Investigators exploring new lead in 1992 abduction, murder of student
More than three decades after a college student was kidnapped and murdered while driving along an Illinois highway, state police said Sunday they are exploring a new lead in the case.
Police and the FBI said they are searching for information about a woman who may have been connected to a suspect in the killing of Tammy Zywicki on Aug. 23, 1992.
Authorities believe Zywicki, 21, was abducted along I-80 in LaSalle County while traveling from Evanston, where her brother attended Northwestern University, to her college in Grinnell, Iowa.
Her 1985 Pontiac T1000 was found later that day by a state police trooper and marked as abandoned. The vehicle was towed the next day.
That same evening, Zywicki’s mother contacted state police, telling them her daughter had not arrived at college. Her body was found Sept. 1, 1992, along I-44 in Lawrence County, Missouri, between Joplin and Springfield. She had been stabbed to death.
Witnesses later reported that a truck driver was seen near Zywicki’s vehicle around the time of her disappearance. He was described as a white male between 35 and 40 years old, over six feet tall, with dark, bushy hair.
State police said Sunday its investigators and the FBI are retesting evidence with the latest DNA technology.
They’re also searching for information about Theresa “Teri” Belenske (maiden name Theresa Vega), who may have been traveling with the suspect at some point prior to Zywicki’s death.
Belenske, who died in 2014, would have been 32 years old at the time of Zywicki’s abduction. State police said Belenske is not a suspect, but a person of interest.
Investigators are looking for information about Belenske from the late 1980s through the mid 1990s. Authorities say Belenske was known to hitchhike and had ties to several cities in California, including Oceanside, Vista, Pomona, San Bernardino and Fontana.
Anyone with information about the killing or Belenske can leave a tip at the ISP Investigative Tips page, isptips.illinois.gov, or call (800) CALL-FBI. Callers can remain anonymous.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the identification of those responsible for the crime.
szalusky@dailyherald.com