One of Their Own

to us. A couple of local FBI agents came to my house and took a DNA swab for me. They apparently have found mail DNA that they can use. Obviously they have something that they're processing. My name isem William Phelps. I'm an investigative journalist, the author more than forty true crime books. This is season three of Paper Ghosts in Plain Sight. Over the course of my investigation into Tammy Ziwiki's murder, I kept coming back to one word trust.

From the beginning. Everything in Tammy's case, the crime scene on I eighty, the time of day, a highway full of witnesses, just about everything pointed to one conclusion, Tammy trusted her killer enough to willingly accept a ride. I think she trusted somebody and took a ride or whatever, and then it went off the rails from there. I don't know if it would be a serial killer. It could be just a random, one time event. You know,

the opportunity was there, they took her. I believe her murderer posed as a good samaritan, pulled over under the guy eyes of offering help, and he probably offered her a ride. So many of the people interviewed for this podcast agreed that on the surface, whoever abducted and murdered Tammy did not ostensibly pose a threat, and despite what early witness statements and the media seemed to imply, I'm

convinced this person was not a trucker. I believe that she was dumped across the state to draw interest away from where she was picked up, and I believe that that's because that area has a connection to her killer. And I really believe that the case was getting national news, it was getting a lot of attention, and I think that the body was left so that we would find it. It could have been dumped in a far more remote, discreete area. If you're a trucker, you know where people

are not going to be. You know there are places that are deserted. And while it wasn't left in the middle of the road, it was left in a place where it was going to be found. And I think that that was on purpose, so that we would look in Missouri and stop looking in Illinois. Tammy's friends Stacy Pappus states perfectly what I have come to believe over the past year that Tammy's killer likely acted on an opportunity and abducted her at random, but had certainly thought

things out meticulously afterwards. Like Stacy, I believe his movements after Tammy's death were calculated and meant to distract, and he knew a thing or two about where to dump a body. Here's Tammy's best friend, Jen Nelson. I think it's hard to imagine a monster who would abduct a young woman, kill them and only do that once in their life. No, I think it's a monster who was

out there and was going to hurt somebody else. There are so many different ways that life in nineteen ninety two were different than today that it sometimes makes it hard for listeners to imagine how did this happen. Why did this happen? You know, well, why didn't she do this or that? And you have to really put yourself back into nineteen ninety two to have a better grasp of, you know, what she was thinking, what she was feeling, what the investigators were doing to try to investigate this case.

Brian town is a special prosecutor for the State of Illinois. Prior to that, he was the state's attorney for LaSalle County from two thousand and six two sixteen and the assistant state's attorney in nineteen ninety two when Tammy went missing. I mean, I say this all the time that you can't look at a nineteen ninety two case through a contemporary lens or an emotional feeling of what's going on today. But subconsciously you do unless you're conscious of the fact

that you shouldn't exactly right. It's all about, you know, the era. And I certainly wouldn't call this a cold case, but in virtually every cold case in the United States of America, that's the first and sometimes most difficult hurdle for an investigation is to say, Okay, I've got to get back to nineteen fifty six or nineteen seventy three or whatever year we're talking about. And I've got to think like they thought then and try to have that perspective.

Otherwise it's going to be a difficult investigation. If she felt any discomfort from a truck driver, she could easily ran into those corn fields. I mean, you run into one of those corn fields right there, you're gone. You're hiding. Yeah. Being a Midwest guy, I can tell you that in August, the corn is pretty high, and absolutely she could have very easily escaped any kind of attacker. And I eighty in that particular area of that corridor is wide open.

There might be some fences, but certainly I think she would would have been able to escape if she had felt threatened or if someone was trying to abduct her. It's a thought that haunts me. Tammy was abducted from a busy highway in Illinois in broad daylight on a hot afternoon in August nineteen ninety two. A flood of tips led law enforcement to search for a trucker a connection with her disappearance. It was even a composite of

an eighteen wheeler with two stripes released. Tammy's body was found nine days later in Missouri, just fifteen feet off the shoulder of an exit ramp frequented by truckers, which begs the question did her are capitalized on the frenzied search for a trucker. Here's former IP Lieutenant Jeff Paedia. One of the things that led to the overall truck driver theme was the fact that the betting that she was wrapped in would have fit the betting in the

back of a sleeper birth. That doesn't mean it was from a sleeper birth, and that doesn't mean that that betting wasn't just bought at a Walmart or any other store along the way. And so, you know, that's I think, sort of a good lesson about jumping to conclusions. You know, you have, all right, it fits the betting that she's

wrapped in fits a sleeper birth. That doesn't mean that it was a truck And then it, particularly as a supervisor, you start saying something like that, or you even voice that, oh, it must have been a truck driver. Every one of your detectives then is focused on truck drivers. And that's the last thing we wanted, you know, because we did have other information out there. And then you know, you want to keep all things open. I've said it all along.

There's been an element of tunnel vision that, in my view, hindered progress in the investigation, at least in the early days. And as the saying goes, if you don't change the way you look at things, the things you look at will not change. So if I shift my focus from truck driver to someone Tammy could have trusted, a new pool of potential suspects opens up. We always struggled with the idea of, you know, the couple things somebody in a position of authority, or somebody right at her age

that she may have known. Like, we had the idea that we thought that there was a possibility that the actual offender was another Grinnell College male student, because she would have to have recognized, you know, like, oh, I recognize you from campus, aren't you? You know? Or you have somebody with a badge in a uniform that they're like, come on, i'll hop in, I'll give you a ride,

and then she would feel comfortable with that. Law enforcement followed that threat, but there was no evidence to support a fellow Grinnell's students involvement, or any student for that matter. So then if you apply the logic that Tammy instinctively trusted a stranger, you could draw the conclusion that this person was someone in a position of authority. If you recall from an earlier episode, Tammy's car was found locked on the shoulder of the interstate. There was no sign

of a struggle in or around the vehicle. Her purse, along with her I D were not in the car, So it seems that when her abductor arrived to offer help, Tammy felt at ease, took her bag and left willingly with that person. It's a point I brought up with Jeff Hanford, a former ISP officer who worked on Tammy's case. You know, I mean, in my talks that I gave after this, I would tell them I wouldn't accept any

help from anybody who is not a uniform policeman. I said, because I know how you know what they're going to do for you. They're going to call you a tow truck that's on a list that's been vetted. You said, uniform policeman. Why only uniform policemen. People are impersonating policeman, aren't going to be in a marked car with a uniform, and they're just not. It's too much, it's too dangerous. You know, it's too easy to get caught. Nowadays, they'll

see county deputies out there quite a bit too. I've noticed that, so you know, I've been a uniform police officer in a mark squad car. That's what you want, that's the ultimate, because you'll be out of there in twenty minutes. Law enforcement received countless tips from motorists about the day Tammy went missing, and looking at an ISP handwritten witness tipsheet and time sequence report, I didn't see any indication of a marked or unmarked police vehicle stopping

to help. Then again, if people driving on the interstate saw a police vehicle park next to a stalled car, I think there would be relief, no cause for alarm, and no reason to report it. In my view, it's safe to assume there was something about the person who pulled over that put Tammy at ease, the collar of a clergyman, perhaps maybe an elderly man, or someone with a badge. Tammy was tough. Tammy grew up with three brothers.

Tammy wasn't naive. But if a guy shows up in a collar, or a guy shows up with a badge, she's going with him. Sure, I agree with you, And that kind of dovetails in perfectly with the fact that Tammy's family firmly believes that she never would have gotten into a semi truck with a truck driver that you know, she didn't know and had no connection to nineteen ninety two.

It was a different era, as a different time. You know, a young lady, college bound or somewhat college educated or getting her education would have trusted police and would have, when stranded on the side of a busy road, happily gotten into a squad car with someone in a position

of authority. The possibility that a man in uniform was responsible for Tammy's a Wiki's abduction and murder is a theory I've been pursuing since I learned from someone deeply connected to the case that, as of early twenty twenty two, the prime suspect law enforcement has been zeroing in on

is a former police officer Waitnia from the slum. In the days and weeks after I learned that a former police officer was now the prime suspect and Tammy's a Wiki's abduction and murder, the puzzle pieces in this case began to fall into place. My source, who was asked to remain anonymous, told me this officer has been on law enforcement's radar since the earliest days of the investigation, and he remains at the center of the latest inquiries today.

I worked for months to back up this information and aid carefully whether to include it in the podcast. In the end, I was told that including this detail would not hinder the act of investigation. An accusation against a member of law enforcement isn't an easy one to make or prove. Investigators didn't want to tip off a potential suspect too early, which, for reasons I now understand, is why for many decades it was imperative that any word

about the suspect stay out of the press. And in thinking about this suspect, it makes a little more sense now why it felt as if someone was mucking around with the case in the beginning of the investigation. It could also be the reason why the IP dissolved the task force after just six months. Was it because they thought one of their own could be responsible. What's even more alarming is what I heard in early twenty twenty three, I met with another law enforcement source who confirmed the

cops suspect theory. That source told me this suspect had taken two previously unplanned days off from work after Tammy was abducted, which could account for a lot of unanswered questions, most importantly why her body was found five hundred miles away. It's a point I brought up with Jeff Padilla. There's so much land out there to dump a body that no one would ever find. And if I'm familiar with it, the land, why put her on the side of the

road exactly exactly? And typically we know, you know from my experience, a body dump is meant to create time and distance between the offender and the victim. You know now, now that lends credence to some of those other theories. You know, why would somebody want to create time and distance between them and Tammy? Many serial killers I have interviewed have told me that the more distance they put between themselves and their victims, the better the chances are

of never being connected to that victim. The fact that Tammy was missing for nine days and then found alongside a busy exit ramp in a neighboring state tells me her killer was well aware of this concept. If I'm a cop in Illinois. The last thing I'd want is for one of my colleagues to find her body another state, another jurisdiction. So here's a theory, right, So she's abducted, the call goes out and everyone's looking for an eighteen wheel or truck driver, right right. Nine days pass, and

she's dumped by a truck stop. Yep, because everybody thought it was you know, everybody believed it was a truck driver. So why not make it look like it was a truck driver, right right, and going buy the betting that fits the size of a truck birth. An important point to factor into the trucker theory is how easy it would have been for a truck driver to dump Tammy's body anywhere else but where she was found. Consider the typical over the road trucker who spends days traversing the country.

If he's holding onto the body for nine days, he might as well have driven to Washington State and dumped her there. But to travel five hundred miles and then dump her out in the open, it defies logic, even for a psychopath. If I'm the offender and I'm the truck driver, and for whatever reason, she gets in the truck with me. I've got her, I'm going to take

care of business. And then when she dies straight down I eighty, I just pull over, wait for nobody's coming by, pull her body out, and dump her in the ditch. My second source told me that a search warrant was conducted on the police officer's home in nineteen ninety three, and during that search, many items of interest were found, including an old mattress in his basement and other items that made it quote appear as though someone was being restrained.

The mattress, I'm told was dirty and had been recently slept on, and had stains that appeared to resemble blood. Could the mattress be the piece of evidence investigators were able to recently extract DNA from test and build a profile off of Many of those involved in the investigation have agreed on the theory that Tammy was restrained and held hostage for the period of time she was missing. As I was speaking to Jeff Padilla about the case

in general, I slipped in a question about this. Part of our concern was that, you know, if you're going to restrain someone, you're going to have some ligature marks somewhere, and we had a hard time with that. We didn't there was no clear distinct ligature marks, which led them to you know, particularly in the in the beginning, some people believing that she was immediately killed. A victim who has been restrained for days may not always end up

with ligature marks on their wrists or ankles. It all depends on how the victim is being restrained. This all led to that other issue. Found that Tammy's autopsy she still had the undigested food that she had eaten right before she broke down from whatever that was, the heartsease or whatever. So you know that that all lent to the fact, you know that she may have been killed right away, and then maybe she was just kept because

you know, her body is kept for whatever reason. But that doesn't make like from from a bad guy's perspective, that doesn't make sense because you know, going back to the whole body dump thing, you want to get rid of that as quickly as it would be very strange to hang on to somebody like that unless you have, you know, you had somebody like you know that that

had kept her alive somewhere. Whether Tammy was kept alive or killed right away is an important factor, especially for those desperate to know what happened to her, But it's irrelevant to the science behind catching her killer. That comes down to the DNA testing, completing a profile, and matching it to the suspect. My source said investigators are currently missing one piece, but that once they have it and

arrest MORMP will be signed, sealed, and served. I am fairly certain the field work on all of this has been completed and it's just a matter of time to confirm what they already know. I recently shared some of what I had learned with Jeff Padia, who oversaw Tammy's case for many years. I'll just I will only say this, it's not the first I've heard of that. I have no knowledge that he is the current focus of the investigation. I am familiar with that line of inquiry. I guess

we could call it. Among all the theories and leads over the past thirty years, this one seems the most credible, and according to my sources, current law enforcement believes this suspect is Tammy's killer. The news seemed to catch Jeff Padia off guard. I would be interested as to who would provide you that information With knowledge of the current investigation, but I also don't want to know. So yeah, I mean, I you know, I'd love to tell you, but I can't.

I just can't. And no I did it. It It would be somebody with the same access to my friends and colleagues and folks that I worked with, so and I was told all their weight and to do now is just matched the DNA to this person. That's very interesting. That's very interesting that you say that. I've reached out to those leading the current investigation a number of times,

but they've declined to participate. A spokesperson for the FBI said they were unable to provide any comments outside of what has already been released, but they appreciate the podcast's efforts in helping to bring attention to the case. After working on this case for as long as I have, I'll say this, the best lead, the most practical suspect

is the former police officer. I'm hold law enforcement is currently pursuing from all the intel I have been given and a few off the record conversations, and arrest could be imminent, which in the real world of investigations could mean months or even years. I am not holding my breath, and neither should Tammy's friends and family. The last thing I want to do is give hope where there is none.

I am simply reporting the information I have developed from sources with impeccable credibility, and what I have been told by those who have the access and knowledge to make such claims. If this is all true, the sadder reality is that Tammy made the most responsible decision in her situation. She went with someone reliable, someone she should have been able to trust, and that fact alone makes this story all the more difficult to tell, not do once it

with Today, I'm just saying it in there. I just so can't do much else with it, and there are I know there's going to be a couple of things, a couple of articles going out about it, but I'm just hanging in. I called Joanne Ziwiki last August on the thirtieth anniversary of her daughter's abduction. I thought about how hard this all must be, how draining it can get. I know what it's like from my own nephews and niece who lost their mother to murder in nineteen ninety six.

As a family member, you think about this stuff often, but on certain days of the year, it's impossible to think of anything else. It's hard because it brings it up against you know, everything again and at the same time, you know you never know what might come out of that. There's been some intings that have insolved after so many years because of it's being left in the spotlight. So you know, I looked forward for either way. But some

days are good, some days aren't so good. If hope is part of this, then I can at least offer a slight bright spot for Joanne. Twenty six years after my sister in law's murder, I have been told investigators now have a few suspects they know committed the crime. So despite the times when it seemed law enforcement had someone only to then be let down or they had given up, there is sometimes light at the end or

justice however you look cat it. Joanne told me that some people in her life encourage her to forget about all of this, to move on, to go about her days without stepping back in time. You have to go through it to know what it's like, especially when you have the other kids, because you see what the other kids have done them, what they're going through and everything.

Joanne went on to tell me how hard it has been for her youngest son, Darren, who shared the first part of the road trip with Tammy and was the last one from the family to be with her. You know, you have to kind of just go with it and just take things a best you can from day to day. Now, you know, we all go through subsic and you know, as long as with each other and help each other, and you know, it works out well. I don't know.

I don't know right now, and anything I know now it supposedly the DNA is being destined in California by one of the best lamps out there. They haven't heard any say yeah, so anything comes up, you know, I'll let you know. The impact Tammy's a Wiki had on those in her life is everlasting. It's something that struck me in this case, how memories of the victim were so permanent. It's rare, actually not something I hear all the time. Tammy's best friend Jen Nelson summed it up perfectly.

Losing your best friend in such a horrible way at such a young age has an effect on your life. But for me, I was surrounded by people who were taking action and helping out and making sure that there were positive things that came from this and that made all the difference, and it continues to make all the difference from the podcast to the Facebook group of people

connecting and talking about what's going on with her. There are a lot of good people out there, and there are a lot of people out there who are trying to keep other people safe and be able to solve not only this crime, but others that are unsolved, and to try and keep people from falling victim again. So I just really appreciate everyone else who helps tell the

story too. During my conversation with Joanne, I mentioned that we have to go on live life as full as we can motor through despite how difficult it can sometimes be. That's it, And I mean, I've got three sons, I've got seven grandkids, and I can't let this be in the middle of all of that. You know, they don't live near me, but I do stay in touch with them, worry about them down they're in college. I got three of them one second year of college and two of

them in first year of college. Scary there. It is that ripple effect from Tammy's abduction and murder trickling out into the world, reaching the next generation of the ZOWICKI family, Well, what do you hope from me? If you can bring any attention to it, bring anything out that hasn't been out there before, I'd be grateful. I mean, if people say, why do you think about all that the years don't make any difference, You'd just like to know. The pain

is the pain. Yeah. At the end of the day, Tammy's case will be solved through the DNA evidence gathered from the Missouri crime scene and other locations, tested and run down by the many talented investigators working this case. My goal always and telling these stories is to give victims and their loved ones a voice and to try to best I can get family some answers which they

so much deserve. I feel that this stage I know Tammy and all that I have heard and learned, I believe she would have gone on to be a remarkable success. She was, by all accounts, an incredible human being, which is why I wanted to know. For many of those I spoke with who they thought Tammy would be today, I'm pretty sure that Tammy would be getting ready to get off work and put her hair up in a ponytail and go run and play some some fun co ed soccer wherever she was living, so I think she

would have had, you know, multiple children. I think she would have had a big family like she came from. And I see her being a you know, a coach for soccer or whether it's kids or college. I kind of feel like she might have become a photojournalist. I could see her you know, in the Ukraine, documenting what's going on and you know, just sharing her her talents in that way. I think that she had a lot

of talent and a lot to offer this world. And it's a it's a great loss to the world when when anybody has taken but I think that she had a lot to give. And one last time, here's Tammy's mother, Joanne's a WICKI just to you know the fact that why things like this has to happen, And I think about the person that did it to her would kind of like that person that happen. Yeah, why why do you take somebody's life that she had a lot to give.

She was an all round person. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you the listeners all of your support over the years, as well as to the sources who participated in this podcast and my deepest gratitude to Tammy's friends and most importantly, the Zwicki family who trusted me with Tammy's story. If you are enjoying Paper Ghosts, please listen to my other iHeart podcasts, Crossing the Line with Them William Phelps and White Eagle, where I use

the same storytelling elements you've heard in Paper Ghosts. Paper Ghosts is written and executive produced by me Em, William Phelps and iHeart Executive producer Christina Everett. Additional writing by our supervising producer Julia Weaver. Our associate producer is Darby Masters, Audio editing and mixing by Christian Bowman and Abu Zafar. Our series theme number four four two is written and

performed by Thomas Phelps and Tom Mooney. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.