Jul 31, 2008 11:00 pm US/Central
Lane Bryant Investigators Follow Leads To Texas
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
A southwest suburban church is now at the center of the investigation. One of the victims was an assistant pastor there. The church has since relocated out of state.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports that at this point, sources say there is no smoking gun, and no specific suspect or suspects, but still good reason to send more than a dozen investigators to Texas to check out an intriguing lead. The real motive may not have been robbery.
Of the five defenseless women murdered in that Tinley Park Lane Bryant store, one name has always stood out: Rhoda McFarland, a store manager, helping out on a scheduled day off had made a whispered 911 call for help.
Now, Rhoda McFarland's name has surfaced again, as the reason investigators have traveled from Tinley Park, Illinois to Austin, Texas, where members of a former Crest Hill, Ill. church, the Embassy Christian Center have relocated.
McFarland's brother says she left the church before it left Illinois.
"Something was happening within the church that she didn't approve of," said Maurice Hamilton, McFarland's brother. "She wanted to leave."
Ironically, her funeral, attended by hundreds of mourners, was held in
the same building as her old church, now occupied by her new church - the Word of Life Christian Center.
Tonight, a highly placed source says the south suburban task major crimes force suspects McFarland left Embassy in a dispute over church finances.
After analyzing church-related phone and financial records and interviewing McFarland's fellow members, her brother is not surprised.
"Rhoda left the church because of problems that were happening inside the church," Hamilton said. "So as far as what I'm hearing, it's some kind of financial thing."
Investigators who first thought all five women were random victims of an armed robber, are now in Austin to see if anyone there, fits the description of the lone gunman, whose sketch was made with the help of the single survivor of the mass murder.
At this point, it does not appear that arrests are imminent, at least in the Lane Bryant case. However, as one source familiar with the investigation said, "It wouldn't surprise me if her death was part and parcel to the tremendous turmoil involving her former church."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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