brought a cadaver dog over to check the lot. Nothing was found.Seleski and Hayes also walked some land in northern Wisconsin owned by the Desecki family where both families had camped.'She's not here'When Laura disappeared, Joyce was distraught to find her son-in-law had not yet called the police."We'd been camping and got back on Mother's Day," Desecki said. "The first place I called was my daughter, and her husband said, 'She's not here.'"He hadn't even called the police. I told him if he didn't call them I would. We lived in Capron and hopped on Route 14 and drove straight there."Richard, Laura's brother who had been sitting for the girls that night, was able to help police establish a timeline, Seleski said.Tragically, several years later Richard was apparently murdered, burning up in his truck in Wisconsin, his parents said. Once after Ashley was born and before they had Amber, Laura left David and moved to her parents' home, but he talked her into going back, her mother said.Desecki said there is no doubt in her mind that Laura is dead."A mother knows these things," Desecki said. "I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have the girls."They're absolutely beautiful girls. Ashley's such a hardworking girl, and Amber had to sleep in her car to graduate from cosmetology school because Belvidere was too far to commute."Ronald Desecki agrees with his ex-wife."There's no way she wouldn't get a hold of her mother" if she were alive, he said."She and her mother were close. I told her just come on home; take the kids and come on home. There was no reason for her to disappear like that with no trace."Police frustratedThe family's frustration is mirrored by Sgt. Seleski."I'm getting to the time when people think about retirement, and I really want to solve this case," Seleski said.He is hoping that renewed publicity will help."These anniversary stories sometimes shake information loose," he said.For 20 years learning what happened to Laura Johnson has been on his mind and off and on part of his job, including supervising Hayes' work on the case.Seleski's frustration comes from at least two directions. First, he did not become the lead officer until three months after Laura disappeared - time enough for the trail to go cold.Also, police technique has advanced in 20 years, and if Laura disappeared today, the pursuit would be much different."We would have marshaled far more forces, gotten more people involved in the investigation," Seleski said. "We have more interviewing skills and formal training."Now, a missing person case is taken more seriously right away."Twenty or 30 years ago the Northwest suburbs were fairly innocent. We have learned we're not immune to what occurs in the city."Now Hayes has been promoted to sergeant and transferred to a different division, so another detective is taking up the search for Laura.Hayes leaves the case having worked with an FBI analyst and getting DNA from Ashley Johnson and Joyce Desecki into an FBI database. Arlington Heights police now routinely review "cold cases" every year, and information on Laura Johnson is in a missing person database and part of the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program. That information includes X-rays from when Laura had surgery on her arm, and a report from a forensic specialist who examined her dental records. When unidentified remains are found they are checked to see if they could be hers, and when any kind of serial criminal is identified his movements are studied to see if there could be a connection."This allows us to use an FBI analyst and all of their technology for searching of records, comparing our case to others in the area and to found remains," Hayes said. "Recently (the analyst) gave me information about truck driver serial killers." He wants a break."Somebody knows something," he said. "It's just like the Brown's (case, where an informant came forward nine years after seven people were killed in a Palatine restaurant). There were people that knew what happened that evening. It took them how long to come forward? Maybe somebody has some remorse or second thoughts. We're hoping they come forward."Laura's daughters are very nice girls despite everything. They have no idea what happened to their mother. They are seeking some closure on this."Missing: 'Somebody knows something'False20001486Sgts. Tom Seleski and Nathan Hayes look over years of files on Laura Johnson who disappeared 20 years ago. Arlington Heights police look into cold cases every year.Mark Welsh | Staff PhotographerFalse