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Society & Social Issues
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Fifteen Years of Silence: The Unsolved Lane Bryant Murders That Haunt a Chicago Suburb
In 2008, a gunman entered a Lane Bryant near Chicago and executed five women during a robbery. Despite a detailed sketch, 7,500 leads, and a $100,000 reward, the killer has never been identified, leaving a chilling mystery that continues to haunt the community.
On the morning of February 2, 2008, the Brookside Marketplace in Tinley Park, Illinois, was bustling with typical Saturday shoppers. But inside the Lane Bryant clothing store, a scene of unimaginable horror was unfolding. A man, posing as a delivery driver, entered the store and, within minutes, turned a robbery into a massacre, executing five innocent women. Over fifteen years later, despite a composite sketch seen by millions and thousands of police leads, the killer's identity remains one of the Chicago area's most haunting and unsolved mysteries.
A Robbery Becomes a Massacre
The crime began as a seemingly routine armed robbery. The gunman, described as an African-American man, approximately 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches tall with a husky build, herded the store manager, an employee, and four customers into a back room. He bound them with duct tape and proceeded to rob the store. But what started as a robbery inexplicably escalated. For reasons that remain unknown, the man opened fire, shooting all six women before fleeing.
The victims were store manager Rhoda McFarland, 42; customers Jennifer Bishop, 34; Carrie Hudek Chiuso, 33; Sarah Szafranski, 22; and Connie Woolfolk, 37. A sixth woman, a store employee, was shot in the neck but miraculously survived by playing dead. She would become the investigation's key witness.
A Final, Heroic Call
In the midst of the terror, manager Rhoda McFarland managed to secretly dial 911 on her cell phone, leaving the line open as the dispatcher listened in. Her whispered, final words provided police with the first description of the man who was about to take her life. The chilling audio captured her describing the assailant to the other victims before the line went silent with the sound of gunshots.
He's a Black man, he's about 6-foot, 6-foot-2... His braids are, like, you can see two of them on the side, and they are kind of puffy, and they have green beads on the end of them.
This description, particularly the unique detail about his hairstyle, became the central clue in the nationwide manhunt that followed.
The Ghost in the Sketch
Based on the survivor's account, police released a detailed composite sketch of the suspect. It depicted a man with distinctive cornrows, pulled back from his face, with four green and white beads on the end of one braid. The image was broadcast across the country, and police were flooded with tips—more than 7,500 in total. Yet, none led to a viable suspect. Investigators were perplexed by the lack of forensic evidence. Despite the close-quarters nature of the crime and a struggle described by the survivor, the killer left behind no DNA, fingerprints, or weapon.
A Case Gone Cold, But Not Forgotten
Years have turned into a decade and a half, but the case remains active. Tinley Park police and the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force continue to pursue any new information. The $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest remains unclaimed. For the families of the five women, the lack of answers is an unending source of pain. For the community, the crime left an indelible scar and a lingering question: How could a man commit such a brazen act of violence in a busy shopping center in broad daylight and simply vanish forever?
The Lane Bryant murders serve as a grim reminder that some crimes defy easy explanation, leaving behind only grief, questions, and the faded image of a killer who, for now, remains a ghost.