Feb 18, 2007 6:40 pm US/Central
Cold Case Mystery in a Small Town
Brian Carrick Was 17 When He Disappeared And Still No Trace of Him Years Later
by Jim Williams
Johnsburg, Ill. (CBS) ―
Blood on the floor and blood on the box are clues in the disappearance of Brian Carrick. But were they discovered too late?
A small town's deadly secret is a cold case mystery complete with a teenager who vanishes from work, never to be seen again.
This is the story of Brian Carrick.
"Losing a child leaves a whole in your heart that will never close," said Terry Carrick, Carrick's mother.
On December 20, 2002 Brian Carrick disappeared.
"I just had a gut feeling something was wrong," Carrick said.
But a missing 17-year-old didn't send off many alarms, until police made a gruesome discovery.
"Blood on the floor, blood on the boxes, blood splattered," recalls Johnsburg Police Chief Ken Rydberg.
That blood was found in a produce freezer at Val's Foods in Johnsburg where Brian worked as a stock boy.
A day after he disappeared, another worker discovered the pool of blood. But a manager who reportedly believed the blood came from meat and was unaware that Brian was missing, told him to mop it up.
It was cleaned up at least twice before the police were told about any blood in the cooler.
DNA results determined the blood belonged to Brian, but after chasing hundreds of leads and interviewing dozens of people, police have reached a dead end.
Four years later and there are no arrests and no body. Although presumed dead, Brian has never been found.
There are 14 children in the Carrick family; Brian is the youngest boy. Four older brothers served in the military, including one in Iraq. Back then, Terry Carrick told CBS 2, she had a fear of 'missing in action.' She said she didn't expect something like that to happen in her back yard.
The ordeal has taken a toll on the family. Some siblings find it difficult to visit the family home.
"I can't blame them," said Carrick. "It's not a pleasant sight to look across the street to the store everyday knowing that somebody through maliciousness or viciousness or whatever reason took a 17-year-old's life."
Community support has been tremendous. Some 1,000 people showed up at a vigil held in the bitter cold shortly after Brian disappeared.
The family believes more than one person is keeping this horrible secret.
"Oh, I believe there's several people who know what happened," Carrick said. "Don't be a snitch. That's not the way life works. We are our brother's keepers," added Carrick.
And police say a little more information could finally crack this case.
"We're just waiting for that one link to fall in place," said Rydberg. "I made a promise to Terry Carrick that this would be on our minds all the time and to this day it still is."
If you have any information, call the Johnsburg Police Department at (815) 385-6024.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Get breaking news alerts
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
