Family hasn't given up search for missing St. Charles man

Stephanie McNeil can accept the possibility her brother might be dead. It's not knowing why or how that keeps her grief in limbo.

"There's no ending in sight, no moving on," she said. "How can you move on when you don't know what you're moving on from? It just eats you alive."

It was one year ago today anyone saw or heard from McNeil's brother, John Spira of St. Charles. Then 45 years old, the area business owner and regionally known blues guitarist, who went by the name Chicago Johnny, vanished one Friday after work.

Relatives have maintained Spira wouldn't simply have left town without a word to anyone or taken his own life.

And a series of mysterious events following his disappearance have only fueled the family's speculation Spira was murdered.

"I have my theories on who did this but unfortunately a theory doesn't allow you to go and arrest somebody," McNeil said from her home in Phoenix.

Among the unanswered questions is whether arson was behind a fire that destroyed Spira's business outside West Chicago, Universal Cable, on Sept. 17, more than six months after he was reported missing. A day before the fire, relatives discovered a 10-by-10-foot banner with Spira's photo and reward information had been vandalized.

Randy Simpson, commander of the DuPage County Fire Investigation Task Force, said Friday the fire remains "an open investigation," but provided no other details.

DuPage County Sheriff's Commander of Criminal Investigations Mark Edwalds said police continue to investigate the disappearance.

"We don't have any evidence that points us in any direction as far as a theory," he said.

Last year, police explored the possibility Spira, a licensed pilot, rented a plane to leave the area. But the theory was ruled out when they found his flight gear and no records of him flying.

Spira's home since has been foreclosed and his personal belongings sold by the wife he was divorcing at the time of his disappearance, McNeil said. A partner operates Universal Cable from a trailer behind the old office.

Relatives conducted numerous searches over the last year in forest preserves near Spira's home and business. McNeil also plans to use sonar equipment to check several bodies of water in the same areas.

"The searches we've done really aren't the kind you can say, 'OK, you can cross this place off the list,'" she said. "We're not professionals."

Spira is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall and 145 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. He was last seen in a turtleneck, blue jeans and a green aviator-style jacket.

His family seeks volunteers to join search parties or post missing person fliers -- available at www.johnspira.com -- in their communities. They also are throwing a private party today at Spira's favorite blues club, Kingston Mines in Chicago, "to honor John and thank people who have done so much for us this past year," McNeil said

"We're not quite ready for a memorial," she said.