SYCAMORE – The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office still is working continuously to solve the 2016 murders of Patricia Wilson and her son, Robert Wilson, Sheriff Roger Scott and Chief Deputy Andy Sullivan said. Investigators have been pursuing the scientific sides of the case.
One of the struggles investigators have had is that there is no clear motive for the murders. The Wilsons were known and well-liked in the community, Sullivan said. The Wilsons were longtime Sycamore residents who attended services at St. John’s Lutheran Church the day they were slain.
“There’s no apparent motive,” he said. “They were upstanding citizens.”
About 6 p.m. Aug. 15, 2016, 85-year-old Patricia A. Wilson and her son, Robert J. Wilson, 64, were found dead inside their home at 16058 Old State Road, outside Sycamore. Police went to the house after receiving a call for a death investigation.
Police said there are signs that the killer or killers forced their way into the house, then beat the two to death before stealing a white 2010 Chevrolet Impala. The Impala was found 10 days later legally near parked Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.
A DNA sample was recovered at the scene, and investigators use it to search databases and exclude other suspects.
A year ago, the sheriff’s office unveiled sketches of what the suspect might look like based on the DNA profile obtained at the scene.
Working with Virginia-based Parabon Nanolabs, they were able to create and distribute images of what the suspect may look like at 18, 25 and 40 years old. They’re not perfect, but certain traits usually are pretty close, Sullivan said. Eye color and the shapes of the nose and mouth, for example.
Other factors such as facial hair or styling or scars and tattoos can’t be determined by DNA, so there were several versions of the suspect created.
“It’s not meant to be a perfect replica,” Sullivan said.
The sheriff’s office still receives tips and leads on a regular basis, Sheriff’s Scott said.
Mechanisms are in place that account for every tip that comes in to be sent directly to an investigator to follow.
“We’re working on it all the time,” Scott said. He said he is asked about the case regularly as he goes through the community. “The community hasn’t forgotten.”
Scott and Sullivan are looking forward to the day when they can announce good news in the case.
“We’re confident. We have a good case and suspect profile,” Sullivan said. “This is not a case we will ever put on a shelf.”
They also believe there is more information out there, and that someone besides the killer knows what happened.
“We believe somebody knows something,” Scott said.
There is a $50,000 reward for information.
Anyone with information they have not already given to police should contact DeKalb County Crime Stoppers at 815-895-3272, or email crimestoppers@dekalbcounty.org.
Source: The Daily Chronicle
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