Nov 12, 2006 11:00 pm US/Central
Family Hopes To Solve Cold Case Of Woman's Murder
by Jim Williams
OAK PARK (CBS) ―
The violent attack of a young woman jogging in Oak Park dominated headlines in 1984.
While the case faded from the news, it never left the hearts of the victim's family. This Cold Case is the story of Kathy Lombardo.
"My daughter was just a tremendously loving, outgoing, young lady. Very, very wonderful. Very thoughtful. She was a member of the National Honor Society at Trinity High School, " said Kathy's father, Dominic Lombardo. "I miss her dearly."
Kathy Lombardo was murdered Aug. 1, 1984, in a violent attack in her Oak Park neighborhood. She was only 24.
Teenagers found her in an alley and screamed for help.
"I got there and went to reach down and check her carotid pulse and her throat was slit open. She was turning pale fast and a couple more pumps from her throat and she was dead," said a neighbor.
"She was dragged or pulled into the alley. She may have been stabbed somewhere here in the alley and then her body was, she fell or her body was dumped here," said Det. Tim Unzicker with the Oak Park Police Department.
Lombardo was covered in blood, stabbed in the neck, chest and abdomen and she had been sexually assaulted. That night is still firmly etched in her family's mind.
"Someone rang our doorbell. It was our pastor, Father Kelly," said Dominic Lombardo. "My wife turned to me and came running into my arms and had tears in her eyes."
"I woke up drenched in sweat with the sound of the phone," said Kathy's brother, Chris. "I heard the sound of my mother's voice screaming your sister was murdered tonight… She was sobbing… That's something I'll never forget, the sound of my mother's voice."
Their mother lived only 5 years after the murder. Chris says it devastated her and she never found peace.
The case, which dominated headlines in 1984, has grown cold 22 years later, but the Lombardos are determined to keep this case alive.
"Not a day has gone by that I haven't thought about her killer," Chris Lombardo said.
Witnesses told police an African American man, 25 to 30 years old wearing a headband, bright yellow tank top and shorts was seen following Kathy.
Back then, police told reporters of a possible link between Kathy's murder and others.
"We have four cases linked together by their similarity of operation. We are looking into the possibility that this particular case may relate to those cases," police said in 1984.
Police now say that link was never determined.
"I don't know how this guy walked away. He must of been drenched in blood and he just vanished," Chris Lombardo said. "He'd be about 50 years old now and somebody knows him or he's talked to someone or somebody knew the person at the time and was afraid to come forward because he's an extremely violent individual."
The family hopes the killer can be found with new information along with new forensic technology.
If you have any information, call Oak Park police at 708-386-3800.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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