Speaker 1: This podcast is based on information sourced primarily from police
Speaker 1: and media reports, but certain names and other identifying details
Speaker 1: may have been changed or altered for privacy and security reasons.
Speaker 1: While the events in cases discussed are based on real investigations,
Speaker 1: some aspects may be simplified for time and for narrative purposes.
Speaker 1: Voice actors have been used to read from statements or documents.
Speaker 1: All information presented is intended solely to inform and raise awareness.
Speaker 1: Hosts may discuss theories regarding the cases examined in this podcast,
Speaker 1: but such discussions are not intended to and should not
Speaker 1: be considered by the listener to be legal conclusions. All
Speaker 1: persons discussed are considered innocent until proven guilty in a
Speaker 1: court of law. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2: This is Chief Anna Lally. Welcome to Somebody Knows Something,
Speaker 2: a podcast from the Elgin Police Department's Cold Case Unit.
Speaker 2: In this podcast, we will shed new light on cold
Speaker 2: cases in the city of Elgin by sharing untold details
Speaker 2: and by encouraging anyone with information to come forward. You
Speaker 2: will come along with real cold case detectives as they
Speaker 2: investigate active cold cases in real time and seek justice
Speaker 2: for the victims and closure for their families. We believe
Speaker 2: that the Elgin Police Department and our community can work
Speaker 2: together to bring closure to cold cases because we know
Speaker 2: that in these cases, somebody knows something.
Speaker 3: Hello, Welcome to twenty twenty six, and welcome to the
Speaker 3: bonus episode of Somebody Knows Something, the Elgin Police Department
Speaker 3: Cold Case Podcast. My name is Detective and Er Howton.
Speaker 4: An i'n Detective Chris Hall. Last season, we walked through
Speaker 4: the nineteen seventies of Elgrim, covering five cold case homicides
Speaker 4: and one cold case missing person. As we continue to
Speaker 4: work on these cases, we are already preparing for season three,
Speaker 4: which we plan to launch in March of this year.
Speaker 4: For season three, we are leaving the nineteen seventies and
Speaker 4: heading into the nineteen eighties of Belgium, but we are
Speaker 4: returning to our original format and covering one case in
Speaker 4: an episodic season, just like we did in season one,
Speaker 4: and just like season one, it's another missing person's case.
Speaker 3: Before we jump into season three, we decide that we
Speaker 3: wanted to give our listeners an idea of all the
Speaker 3: cold case missing persons that we have on our caseload
Speaker 3: as of the date of this recording so that we
Speaker 3: can ask for information and tips on those cases. Then
Speaker 3: in season three, Chris and I are going to explore
Speaker 3: the oldest case in our missing person case files, the
Speaker 3: case from nineteen eighty two over the course of a
Speaker 3: full season.
Speaker 4: Currently, we have four missing persons cases on our caseload,
Speaker 4: spanning from nineteen eighty two to twenty twenty one, and
Speaker 4: we have a missing person who disappeared in April of
Speaker 4: twenty twenty three, who, if he is not located, will
Speaker 4: become our fifth cold case missing person in just a
Speaker 4: few short months. So let's dive into those cases here
Speaker 4: in the bonus episode as we began the new year,
Speaker 4: and as we moved towards season three, if somebody knows
Speaker 4: something for our upcoming season, Andrew and I are going
Speaker 4: to investigate in real time the disappearance of forty five
Speaker 4: year old Waititiia Jones, who was last seen in either
Speaker 4: late September or early October of nineteen eighty two. We
Speaker 4: briefly mentioned her case while we discussed Barbara Luker's disappearance
Speaker 4: in season two, and now Waitia will have her own
Speaker 4: season as we work to try to bring her home for.
Speaker 3: A Waitia's case, we will also have some old help
Speaker 3: and some new help. Just a few weeks ago, Detective
Speaker 3: Beth Steker joined our unit, which has now grown to
Speaker 3: three full time investigators, and Sergeant Matt Vartanian is also
Speaker 3: rejoining us.
Speaker 5: Our dedicade.
Speaker 3: Listeners will remember that after season one, Matt was promoted
Speaker 3: and left the unit, but in November of twenty twenty five,
Speaker 3: he returned to the Major Investigations Division as a sergeant,
Speaker 3: and he currently oversees the cold case as part of
Speaker 3: his duties. While Chris and I will continue to host
Speaker 3: season three, our listeners may also hear from Beth and
Speaker 3: from Matt periodically as we work on Materia's case as
Speaker 3: a group.
Speaker 4: Throughout this season, Andrew and I, along with Matt and
Speaker 4: Bech plan to interview people who knew Witeria, visit key
Speaker 4: sites related to her disappearance, and review her full case
Speaker 4: file so that we can hopefully generate new tips and
Speaker 4: new leads in her case. As we said, we plan
Speaker 4: to launch our season in March, and we hope that
Speaker 4: with your help, we can generate new interest in Wayteria's
Speaker 4: case and maybe find out what happened to her over
Speaker 4: forty four years ago.
Speaker 3: Chris, why don't we start by introducing Beth and reintroducing
Speaker 3: Matt to all of our listeners.
Speaker 5: That is a great idea. Let's start with you, Beth.
Speaker 4: I know you have only been with us for a
Speaker 4: short time, but why don't you introduce yourself to our listeners.
Speaker 6: I am Detective Beth Sterricker, and I've been a police
Speaker 6: officer here in Elgin since two thousand and six. Before
Speaker 6: I joined the Cold Case unit. I worked patrol than
Speaker 6: in our narcotics unit for ten years. Most recently, I
Speaker 6: was a school resource officer at Elgin High School for
Speaker 6: almost seven years before I joined the cold case unit
Speaker 6: just a few weeks ago.
Speaker 5: Beth, thank you. It's great to have you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is, and our listeners will certainly remember this
Speaker 3: next voice.
Speaker 7: Hey everybody, I'm Sergeant Matt Vartanium from season one. As
Speaker 7: you said, Andrew, after season one, I was promoted and
Speaker 7: left investigations to be the sergeant on nightshift patrol. But
Speaker 7: as you also mentioned back in November of twenty twenty five,
Speaker 7: I moved back up into the investigations division as one
Speaker 7: of the supervisors. Currently, one of my assignments is that
Speaker 7: I oversee the three cold case detectives, So it's nice
Speaker 7: to be back and be involved in these cases again.
Speaker 7: I am really looking forward to working with the three
Speaker 7: of you and just to continue the work on these cases.
Speaker 3: Well, welcome Beth, and welcome back Matt. It's great to
Speaker 3: have this unit expanding and seeing some new faces and
Speaker 3: some old ones, and I think we're all really confident
Speaker 3: that we're going to get some movement on some of
Speaker 3: these cases as we move into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 5: Yes, welcome guys.
Speaker 4: I know I speak for Andrew myself when I say
Speaker 4: that we are really looking forward to not only the
Speaker 4: new season, but also the cases that we are going
Speaker 4: to be working, both on and off the podcast.
Speaker 3: Thanks guys, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 6: I'm really excited to start working on these cases.
Speaker 5: Matt.
Speaker 3: I know you worked with me on season one and
Speaker 3: stayed up to date and kind of been involved in
Speaker 3: some of the other cases that Chris and I have
Speaker 3: been working. But I want to ask you, Beth, what
Speaker 3: made you want to decide to join this unit.
Speaker 6: Well, Andrew, listeners may be surprised to know that I
Speaker 6: actually grew up around Elgin and that my dad as
Speaker 6: a retired lieutenant. I know from talking to him and
Speaker 6: talking to you guys that he actually worked on a
Speaker 6: number of the cold cases that we are looking at now.
Speaker 6: So I think for me, a big part of joining
Speaker 6: this unit is that I grew up with some of
Speaker 6: these stories in these cases.
Speaker 5: I would imagine growing up in Elgin.
Speaker 4: You probably recognize some of the names and places that
Speaker 4: we have talked about in the past seasons and we'll
Speaker 4: talk about in the future ones.
Speaker 6: Right, absolutely, And I think that gives me a different
Speaker 6: perspective from the three of you. I grew up around here,
Speaker 6: I know this town really well, and I know some
Speaker 6: of these cases.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think that as we talked about people that
Speaker 7: would be a great fit in the unit, your background
Speaker 7: is something that we felt would be a great asset
Speaker 7: to us and on these cases. And your perspective as
Speaker 7: a woman in our group of guys is something that
Speaker 7: we also think will be very useful.
Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3: I think just having those different perspectives and ways of
Speaker 3: thinking is always beneficial. I came from online investigations and
Speaker 3: sex crimes and crimes skinned children. Matt, you came from
Speaker 3: gang crimes and have a technology background. Chris, you worked
Speaker 3: at patrol and have a background with SWAT and EESD
Speaker 3: and tactical scenarios, and now we had you, Beth, with
Speaker 3: a background in narcotics investigations and the school system with
Speaker 3: different juveniles. I think we kind of cover a lot
Speaker 3: of different perspectives and a different background with the four
Speaker 3: of us.
Speaker 6: Yes, I am really looking forward to diving into not
Speaker 6: only Whyteria's case for the podcast, but all the other
Speaker 6: cases that we are actively working. I really feel like
Speaker 6: these families and victims deserve our full attention and any
Speaker 6: effort we can give them to try to close these cases.
Speaker 6: So I'm really looking forward to working with you guys
Speaker 6: as we move forward.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it will be definitely nice to have you here, Beth,
Speaker 7: and I am looking forward to being back as well.
Speaker 7: I know we might not be in every episode this year,
Speaker 7: but our listeners may hear from you and for me
Speaker 7: as we work this case and others as a team
Speaker 7: to just try to determine the closure for these cases
Speaker 7: and for the victims and their families, because in the end,
Speaker 7: that is what they deserve.
Speaker 3: Well, now that we've given you an update on our staffing,
Speaker 3: as Chris said, we have four missing person cases in
Speaker 3: our file, including one case that we will focus extensively
Speaker 3: on in season three, But as Chris also said, we
Speaker 3: have a fifth case we want to talk about. That
Speaker 3: case involves a sixty one year old man who was
Speaker 3: reported missing in April of twenty twenty three, and because
Speaker 3: our cold cases have to be at least three years
Speaker 3: old to meet our criteria, his case will become our
Speaker 3: fifth missing person case in April unless we find him
Speaker 3: before then.
Speaker 4: True, but even if we do add a fifth case
Speaker 4: in April, we did locate another missing person in this
Speaker 4: past fall, and his case came off the books for us.
Speaker 4: Willie Wilder, who was listed on our website and who
Speaker 4: was on our caseload after you disappeared in December of
Speaker 4: twenty twenty one, was located living in South Elgian in
Speaker 4: September of twenty twenty five. So, since our unit began
Speaker 4: in May of twenty twenty four, our list of six
Speaker 4: cold case missing persons is now down to four, with
Speaker 4: Willie and Karen coming off our list.
Speaker 3: With that in mind, we thought that since we're focusing
Speaker 3: on our oldest cold case for season three, we would
Speaker 3: discuss each missing person case from our cold case files
Speaker 3: in reverse chronological order, starting with the missing person from
Speaker 3: April of twenty twenty three and working backwards to our
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty two case here in this bonus episode. Then
Speaker 3: when we launched season three in March, we will dive
Speaker 3: really deeply into our nineteen eighty two case. So let's
Speaker 3: get into those other four cold case missing persons as
Speaker 3: we look forward to season three of Somebody, Oh Something.
Speaker 3: The first case we want to touch upon is the
Speaker 3: disappearance of Franco Loya. Franco was born on December seventeenth,
Speaker 3: sixty four, and he lived here in Elgin when he
Speaker 3: was reported missing in twenty twenty three. On April twenty first,
Speaker 3: members of his family reported that they had not spoken
Speaker 3: with him since April nineteenth, and they asked the Elgin
Speaker 3: Police Department to try to locate him.
Speaker 4: Police learned that Franco had received some care at Saint
Speaker 4: Joseph's Hospital, then, after he was discharged, he walked north
Speaker 4: along North Airlit Street around nine pm. Franco was living
Speaker 4: in the three hundred block of Raymond Street on the
Speaker 4: east side of Elgin, about three and a half miles
Speaker 4: east of where he had last been seen. Elgin police
Speaker 4: pulled video surveillance tried to ping his phone and search
Speaker 4: the area extensively, both near where he was last seen
Speaker 4: as well as his house in other areas he was
Speaker 4: known to frequent, but as of the date of this recording,
Speaker 4: he has not been located. Franco was currently listed as
Speaker 4: missing and endangered.
Speaker 3: Franco's described as a male Hispanic, approximately five feet five
Speaker 3: inches tall and one hundred and ninety two pounds, with
Speaker 3: black hair and brown eyes, and he was last seen
Speaker 3: wearing a black Planet Fitness tank top, black pants, and
Speaker 3: black shoes. Franco sometimes uses the name Otniel Rojas, and
Speaker 3: a photograph of him along with all the people we're
Speaker 3: going to discuss this episode accompanies this episode. Franco's family
Speaker 3: is still searching for him, and we are asking that
Speaker 3: anyone who has information about his whereabouts please come forward.
Speaker 3: We hope that by releasing information in this podcast, we
Speaker 3: can find him before his case technically becomes a cold
Speaker 3: case in April this year.
Speaker 4: Franco Loyov's case isn't a cold case yet, but the
Speaker 4: next three people that we're going to discuss are. The
Speaker 4: first person is Maynor Escalante Martinez, who is a sixteen
Speaker 4: year old unaccompanied minor. When he entered the United States
Speaker 4: in April of twenty twenty one. Mayner was placed with
Speaker 4: his family here in Elgin, but was reported missing two
Speaker 4: months later on June twenty ninth, twenty twenty one.
Speaker 3: An unaccompanied minor is to find under US law as
Speaker 3: a person who is under the legal age of eighteen
Speaker 3: years old and has no lawful immigration status in the
Speaker 3: United States. The person also has no parent or legal
Speaker 3: guardian available to provide care or custody. According to the
Speaker 3: National Immigration Forum, in twenty twenty one, one hundred and
Speaker 3: twenty two thousand, seven hundred and thirty one unaccompanied miners,
Speaker 3: including Manor will referred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement,
Speaker 3: or the OERR by the Department of Homeland Security. One
Speaker 3: hundred and seven thousand, six hundred and forty six of
Speaker 3: those people were released to their sponsors. The OERR operates
Speaker 3: nearly three hundred facilities in twenty seven different states, and
Speaker 3: Maynor was sent to live with a family here in
Speaker 3: Elgin until his own family could be located for him.
Speaker 4: However, on June twenty ninth, twenty twenty one, the sponsor
Speaker 4: family reported that a person allegedly one of Mayner's uncles
Speaker 4: came to Elgin from Florida and that Maner left with
Speaker 4: him because he was a minor and we can't.
Speaker 5: Confirm who we actually left with.
Speaker 4: He was listed as missing and we have not located
Speaker 4: him as of the date of this recording. Maynor would
Speaker 4: be twenty years old now, so he may no longer
Speaker 4: be five to nine, one hundred ninety pound with black
Speaker 4: hair and brown eyes like he was when he was
Speaker 4: reported missing, but we do have a photograph of him
Speaker 4: from twenty twenty one listed with this episode, we simply
Speaker 4: are asking that anyone with information on his whereabouts contact
Speaker 4: us so that we can confirm that he is okay
Speaker 4: and that he actually left with someone from his actual family.
Speaker 4: If you have any information on Maner's whereabouts, please contact us.
Speaker 3: Our next missing person is Chad P. Smith, who was
Speaker 3: forty four years old when he was reported missing on
Speaker 3: Groundhog's Day in twenty twenty one. Chad was listed in
Speaker 3: leads as missing and endangered, and he's described as a
Speaker 3: black man who was six feet tall, one hundred and
Speaker 3: seventy pounds with brown eyes and black hair. His last
Speaker 3: known clothing description is currently unknown.
Speaker 4: On February second, twenty twenty one, Chad's family reported and missing,
Speaker 4: noting that no one had heard from him since approximately
Speaker 4: December of twenty twenty. He is known to frequent the
Speaker 4: forty six hundred block of Lake Park Avenue in Chicago,
Speaker 4: as well as other areas on the South side of Chicago,
Speaker 4: but his mother still lives here in Elgin. Over the
Speaker 4: past year, his mother has reported that she's been told
Speaker 4: that Chad's been spotted in Chicago by various people, but
Speaker 4: we have not been able to confirm that information. So again,
Speaker 4: if you have any information about him or his whereabouts,
Speaker 4: please contact us.
Speaker 3: Chad also has a tattoo of a lion on his chest,
Speaker 3: a hammerhead shark on his right forearm, praying hands on
Speaker 3: his right arm, and a cross on his left arm.
Speaker 3: If you recognize him or this description, please let us know.
Speaker 3: We've also included a photograph of him with our episode.
Speaker 4: The last missing person we have other than our full
Speaker 4: season three missing person is a young man named Darren
Speaker 4: Wood who was twenty four years old when he was
Speaker 4: reported missing on July thirteenth, twenty seventeen. According to his family,
Speaker 4: Darren stopped by his mother's house in the eight hundred
Speaker 4: block of Suzanne Lane on Elgin's East Side. On July ninth,
Speaker 4: twenty seventeen, just a few days before he was reported missing.
Speaker 4: They chatted and he told her that he'd be back
Speaker 4: on the eleventh to see her so that he would
Speaker 4: go to the DMV to get a state ID card,
Speaker 4: but he never returned.
Speaker 3: By July thirteenth, Darren's mother called the police and reported
Speaker 3: him missing. She described the last time she saw him,
Speaker 3: he was wearing blue jeans, a black shirt, and black
Speaker 3: gym shoes. Darren is a white male who is approximately
Speaker 3: five feet five inches tall, weighs one hundred and sixty pounds,
Speaker 3: and has brown hair and brown eyes. He also has
Speaker 3: a tattoo of a star on his left forearm. The
Speaker 3: Algian Police Department entered him in the leeds and attempted
Speaker 3: to locate him, but they came up empty.
Speaker 4: Over the past eight years, we have had several potential
Speaker 4: matches to Darren from NamUs, which is the National Missing
Speaker 4: and Unidentified Person's System. We will talk more about them
Speaker 4: in our full season, but basically they help law enforcement
Speaker 4: compare unidentified human remains from around the nation to missing
Speaker 4: persons cases. Anyway, several potential sets of human remains with
Speaker 4: similarities to Darren come up, but through DNA and dental records,
Speaker 4: we have been able to eliminate those identified remains as
Speaker 4: being Darren. At this time, we are still seeking information
Speaker 4: regarding his disappearance and whereabouts, so anyone with information please
Speaker 4: contact us.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 4: Those are the missing person's cases that we have on
Speaker 4: our caseload as of January of twenty twenty six, along
Speaker 4: with one that could become a cold case in just
Speaker 4: a few months, Franko Loyo, Maynor Escalante Martinez, Chad P.
Speaker 5: Smith and Darren Wood.
Speaker 4: These four cases span from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty three. What,
Speaker 4: as we said at the beginning of this bonus episode,
Speaker 4: we have one more case that goes all the way
Speaker 4: back to the fall of nineteen eighty two, over six
Speaker 4: months before Karen Cheapers, our missing person from season one, disappeared.
Speaker 3: Whitiia Jones was forty five years old when she vanished
Speaker 3: after reportedly leaving the Douglass Hotel, which is just across
Speaker 3: the street from the current police department. Listeners will remember
Speaker 3: that Casey Kyle's, a case we covered in season two,
Speaker 3: was also murdered just outside that same building in nineteen
Speaker 3: seventy seven. For season three, we will be investigating Whitiria's
Speaker 3: disappearance over multiple episodes, just like who did in season
Speaker 3: one with Karen Sheeper's, but we expect that Whitiia's case
Speaker 3: will take us outside of Elgin, even outside of Kane County,
Speaker 3: as we search for answers in the oldest cold case
Speaker 3: missing person case in our files. So please join us
Speaker 3: in March for season three. Whityia is missing here on
Speaker 3: Somebody Knows Something.
Speaker 2: If you or anyone you know has information about this
Speaker 2: case or any other cold case in Elgin, please contact
Speaker 2: the Elgin Police Department Cold Case email at cold Case
Speaker 2: tips at Elgin dot gov or the cold Case tip
Speaker 2: line at eight four seven two eight nine cold. You
Speaker 2: can also review cold case information on the Elgin Police
Speaker 2: Department's coldcase page at www dot elgincoldcases dot com, where
Speaker 2: every cold case, homicide, and missing person's case is listed
Speaker 2: with photographs and information about each case.