Geographical profiling: Case study-Tammy Zywicki 1992

Tammy Zywicki was a college student from New Jersey who set out for Grinnell College in August 1992. On the last leg of her trip from Northwestern University to Grinnell College her car broke down on I-80 in Illinois at MM83. This happened on Sunday, August 23, 1992. An rust colored striped semi was seen parked near her car. If you want info on the case, a People Weekly article entitled "The Long Road Back" is a good read. It was published August 23, 1993. About 10 days after Tammy disappeared, her body was found at exit 33 (next to the westbound entrance ramp) on I-44 near Sarcoxie, Missouri. According to news reports, her body was wrapped in a blanket sealed on both ends with duct tape. A truck driver said he saw the blanket on Friday, August 28 but did not report because at the time he did not think it looked important. Later, on late tuesday morning, Sept 1st, another trucker pulled to the side of the road after it began to rain. He was concerned that the tools in the back of his truck were getting wet so he wanted to cover them. As he was getting ready to leave he saw the blanket in the grass about 14 feet off the road. As he put it, "Just from the shape of it, I could tell it was a body." He then drove to a nearby highway patrol station and returned to the scene with an officer. Together they cut open the blanket to see a human leg. Since then, her case has remained unsolved.
To date, 2 main suspects have emerged. One was a man from Peru, IL. He was a trucker visiting relatives on August 23rd. He also had a residence in Pierce City, Missouri south of where Tammy Zywicki's body was found. In addition, he had a felony record for armed robbery and was recently released from prison. In January 1993, this man and his wife entered a clinic for medical treatment. The nurse attending remembered seeing the same man helping Tammy along side the road. She became even more concerned when she heard that her husband had given her a watch that played a musical tune called "Raindrops keep falling on my head." Tammy was said to have taken that watch with her but it was never found. This suspect died in June 2002.
The other suspect is also a trucker named Bruce Mendenhall. He is currently being held for the murders of five women from truck stops between Indiana and Georgia. He lived in Albion, IL. and police are currently looking to see if could have been anywhere near Tammy Zywicki on August 23, 1992.
One of the biggest questions I have also wondered about Tammy's case is how whoever took her saw her in time to stop. This was a rape/murder case. The prevailing notion has always been that a good samaritan truck driver stopped to help, then kidnapped Tammy. I just have never been able to stop in time for a pretty girl. By the time I get up to the car to be able to tell if it is a pretty girl, I am upon the car, and then it is too late to stop. There is an overpass near where Tammy's car would have been so one of my possible solutions is that maybe whoever took her saw her from the overpass road then went out to where she was on I-80. Or maybe they passed on I-80 and went back. I keep wondering about the witness too. One time I saw this blonde along side the road a few monthes ago. She was sitting in a pickup and a semi was parked behind her. A man was sitting in the cab. It looked suspicious so I turned around and came back from the opposite direction so I could slow down to get a take of the situation. When I came upon the scene I realized it was the blonde helping the truck driver who had broke down. She was now at his cab talking to him through his window. In addition, this blonde was much older than I originally thought. It made me think back to Tammy's case. I wonder about witnesses travelling 60mph because I can tell you that even when I try to concentrate to get the details right, speed has its way of distorting things.
As for the suspects, I am not going to even discuss Bruce Mendenhall because I would be shocked if he is the killer. The other suspect from Peru actually fits a geographical profile. He has residences near her kidnap site and body site. But I just cannot figure why a felon takes the time to wrap a body as carefully as it sounds like this person did, but then does not take the time to put it in a better place. Not to mention he is an ex-con. I would think you would try to hide the body, hoping that it would not be found for a few weeks, not put it in place where it would almost certainly be seen. Maybe the guy wanted the death penalty? I also cannot get over why he would want to put the trucking industry in a bad light. Highway exits are notorious for truckers parking to sleep for the night.
The prevailing notion has always been that a truck driver committed this crime. I once went on a chat site trying to get truck drivers to talk to me. Nobody would even listen. All I heard was how truck drivers are not bad people, etc. The only piece of advice I got was that she would have to use the bathroom. And I guess that is why I don't believe a rogue truck driver did it. Because they don't believe it. And even though there are bad apples (both the main suspects are truck drivers) I just cannot help but think Tammy's case is not that simple.
But the main item that I cannot get over is all those exits. When it comes to where Tammy's body was found, you can come from the north, the south, or from the east on I-44 itself. And the one thing I cannot get over is all the other places this person could have left her body. From the north, I passed a few creeks. From the south, I got lost in the woods, it is that desolate. From the east on I-44, I drove through central Missouri late at night and thought that it would easy to place a body alongside the roadway even if the semi parked alongside the road. There is a gas station across from where Tammy's body was found. It is a dump now. You wonder if it was always that rundown back in 1992.
I started out believing it was a truck driver. Everytime I see a suspicious semi I think about the Tammy Zywicki case. I've also thought maybe she walked along the interstate or went to a hotel where then something happened but if there is one thing I am sure of after changing from one suspicion to the next, it is that her killer has to be from Illinois. Most kidnappers only take their victims as far as the resistance they receive from them. As of right now, I think the Peru Illinois suspect will end up being the right guy. I just keep thinking it is not him though.

I decided that even though I might never know about Tammy Zywicki's killer, maybe I could at least read about truck driving. So I took out this book at the library and inside I found a quote from Aristotle: "All men by nature desire to know." I guess that is what I want to know, whether or not I am right.
I think the only way Tammy's case will be solved is through a confession. I have a feeling the person is more complex than the FBI and IL. St. Police have made him out to be. And I have a feeling he is not the crazed serial killer that many people thought at the beginning of the investigation. I believe, maybe wrongly, that most people are not all bad. I can understand though how difficult it must be to work on Tammy's case. It is a hard case to solve.