New information emerges in Will County cold case of Christine Meadors

WILL COUNTY - It was a case that rocked Will County 50 years ago. A 15-year-old girl went missing until her body was found months later in an outhouse.

In a FOX 32 Special Report, our Elizabeth Matthews has new information on this cold case.

"They still care about it; there’s a lot of people in the community that still care about it. So we’re looking for someone to come forward," said Mike Earnest, Detective Sergeant, Will County Sheriff’s Police. "Tell us what exactly happened that night."

Fifteen-year-old Christine Meadors was a sophomore at Lockport High School with no history of trouble.

"So Christine from all accounts was a pretty nice girl. Very popular. She was in the Homecoming court," said Earnest.

In 1973, Christine and her family lived on a quiet street in Homer Township. Investigators say on the night of November 4, Christine was at home talking to her boyfriend on the phone, and around 10:30 that night, her mother told her to go to bed.

"They realized the next morning. Her father at the time was an over the road truck driver and was returning back home, 5:30 in the morning. He came in and they discovered that Christine was missing," Earnest said.

According to police, her father noticed a window by the front door was removed, and the door was unlocked. The only thing missing from the house was a small amount of money from a purse.

Her parents also found Christine’s bedroom door locked and her bedroom window opened from the outside. Police noted that the phone line to her bedroom had been cut.

"There were no real leads into the case. I think that’s why it went pretty cold pretty quick after the initial missing persons," said Earnest.

Sergeant Earnest started digging into the cold case three years ago. That’s when they received another tip.

"It was kind of surprising to be honest with you. And there was information in that tip that had names that were never previously talked about," Earnest said.

Since then, Earnest and his partner have been conducting interviews in-state and out of state, looking for a break in the case.

"I’ve interviewed probably close to 100 people on this case," Earnest said. "I would say a decent amount of people that we talked to were not initially interviewed."

Investigators got their first big break five months after Christine disappeared. It happened in Messenger Woods.

"So at the time, Messenger Woods there was an old entrance off of Parker Road, which is in Homer Township. And I guess kids used to go back there. And party and drink and do drugs," Earnest said.

In April 1974, a mother hiking in Messenger Woods with her kids stopped to use an outhouse. As she looked around, she thought she saw something disturbing inside.

"She didn’t actually even report it that day. She didn’t know what she saw so she went back home, told her husband, I think there might be something in this outhouse," Earnest said.

Police were called the next day, and Christine’s body was found.

"No one ends up at the bottom of a cesspool in an outhouse without being put in there," Earnest said.

Earnest showed FOX 32 Chicago a diagram of the crime scene and says he believes several people were involved in Christine's death — not just one.

"I’d say at this point, we’re looking for multiple people because of the fact that the seats in the outhouse, that would have taken a couple of people to lift those physically up on the hinges, and then another person to physically place somebody’s body into the bottom of the cesspool of the outhouse," Earnest said.

Earnest adds the offenders who killed Christine were likely people she knew. He describes them as being older than her by about seven to ten years and that her death was not random.

"She would have known them through acquaintances and friends at school and neighbors," Earnest said.

Surprisingly, no autopsy was done after Christine's body was found in the spring of 1974.

"At that time, for whatever reason, the coroner’s office and the pathologist at the time did not do an autopsy on Christine’s body. Mainly, I believe, due to the fact that it was deteriorated too much," Earnest said.

An autopsy was eventually performed in 1979 when investigators had her body exhumed.

"When they did the autopsy, they determined a second — they had another cause of asphyxiation. So that tells me that she was in there, breathing. And ended up suffocating in the outhouse itself," Earnest said.

As the investigation continued, there were rumors of witchcraft or supernatural based on the shirt Christine was found in. It had what appeared to be various religious symbols. But police say that ultimately was a dead end as well.

"The only thing I can tell you about what she was wearing – I’ll tell you this. It was a very cold night. It was about 25, 26 degrees. Based on historical weather, she had no shoes on when she was found. No coat on when she was found. And that shirt that you can see there, so that’s not a very warm shirt to be out in 25-degree weather," Earnest said.

"A lot of people that we’ve interviewed always kind of say that she overdosed or was given something to cause her to overdose. They panicked and put her in the outhouse to conceal her because they didn’t want to get in trouble," Earnest added.

In his mind, Earnest believes the case is solved. Whether or not it can be charged is another matter.

"Right now, I’m looking for anyone that has even third-hand knowledge, but first-hand knowledge of anything that can help us out," Earnest said. "I believe there are suspects still alive. And I believe they know what happened. It’s been 50 years. At the end of the day, what we want is closure for the family."

If you have information regarding this case, you can contact Sergeant Mike Earnest by email or at 815-727-8574, ext. 4943 — or report a tip anonymously on the Will County Sheriff's Office's website and at Will County Crime Stoppers: 800-323-6734.