Tammy Zywicki
Tammy Jo Zywicki
21 YOA
Grinnell, IA college student
Poweshiek County
Departed Evanston, IL, Aug. 23, 1992, to return to Iowa
Body found September 1, 1992, in Lawrence County, MO
DOD: August 23, 1992
The following case summary has been compiled by Jody Ewing using excerpts from a number of sources listed at the bottom of this page. Though Tammy’s case is officially handled by the FBI’s Chicago Division, it is listed here due to her status as a Grinnell College (IA) student at the time of her death and the number of people who wrote saying they felt it should be listed here.
On Sunday, August 23, 1992, Tammy J. Zywicki departed Evanston, Illinois, for college in Grinnell, Iowa, where she was expected to arrive that evening. Later that day, Zywicki’s car — a 1985 Pontiac T1000 with New Jersey license plates — was found by an Illinois State Trooper and ticketed as being abandoned. On August 24, 1992, Illinois State Police towed the vehicle. That same evening, Zywicki’s mother contacted the Illinois State Police and advised them that her daughter had not arrived at college.
Poweshiek County in Iowa
On September 1, 1992, Zywicki’s body was located along Interstate Highway 44 (I-44) in rural Lawrence County, Missouri, which is located between Springfield and Joplin, Missouri. She was wrapped in a red blanket bound with duct tape, had been sexually assaulted and stabbed eight times — once in the arm and seven times in the chest.
The petite blonde female was reportedly last seen with her car at mile marker 83 in central Illinois between 3:10 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on August 23, 1992. It was also reported that a tractor-trailer was seen near Zywicki’s vehicle during this time period. Some of the victim’s personal property was missing, including a Cannon 35mm camera and a musical wrist watch with an umbrella on the face.
The murder attracted national attention, and Illinois State Police launched a multi-state 14-investigator task force that called in local forces and the FBI.
In January 1993 an unnamed eyewitness called the task force assigned to Zywicki’s murder, stating she’d seen Zywicki pulled to the side of the road and that a man was with her, watching as she struggled to fix her car. The official FBI report confirmed Zywicki was last seen in the presence of a man fitting a description similar to the eyewitness’ claim. The man, reportedly the driver of the tractor-trailer, was described as a white male between 35 and 40 years of age, over six feet tall, with dark, bushy hair.
The eyewitness said the wife of a man who fit this description arrived at the witness’s workplace for a routine blood test and told the witness about a musical watch her husband had just given her. The watch matched the description of the one Zywicki had with her at the time of her disappearance but was never recovered by investigators.
The eyewitness felt there was a strong connection, and three days later contacted Martin McCarthy, a member of the investigative team who’d joined the federal task force in November 1992.
The trucker — identified as Lonnie Bierbodt — was questioned and had blood and hair samples taken, but no arrest was made.
A few weeks later in February 1993, the task force disbanded, citing lack of progress, and Tammy Zywicki’s homicide case eventually went cold.
The FBI marked the case’s 10-year anniversary with a renewed public plea for any information, and announced a $50,000 reward — which joined a standing $100,000 reward from an anonymous private source in Zywicki’s New Jersey hometown — for any information leading to an arrest. FBI officials also confirmed for the first time that it had DNA evidence, collected from Zywicki’s body 10 years earlier, in relation to the murder.
Along with the FBI’s newly released information, former task force member McCarthy came forward with allegations that Lonnie Bierbodt should have been arrested but was never formally held as a suspect. McCarthy also presented several previously unreleased facts, which he believed pointed to Bierbodt as a suspect. Those facts included:
Bierbodt also had a criminal record. He committed two armed robberies in the 1980s and was considered a “violent felon.” Before his parole release in 1990, he’d been serving three concurrent 20-year terms.
Lonnie Bierbodt died in June 2002 at the age of 41. Martin McCarthy retired as a master sergeant for the Illinois State Police the following month.
Courtesy photo Chicago TribuneThe 20th anniversary of Tammy Zywicki’s unsolved murder did not go unnoticed.
In “Remembering what Tammy Zywicki would have liked,” Chicago Tribune writer Mary Schmich wrote an especially poignant piece about the journey JoAnn and Hank Zywicki made from their Florida retirement home to the small Pennsylvania town where they — and Tammy — had been born.
FBI officials in Chicago said they hoped a $50,000 reward would help resolve Zywicki’s case.
On the eve of the 20th anniversary date, the head of Illinois State Police insisted investigators hadn’t forgotten the case. As the Des Moines Register reported on August 22, 2012:
“This investigation remains a top priority, both for me personally as well as the men and women” of the agency, State Police Director Hiram Grau said, noting that authorities “are committed to bringing justice and peace to the Zywicki family.”
Courtesy photo Kathi Swan, findagrave.comTammy J. Zywicki was born March 13, 1971, in Pleasant Hill, Pennsylvania.
Mass was held at the Catholic church in West Newton, Pa., on Tuesday, September 8, 1992, with burial in the West Newton Memorial Cemetery in Westmoreland County.
Tammy was survived by many loving friends and relatives, including her parents, Jo Ann and Hank Zywicki, and three brothers, Todd, Dean, and Daren.
Will new reward crack Iowa cold case? Video by KCCI Des Moines, August 23, 2012
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact the Chicago FBI Division at 312-421-6700.
What about Keith Jeeperson? I saw him on Kids of Killers and thought of Tammy.
I too thought of Keith Jesperson – have you seen his mug shot? 6’6″ with dark bushy hair. Have they checked him out? He has victims (according to him) that have not been identified.
It’s amazing this is still considered cold. Was blanket DNA ever compared to what DNA was gotten from the trucker, Bierbodt?
What about Clyde Wilkerson from Benton, Arkansas He’s in prison on other murders. Was a trucker.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/18/john-boyer-trucker-killed-prostitutes_n_968462.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl2|sec3_lnk1|96614
Please read the attached link which I read via aol. Perhaps Boyer is worth looking into. Was Bierbolt ever connected to the Zywicki case with DNA??
Has DNA been taken from belongings of Lonnie Bierbodt even though he died in 2002.My husband and I think the authorities should pursue the DNA angle.
Did the DNA match this Lonnie Bierbodt? Why did FBI agent Martin McCarthy say he should have been arrested unless it matched? I know they came out with DNA around 1986 so surely they had it in 1993 when Bierbodt was questioned. I’m not sure when they developed CODIS but I wonder if they ever ran the DNA through that program after they started it. I live near intersate 80 were this happened and I remember it on the news. I remember fealling so sorry for that poor little girl and her family. I just dont understand why GOD allows such unjust things like this to happen. If I remember right the news said it was the first time her parents let her drive back to collage on her own. Normally they drove her back and then something like this happens. I remember reading articals about a trucker that use to go to a certain restuarant in Missouri and sit in the same booth time after time and just sit and stare at the spot accross the street where they found Tammys body. Yes I remember feeling so bad about Tammy that at the time I was hopeing they would catch whoever did it. It still bothers me to this day 20 years latter. I guess thats why I did a search today on Tammy just to see if they ever caught anyone. I just wonder if that trucker that use to sit at the reasturant was Lonnie Bierbodt? I wish they would run the DNA through CODIS just to see what happens.