Mystery remains as Eastside High School graduate Tammy Zywicki's death is unsolved 30 years later

Tamia Boyd, Greenville News
·3 min read
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An Eastside High School graduate was on the way to start her senior year at Grinnell College in Iowa before her stabbing death 30 years ago.

Today, decades later, who killed her remains a mystery.

On Aug. 23, 1992, 21-year-old Tammy Zywicki was driving in the heart of the Midwest near LaSalle, Illinois, before she was found dead along a stretch of rural Missouri highway 200 miles from her intended destination.

Her family, friends, and members of the community have been left to ponder the unknown in the years since.

A group of people in the Who Killed Tammy Zywicki Facebook group, which has more than 4,000 members, have planned a motorcycle ride on Sept. 3 at the Pickens County Speedway to raise awareness of her death.

Tammy Zywicki: Who killed Tammy Zywicki? Mom tries to balance desire for justice and peace

Related, from 2015: New leads considered in murder of Eastside High grad Tammy Zywicki

Tammy Zywicki loved James Dean and decorated her dorm room at Grinnell College with his posters.
Tammy Zywicki loved James Dean and decorated her dorm room at Grinnell College with his posters.

Here's what to know about the case and the mystery.

What happened to Tammy Zywicki

  • In the summer of 1992, Tammy Zywicki and her younger brother, Daren, were on their way to their colleges in Illinois and Iowa when they experienced car problems throughout the trip, according to previous coverage by The Greenville News.

  • Tammy Zywicki dropped her brother off at Northwestern University and continued her trek to Iowa, where she was expected to check in with her mother upon arrival.

  • Near an exit outside Utica, Tammy Zywicki pulled over to check her car.

  • Witnesses told police that Zywicki was seen with her car's hood up around 4 p.m., with a man and his tractor-trailer parked behind her car apparently attempting to help her.

  • Some witnesses said they saw a truck nearby with a "brownish orange, rust-colored stripe" with a faded area in the center.

  • The driver of the truck was described as a white man around 30 to 40 years old with dark, bushy hair, according to an FBI Most Wanted poster.

  • Police did not start investigating her disappearance until three days after the initial report of her being missing, telling the family that Zywicki had probably gone off with a boyfriend, although she did not have one, according to previous coverage from The News.

  • An Illinois State Police officer found Zywicki's car along a highway. It was presumed to be abandoned and was towed.

  • After a search for Zywicki, her body, wrapped in a sheet and red blanket and secured with duct tape, was found days later by a trucker who stopped along Interstate 44 in Missouri.

  • Dental records confirmed the body was Tammy Zywicki, who was wearing the same clothes she had been last seen in. She had been stabbed in the chest several times and sexually assaulted, police said.

  • Several suspects were identified by police, but no arrests were made. No murder weapon was found, nor was a murder scene found.

  • At least one retired Illinois investigator believed a trucker who had family in LaSalle, Illinois, was involved in Zywicki's death, according to previous coverage by The News. That man was questioned by police in 1992 but released after providing hair samples and fingerprints when there was no physical evidence tying him with Tammy's body. He died in 2002.

  • Another suspect was identified by police after DNA testing tied him to other women in 2020, but he was ruled out as a suspect in Zywicki's death by investigators.

  • In 2015, the Illinois State Police reported that investigators turned to members of the Vidocq Society in Philadelphia where suggestions were made regarding Zywicki's death. The Vidocq Society is a crime-solving club composed of federal and state law enforcement, psychologists, and forensic experts. Discussions of the scenes where Zywicki's car was found and where her body was discovered were retold during monthly meetings between members of the society and the Illinois State Police.

  • The Illinois State Police and the FBI still have open investigations in the case and declined to comment.

Tamia Boyd is a Michigan native who covers breaking news in Greenville. Email her at tboyd@gannett.com, and follow her on Twitter @tamiamb. 

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Eastside High School graduate's death remains unsolved 30 years later