Police forces coordinate effort to find Palatine teen's killer
Editor's note: This article was originally published in the Daily Herald on July 2, 1998.
Today Amber Gail Creek would have turned 16.
Instead of celebrating the milestone with family and friends, police in Illinois and Wisconsin are searching for her killer.
They are hoping DNA and fingerprint evidence found on Amber's body will help them.
The girl, formerly of Palatine, was found dead Feb. 9, 1997, of asphyxiation in a public hunting ground in western Racine County, Wis.
Racine County Sheriff's Police traveled to Palatine Wednesday to seek the help of local officers and the public as they continue to investigate Amber's death. She was positively identified just last week.
"We believe that this case will bring us from Illinois to Wisconsin, however, we are confident the person who did this will be brought to justice," said Racine County Sheriff William McReynolds. "We have excellent forensic evidence we can use once a suspect is identified."
The task force released a picture of Amber taken two days before she was last seen Jan. 23, 1997, in Chicago and requested people with tips about the case call the Amber Creek Task Force Hotline at (414) 636-3842. A $2,500 reward will be given to anyone who offers a tip that leads to an arrest and conviction.
Police acknowledged they are at a distinct disadvantage as they look for a killer 17 months after the homicide.
"We realize we're stretching people's memories," McReynolds said.
But, he said, they have little choice. It wasn't until last week that Amber was positively identified. Previously, she had been known only as Jane Doe.
Police were hesitant Wednesday to reveal many details about the investigation, only saying they are checking out places Amber used to frequent and talking to "several people" including a man who said he saw Amber at Schaumburg's Woodfield Shopping Center in early 1997.
And while police say the trail is cold, they say it's quite possible the killer returned to the scene of the crime six months after the homicide.
In August 1997, a bed of white spruce bows were found at the exact spot where Amber's body was found in February.
"It was in such an orderly fashion," said Racine's lead investigator, Detective Joyce Singer. "They were very neatly laid on that site."
Singer said the exact location of the body had not been revealed to the public or many members of Racine's sheriff's department.
In Illinois, the task force is comprised of the North Resident Agency of the FBI, located in Rolling Meadows, the Rolling Meadows and Palatine police departments, Cook County Sheriff's Department, Chicago police and the Illinois State Police.
Meanwhile, controversy still surrounds the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services - which was responsible for Amber at the time of her death - and whether the agency failed to report Amber missing the last time she ran away.
The agency's inspector general office is investigating if there may have been any wrongdoing. But Father John Smyth, who heads the Columbus-Maryville Center in Chicago where Amber last lived said a call was placed to police on the day Amber disappeared.
"We did call on Jan. 23 (1997) and have an ID number," he said.
Maudlyne Ihejirika, spokeswoman at DCFS, said Columbus-Maryville had an agreement with District 3 of the Chicago Police Department, whereby a new report didn't have to be filed each time a child ran away, which may explain why there was no report dated Jan. 23, 1997.
"It would be most unusual," police spokesman Pat Camden said, of a private agreement between the two.
He said the Chicago police have three separate records of Amber running away. None of them on the last day Amber was seen. The last one was five weeks after she last was seen.
Task force members said they are not involved with the DCFS investigation.
"Our focus should be 'Now we have to solve a homicide,' " McReynolds said. "This girl didn't deserve to die."