44 years later, authorities to announce 'developments' in murder of Downers Grove South student

DuPage County authorities are holding a news conference Monday to announce "recent developments" in the unsolved murder of Pamela Maurer, who was found dead almost 44 years ago to the day in Lisle.

While DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin only noted the case involved a 1976 murder in Sunday's news release, law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case said the Maurer murder is the subject of the news conference slated for 1 p.m. Monday at the county courthouse complex in Wheaton.

The 16-year-old Maurer, a Downers Grove South High School student, was reported missing Jan. 13, 1976. The Woodridge girl was found dead the following day in Lisle along College Road.

According to news reports, Maurer's case was reopened in 1993 in an attempt to locate her killer. The effort was unsuccessful.

Maurer's body was found by a passing driver who first spotted her purse in the roadway and became concerned that someone might have been struck by a car.

Her body was placed outside a guardrail in an attempt to fool police into believing she was the victim of a hit-and-run, authorities said at the time.

However, an autopsy revealed she had been strangled.

Maurer's murder was one of several sensational killings involving young women in the 1970s in the southern part of DuPage County, according to media reports from the time. At least one of those cases was solved using new forensic techniques in the 1990s, prompting Lisle police to reopen Maurer's case.