Tammy Zywicki: The Starved Rock Theory

I have alot of theories about Tammy Zywicki's case. Here are a few of them: The trucker theory, the tow truck theory, the Rt. 66 killer theory, the guy that found body theory, the farmhouse next to MM 83 theory, the hotel theory, and finally the Starved Rock theory. I actually came up with this theory a while back after reading a book about state parks at the bookstore. This is the most totally outlandish theory I have but there is nothing else to write. At least the story behind it is interesting.

It has to do with the story of three women who were murdered at St. Louis Canyon in Starved Rock State Park in March 1960. An article titled, "Murder, They Wrought" in the Chicago Tribune(August 25, 1991) gives a good overview of the case. I found the article online recently and it gives a little more information about what actually happened. St. Louis Canyon is located a few miles off Exit 81 on I-80.

A question I wonder about Tammy Zywicki's case is why she pulled out her cameras? One of the things I did notice when looking at a book on photography is that everything seems to have to do with light. So I started thinking that maybe Tammy Zywicki chose the camera she did because it takes good photographs in areas where there might not be alot of light. When I learned that St. Louis canyon is only a few miles off Exit 81 on I-80 I became even more interested. A good question to propose would be "When she takes pictures of the football team, etc., what camera does she usually use?" She was scheduled to take pictures as the sun set around 7 pm so it is probably the same one. If it is the same one as is missing, that is not much. If it is different, that could be a clue. If someone put a bunch of different cameras in front of me and asked me to choose the most valuable or best one for difficult shots, I would not know which one to choose because I am not a photographer.

This is the Starved Rock theory. Suppose she makes it to St. Louis Canyon. She takes the cameras out because she needs to find her best one because it takes the best shots where there is less light. The killer, obviously someone familiar with Starved Rock State Park, is either already there or drove there. The killer realizes she has New Jersey plates and since tourists frequent the area knows her car sitting there is not going to raise eyebrows amongst other people at the canyon. He also realizes that even if he leaves his car there it should not raise too much suspicion until he can retrieve it. He then kills her as she tries to fight back. She hits him with her camera. That is where I got my idea for why I wondered why Tammy Zywicki never hit her assailant with her camera when she was kidnapped from the side of I-80(if she was wearing a camera). In the story of the women from 1960, one of the women hit the guy with her camera.

At this point the theory falls apart. Why would anyone then move her car to the side of I-80? How would they get home after moving her car? What would they do about their vehicle left at St. Louis Canyon? Why would they move the body since it is already a relatively remote place anyhow? Since it is the weekend wouldn't someone at the canyon, whether a tourist or local, remember seeing Tammy Zywicki's car or Tammy Zywicki taking pictures? She has an appointment at 7pm so why would she stop to do tourist stuff? It is too bad she never stopped at any tourist type place and signed a guestbook. Then it could at least be investigated as to whether she was interested in that area.

It was not a bad theory though, until you get to the part about the car.