¶ The Enduring Lane Bryant Mystery
Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And today I want to tell you about a case that has stuck with me for years. In 2008, on a Saturday morning, a man walked into Elaine Bryant store in Tinley Park, Illinois, and held six women at gunpoint. Five of them were murdered. What's always stood out about this case is what investigators had almost immediately: a surviving witness, a detailed composite sketch, even the suspect's voice captured on a 911 call.
But nearly two decades later, no one has been identified, and all potential leads went cold. Now I first started looking into this case for crime generation. And I took to my socials and asked you all for any information that could help us unravel this mystery. And so many tips and theories flooded my inbox that instead of answers, it felt like every lead I got just led to more questions.
¶ CounterClock Unravels The Case
So today, I want you to hear how those questions then led to something bigger. For the newest season of Counterclock, host Delia D'Ambra is gonna dig into the Lane Bryant murder. Dig into the evidence, the timeline, and the details that still don't add up. So I want you to go and binge every episode of Counterclock Season 8. And then when you're done, you can head back here to Crime Junkie for more cases every week. Now here is just a taste of what you're gonna get this season on counterclock.
It started out as just another day in a popular clothing store, but it ended in a bloody massacre. A deadly shooting rampage at upscale Lane Bryant Ladies Clothing Store. Six women gunned down execution style. The February 2008 Lane Bryant homicides in Tinley Park, Illinois are a notorious case that for nearly two decades have looked like one type of crime, but might just be something much, much bigger. It was like a big jigsaw puzzle and most of the pieces were upside down.
For the last year, I've been heads down trying to turn every puzzle piece in this complicated case right side up. Thank you. The search continues for the gunman. We in those early days did not know somebody had survived. We were worried about her safety. What if this guy has her information and has all of our information? This season on counterclock. Amen. We're going inside a law enforcement investigation that has been locked behind closed doors for years.
The timing, the target, the victims, and the length of time. Stayed in the storm. What were you doing in there for forty minutes? The further and further I dug into this crime, the stranger things got. My reporting led me to some unexpected places: a church in crisis, a dilapidated mental health center, a notorious street gang. And another violent shoot. Are you familiar with Quid Pro Quo? When you shoot somebody execution style, you've done it before. A lot of things go down because of money.
Maybe it was an inside job. People use church to do their devilish way. Бакала! Because this story is anything but straightforward. All of a sudden I see the police come like filling the neighborhood and coming up my driveway. Hey, we got a cop man shot out in front of my house! Wake up! Most crimes I see it's 10,000. This was 100,000. Who does not say anything for 100,000? When we first met and you provided me with this information, I mean my jaw dropped. I was like, oh my.
Thank God you're investigative journalism. Binge Counterclock Season 8 right now, wherever. You guys, that is just the beginning of this investigation. Go listen to all episodes of Counterclock Season 8 right now on the Counterclock feed wherever you get your podcast.