S3E2: Elgin
Key Takeaways
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Cold cases are defined as three years inactive
“So for us, it's anything past three years that we haven't...”
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Podcast episodes document investigations in real time
“we're actually investigating it and then actually creating content with the podcast in real time and taking our listeners along in that approach.”
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Humanizing victims is the unit's primary goal
“it humanizes who that person is. I think when you listen to something, you want some sort of emotional connection to it.”
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Detectives must avoid investigative tunnel vision
“what we want to avoid doing is just saying, well, let's just look at one thing. Sometimes you get this tunnel vision.”
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Current efforts focus on Elgin's 1970s homicides
“So, we're focusing right now on the 70s, the 70s in Elgin. We have five homicides, one missing persons case.”
Episode Description
In 1982, Wyteria Jones vanished from a rundown Elgin, Illinois hotel where she was living as an outpatient of the Elgin Mental Health Center. Over 40 years later, her case remains unsolved. In this episode of the Elgin Police Department's Cold Case Podcast, Detectives walk the same streets Wyteria walked — from the historic Douglas Hotel to the bus stops of downtown Elgin — piecing together her final known movements. With one witness account, a rainy October day, and a building that's been completely gutted since 1982, the trail is cold. But somebody knows something.