Although Feb. 2, 2008, is a day many southwest suburbanites will never forget, Charlie Minn is adamant the unsolved Lane Bryant murder case needs a boost.
The documentary filmmaker and former producer for “America’s Most Wanted” hopes his latest foray into the world of heinous crimes brings new leads to the grisly deaths of five women in Tinley Park.
“The Tinley Park 5” is set to be released Feb. 13 at AMC theatres.
It revisits that fateful snowy Saturday morning when six women were shot, five of them killed, inside the women’s clothing store at Brookside Marketplace, 191st Street and Harlem Avenue.
The store manager, an employee and four customers were taken to a back room and, while the manager quietly placed a call to 911, shot.
Only the employee survived. She helped police develop a sketch of the suspect, which, along with the 911 recording, remains on the Tinley Park Police website, www.tinleypark.org/government/departments/police_department/lane_bryant_homicide_investigation.php.
Killed were store manager Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet; customers Connie Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor; Carrie Hudek Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort; Sarah Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; and Jennifer Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Indiana.
Tinley Park Police Department released this 3-D image of the man suspected of killing five women at a Lane Bryant store on Feb. 2, 2008. Police said the suspect is between 6 feet and 6 feet 2 inches tall with a husky build, broad shoulders and medium to dark skin. He appeared to be 25 to 35 years old at the time of the killings. (Tinley Park Police Department)
Minn hopes his film will renew interest and outrage. He also hopes the survivor will be among those offering new leads.
“The Tinley Park 5” includes interviews with the first responder on the scene, a victim’s husband and former Lane Bryant employees.
“Right now, everything is too calm, too dormant, everything has faded into oblivion. Why should it take an outside filmmaker to come into the city to make some noise,” Minn said.
“We need more chatter, more activism, awareness and anger,” he said.
“There really should be a public outcry about this thing,” Minn said. “Five women slaughtered inside a department store and all we know is that the killer had some beads on his hair.
“Of all the films I’ve made, this one is probably the most confusing,” he said.
Minn’s other films include “77 Minutes,” about the San Ysidro McDonald’s mass murder; “Robb-Ed,” an interview with survivors of the Uvalde school shooting; “49 Pulses,” detailing the Orlando nightclub shooting; and a documentary about a case that has eerie similarities to Lane Bryant. “Nightmare in Las Cruces” relives the horror of a Saturday morning massacre at a bowling alley in New Mexico.
“It’s kind of bizarre how (the New Mexico case) mirrors Lane Bryant,” Minn said. “Both happened on a Saturday morning in early February. Same number of deaths. One survivor. There were no cameras inside. And both cases remain unsolved.”
Minn said he’s always had a fascination with true crime. “I’ve always taken the sociology angle, of focusing on the victims, the aftermath and the human element. What I don’t do is ever mention the killer’s name because I think that creates copycats,” he said.
The Lane Bryant case, he said, is “a tough one, a puzzle. I think the only way I’m going to get anything here is if I get help from the public. The lone survivor is key.”
Minn expressed doubt that the police theory of a robbery gone awry is the whole story. “A 40-minute robbery?” he said. He also wonders if sirens blaring about another crisis at the same time at the Target store across the parking lot might have caused the killer to panic and hurriedly shoot the women before fleeing.
“Most people believe (the killer) must have boasted about this (crime) to someone, like the (1993 Palatine) Brown’s Chicken killer did (resulting in his arrest years after those murders),” he said. “Or is this the perfect crime? Did he kill these women and go his whole life without ever telling a soul?”
At TheTinley5.com, he said, there is an email address where people can leave thoughts and ideas.
“All tips are welcome, no matter how small,” he said.
“People have lost interest,” he said. “Where’s the outrage? Where are all the women’s groups demanding answers?”
Filmmaker Charlie Minn, seen here in a shot being taken for his documentary on the unsolved Lane Bryant murder case in Tinley Park, said he hopes the movie will spark new interest and leads in the cold case. (Charlie Minn)
But Minn is not entirely correct in thinking people no longer care.
We do.
Locals still talk about that fateful day. The murders come up frequently in conversation, often sparked by talk of other cold cases or of the randomness of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, particularly in this age of near-daily mass shootings.
It seems every time my friends and I chat about that horrific day, we end in a moment of silence for the victims. I know that every time I visit that now expanded shopping center, my thoughts migrate to the victims. A social worker, a recent college graduate, a mother, a nurse, an ordained minister and a nursing student.
The thought of these women being terrorized and then shot while doing something as ordinary as shopping on a wintry Saturday morning is haunting.
Though time has a way of softening outrage, most everyone I know, from fellow suburbanites to newspaper colleagues, still long for justice.
All of us want to know the rest of this story.
Donna Vickroy is an award-winning reporter, editor and columnist who worked for the Daily Southtown for 38 years. She can be reached at donnavickroy4@gmail.com.
