The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages. Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin -Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski. And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your
host, Ali. And I'm your co -host Eli. Welcome back everyone and welcome to a brand new year. We are in the year of 2026 and we at Cold and Missing hope that you had a lovely introduction to your year. Yes, I hope everybody stayed safe during the holidays, got to spend time with people that they love, that the new year is off to an incredible start, and yeah I just I wish nothing
but the best for our listeners out there. So I hope You got everything you wanted for the holidays, and you get everything you want in the new year. Moving right along into this new year, we are on a new episode, and we are on episode 152. And we are on a cold case this week. All right, let's get into it. Let's do it. So just as a bit of a content warning at the top, this case does involve a young person, and there
are some brief mentions of sexual assault. Today, we are talking about the cold case of Lori Bolger. and this takes place in June of 1976 in South Elgin, Illinois. But first, a little bit about Lori. Lori Bolger was 16 years old when our timeline starts. She was born on April 23, 1960, and in the summer of 1976, Lori was living with her family at Sweetbriar Court in South Elgin, Illinois. She was the third of four children with an older sister, Tina, and two brothers, Lawrence and
Terrence. Her parents, James and Jane, were both Navy veterans, and by all accounts, Lori was deeply loved and cherished by her family. She was known as the family comic. She just made everybody laugh. Lori was well -liked at Larkin High School in Elgin. People described her as cool, the kind of person others naturally gravitated towards. She loved crafts, especially around the holidays, and Christmas was her favorite time of year. Lori also loved being outside.
She loved the sunshine, being warm, swimming, and outdoor sports. That summer of 1976, Lori was learning how to drive. Normally, she would have taken driver's education during the school year, but life had been anything but normal for Lori. Just days before our timeline begins. Lori's father, James, died. He passed away on June 13, 1976, and Lori had spent much of the school year at his side. A week before she vanished, she
buries her dad. Her aunts, Maury Bolger, will later recall something that Lori said at her father's funeral. Mary says, quote, We buried Jim in the shade of a tree, but Lori loved the sun and told us, When I die, you'll have to find a grave out in the sun. And now a timeline of events. Tuesday, June 22, 1976. That morning, Lori's sister dropped her off at Larkin High School, which at that time was located at 1475
Larkin Avenue in Elgin. Lori was there to make up her missed coursework for her driver's education class. She attended class that morning without any issue. I believe class started at around 8 a .m. So at around 9, 10 a .m., Lori was seen leaving the school, which tracks. A driving instructor later reported seeing Lori outside the school hitchhiking. And then a few minutes later, Lori was seen at a donut shop about a block away. A waitress recalled that Lori was alone when
she left the donut shop. We do know that Lori had plans that morning. She was supposed to meet her friends. Peggy and Mimi around 10 .20 a .m. to go swimming at a spot known as the quarry. Several people who knew Lori reported seeing her walking between 9 a .m. and 9 .15, and based on the route witnesses saw her on, it looked like she was headed towards her home, presumably to change into her swimsuit and then head over
to the quarry. According to reports, several people saw Lori, people that she knew, that she waved at, people waved at her, but... At around 9 .15, no one reported seeing Lori after this. According to police, at around 10 .30 a .m., so this is just a little over an hour, about an hour and 15 minutes since Lori was last seen walking, a man driving past a field noticed a girl lying in the grass. He assumed she was sunbathing and continued driving. He didn't stop. Investigators
later believed this was likely Lori's body. Because just... An hour later, at approximately 11 .25 a .m., plant workers driving onto the grounds of the Elgin Township Estate Sewage Treatment Plant discovered a body lying in the grass in the same spot the earlier driver had seen a girl lying in the grass. The location is near Randall Road and Hopps Road, which at this time in 1976 was very isolated and surrounded by cornfields. There are still fields there today, but it's
a little bit more populated. Two men doing property maintenance that day were the ones who found her. When they pulled up, they were shocked by what they saw. Lori was lying on the grass. Her jeans had been pulled down below her knees, and her brown and white sweater was pushed up towards her neck. She had been beaten to death. The two men quickly jumped back in their truck and turned around to head to find a phone to call the police. Police arrived and quickly secured the scene.
They searched the area throughout the field, but they didn't find any additional evidence, according to reports. The next day, Wednesday, June 23rd, Lori's sister was tasked with the unimaginable. She had to identify her younger sister at the hospital. She had heard a report on the radio about an unidentified girl being found, and Lori was missing. So she put the two and two together and went to the hospital where she found the heartbreaking news. Lori's autopsy
was also completed that day. The cause of death was a fractured skull caused by a blunt object. Investigators determined that Lori had been struck three times in the forehead and four times in the back of the head. Police said that the weapon would be similar to a tire iron. Though, again, no murder weapon was ever recovered, and they're not exactly sure of what instrument was used,
but they likened it to a tire iron. Investigators initially believed Lori had been sexually assaulted due to the state that her body was found in. However, it would take weeks for the results to come back, but ultimately the autopsy determined that she was not sexually assaulted. For police, this is a difficult case. This is actually the second murder of a teenage girl in that area for 1976. In February, 13 -year -old Rose Whitney had been found shot to death. She was killed
the same day she disappeared. Her case, like Lori's, remains unsolved. Police have never linked these two cases or stated that they could be connected, but media at the time... was making connections between the two cases, or at least pointing it out that two teenage girls had been murdered, which was strange for the area. On Thursday, June 24th, so it's been two days since Lori's murder, police asked the public for help.
Investigators believed Lori had been picked up by a car when she was walking home because she had been hitchhiking. They believe she possibly could have been picked up near the intersection of McLean Avenue and bypass Route 40 in Elgin. It's unclear what led police to this specific intersection. If a witness did see her get in the car, that's never revealed. But this is really the only spot that police mention as the possible
point of abduction. On Friday, June 25th, so three days since Lori's murder, And for the second time that month, the Bulger family gathered to bury someone they loved. Lori was laid to rest near her father. He had been buried in the shade, but for Lori, they chose a spot in the sun just as she had wanted. On June 30th, so it's been eight days since Lori's murder, police announced that they wanted to question three men in connection with Lori's death, emphasizing that the three
men were not suspects. But they were very interested in talking to them at the time. It's unclear if police ever found these three men that they wanted to talk to. However, in September of 1976, so it's been about three months since Lori's murder, four men and one teenager are arrested in connection to Lori's death. James, who is 21, and Robert, who is 18 at this time, were indicted on murder charges. Both of them pled
not guilty. And then John, who is 18, and Gary, who is 22, were indicted on obstruction of justice charges. There's also a 16 -year -old who was indicted on an obstruction of justice charge, but we don't learn his name since he is a minor. The four men, though, were residents of Chicago. Police learned about these men after they were arrested the day after Lori's murder on suspicion of stealing a car battery. While in custody, evidence found in the vehicle prompted investigators
to consider them in Lori's murder. Inside the car, police alleged they found a hammer with human bloodstains. The blood that was found on the hammer was the same type as Lori's, but they don't have DNA testing, so it's not a firm match. It's just the same blood type that Lori had. Police claimed that there was additional evidence as well, though that's never made public. Despite these arrests, police still say that they have
no motive in the case. A few months later, in December, of 1976, so it's been about five and a half months since Lori's murder. And the new Kane County State's attorney, Gene Armantrout, requested that the murder charges against Jayme and Robert be dismissed. Both men passed polygraph tests. Armantrout later said, quote, that was all I needed because I didn't think they did it either. Additional evidence supported their innocence. Witnesses placed the men elsewhere
at the time of the murder. A mechanic stated that the car in question was in his shop during the time that Lori was killed. It was also determined that Lori's wounds could not have been caused by the type of hammer found in the car. So with that, all the charges were dismissed. Unfortunately, when these charges get dismissed, it seems like Lori's case really stalls out. I didn't really see any updates after this about Lori's case or efforts that the police were doing to bring
about a resolution. The next real big update that I found came in September of 2025 when the Elgin Police Department, they started their own podcast, which is called Somebody Knows Something, and they cover Lori's case. But again, there's no real updates or any new information from the podcast or where the case stands today. They don't give us any of that information. So with that, that is truly all we know about the murder
of Lori Bulger in June of 1976. So if you know anything about the murder of Lori Bulger, please call the Elgin Police Department at 847 -289 -2653. So that is the case of Lori Bulger. Just to talk about Lori from the top here, we heard so much about who she was and that she was crafty and outdoorsy and maybe a little bit of a class clown. Very well liked and had friendships and strong family connections to her siblings and was already facing such a difficult moment after
losing her father. She sounded so familiar to me. She sounded like someone I could have easily went to school with. She sounded familiar in a way that she kind of sounded like my sisters. And obviously, you know, I didn't know this person, but it felt like I did the moment you started talking about her and who she was and what her life was like. Yeah, and we'll have photos of
Lori up on our Instagram. And I think Lori is one of those people where you can kind of capture a little bit of their personality in photos and like kind of feel it radiating off. And I think Lori's pictures do exactly that. You kind of feel her fun energy. And yeah, if I was in high school with Lori, I would want to be her friend. Like she sounds really cool and a lot of fun to be around. Timeline, you know, it being 1976 and her being 16 for this time period, hitchhiking
was very normal. And if you follow true crime cases specifically around this time period, you hear it pretty often in stories. Very normal, even for in the Midwest, like where she was. But I'm aware and I think probably our listeners are that. This was kind of a normal thing to be happening for that time period. Oh, yeah. It seemed very part of Lori's world. Like, she got dropped off in the morning by her sister.
And then, you know, after her class was done, the class only took an hour, she was going to head back home and then meet up with her friends at the swimming spot. And, yeah, it seemed like
she would have. done this before hitchhike until she got a ride or until she just walked back finally so yeah extremely normal for this time but in 2026 you hear of a 16 year old hitchhiking and immediately you get on edge yeah so to to start off this timeline I think it sounds completely normal for that moment in time and for how she was navigating her life it sounded like a normal day her being dropped off to pick up some missed schoolwork for driver's ed, and continuing on
with her day. It sounds all normal to me. But shortly after the timeline starts, it also ends, and the normalcy about it ends. There are people who see her hitchhiking, they spot her around town, and then her body is found. It's a little shocking to know that this happened in the middle of the day, even with it being in an isolated rural area. It's still a spot that's visited by maintenance workers with some regularity.
To me, it feels like she was attacked in an impulsive moment of opportunity for whoever her killer was. Yeah, the timeline is very tight from the moment she leaves the high school and is seen walking to... ultimately when her body is found just hours later. She's last seen at 9 .15, and the workers arrive and discover her body just before 11 .30 a .m., so very tight window. And I would agree that this appears to be a crime of opportunity without having, like, more evidence
or more connections to lean on. saw Lori hitchhiking in a vulnerable position, could get them in her car, and then took off. So it's a very tight timeline. And considering how many people saw Lori, like, kind of walking and heading home, it's surprising. That we don't have, that we know of, a direct witness that saw her get in a car. So we don't know what type of car she might have gotten into. Make, model, color, anything. We have no idea besides a general intersection.
Just quickly pivoting back to the discovery of Lori's body. I think it's worth mentioning that even though Lori was not sexually assaulted, like ultimately that's what was ruled, the state... that her body was found in, to me, still screams that this was a sexually motivated crime. I don't really understand why her body would, particularly her clothes, why they would be in those positions if the crime was not sexually motivated. But the removal of the clothes into those positions
was for a reason. And it makes the discovery of her and knowing that she wasn't assaulted that much more confusing and equally horrifying. Yeah, it does still feel sexually motivated due to the state of her clothes when they found her body. Without knowing, you know, the true perpetrator, we can't know, like, was this just the act was interrupted by a car, you know, something happened, he got spooked, he ran. Or was Lori fighting? And that's just how it ended. It's obviously
all speculation, and we have no idea. But I would agree that there was sexual motivation behind this act. As the investigation begins and there's media coverage of what's happening, just in Elgin in general, it makes sense to me that... The other case about the young girl whose life was taken, that she was murdered, it makes sense to me that as media coverage began on Lori's case and the investigation started, that the
two cases were possibly connected. And the other case that I'm talking about is the one that happened relatively close in... Lori's timeline, the girl who was shot and killed, it makes sense to me that they were connected by both the public and media. I know that law enforcement wasn't making those connections, but really, I think at the time it would be hard not to publicly make those connections. Yeah, and Rose Whitney, that's the other girl's name. That is a case that I'm interested
in looking into. I discovered it looking into Lori's case. But yeah, you know, if I lived in Elgin or South Elgin at this time, I would be nervous to think that is there somebody on the loose that's, you know, going after teenage girls. Their cases are different. You know, Lori was ultimately killed due to a blunt instrument. beating from the blunt instrument. The other girl was shot, but where they are similar, they were very quick timelines, meaning that they
were both killed that same day. And I believe it makes complete sense that the residents, the media, like, looked at these two with a connection. Now, moving on to the men and teenager that were charged with this crime initially. I don't really know. There was a lot of information and I don't know what to make of it all. I don't understand how the connection to the car was made in the
first place. And to me, it sounds like law enforcement was really looking for someone to, you know, to take the fall for this crime and maybe these
people. kind of fit the profile or their car did or what was in their car did but ultimately it sounded like a stretch to me and we know that those charges were dropped so um I don't know the uh this whole case is so heartbreaking and very hard to digest I don't really know what to make of how things ended and how things are going now I I'm grateful that you brought this case to our attention, but I'm kind of at a loss
of what to think now. Yeah, you know, the four men and then the teenager, they came on police's radar the day after Lori's murder because they were accused of stealing a car battery. And then blood in their car led them to look at... Lori's case, and that's why that all happened. And part of those arrests, too, could have been politically motivated. The state attorney who eventually
dismissed the charges. Said that, you know, this was done on purpose by the person right before him who, you know, would have been voted out of office like just weeks before that. That it was all by the former state attorney to put this big mess and give him a case that he could never prosecute. So there was suggestion that it was just politically motivated to like kind of give this like. bad case to the new state attorney.
I'm not entirely sure. I didn't go down that rabbit hole very far, but it's a murder case. Somebody's murder case should never be used for any political reason. There should only be concrete answers and justice. There should be no games played, no runarounds, no this and that, like not with this, not with a murder, not with somebody's life. Don't play all that. Like, it makes me feel nuts because it wastes time and energy behind
the case. Like, right after all those charges were dismissed, it just feels like all the energy behind Lori's murder just flattened, just nothing. Like, people didn't seem to demand answers in the same way. So I really want answers in Lori's case. I think. that there could be answers in Lori's case. I think somebody does know something. Somebody knows what happened to her, and I want energy behind her case, and I want people asking
about her. So again, if you know anything about the murder of Lori Bulger in June of 1976, please call the Elgin Police Department at 847 -289 -2653. And we will have pictures of Lori on our Instagram at coldandmissing where we also post other... missing person cases or other updates in cold cases just throughout the country. So it's a great resource for just general true crimes in cold cases and missing people. So please, if you're not following us already, follow us
there. Also, if we ever need to take a week off unexpectedly, we'll always post updates on our Instagram. So at cold and missing, give us a follow. Also, if you have some time today in this new year, maybe you want to leave us a five -star review and a written review. Five -star
reviews really help others. find this podcast it feeds that algorithm machine that we all know about and just lets other folks take a chance on us like you know when you're looking for a new podcast you want to see something with a lot of five stars and that's what you'll give a try so five stars goes a long way if you have any critiques of the podcast you can go ahead and email those directly to me which you can
find on our website at www .coldandmissing .com we have all our old episodes on there as well so you can find other episodes and if you or a loved one is hard of hearing. We also have transcripts, official transcripts that are all spell checked and put correctly on our website as well. But that is all I have for you today. Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Ali. And I'm your co -host, Eli. Have a good week and stay safe, y 'all. Stay safe, y 'all.