Part 1: College Nightmare: Were Sorority Girls Targeted? The Case of Shannon McNamara

College life, hopes of getting recruited into your dream sorority, the thrill of Rush Week, the freedom of being away from your parents and parting with friends. What would you attend a university where a girl had just been murdered nearby, and the case was still unsolved? This is part one of a two-part series. If part two is out, it will be linked right below in the show notes so you can easily jump to part two once you finish the episode. Would you attend a university where a woman had been murdered in town just a couple years back and it was still unsolved? In the summer of 1999, June 29th, to be exact, knowing it heard from 23-year-old Amy Denise Warner since the day before, and that was strange. She was a single mother of two young children, a four-year-old daughter Hannah and a seven-month-old son Alex, so we worried her friends and her family when they had not heard from her. Amy lived in a small rural college town of Charleston, Illinois with a population of about 20,000 people and 11,000 of those residents were students of Eastern Illinois University. Worried about her, Amy's boyfriend went over to check on her at her house, around 10-15 that morning, and he was shocked when he found her lifeless body, lying propped up on her couch in her living room. It was clear that she had been murdered. There was blood all over the floor, and Amy had visible wounds to her neck and her chest. Her two young children were found unharmed, but they most likely witnessed the horrifying acts that were committed on this poor mother. Amy was a local girl. She was born and raised in Charleston, Illinois. She graduated from Charleston High School in 1993 and had held a management position at Elder Beermen department store for the past several years. This was at the nearby Cross County Mall, and she was continuing her education at Lakeland College about 20 minutes away. What happened to Amy Warner? Who would do this to her and why? The what was answered not long after she was found dead. Amy's autopsy revealed that she had been stabbed in the chest, and her throat had been cut from one side to the other. There was no forced entry into her home, and no items had been taken. Amy was not clothed from her waist down. She was only wearing a pink tank top, and she had defensive wounds on her left hand. The physical evidence indicated that she was positioned face down when her throat was cut but found with her body facing up. Therefore, she was turned over so that her wounds and the front of her body would be exposed. Detectives believed that the injuries were intentionally exposed for effect. The bottom half of her body, her feet, legs, and torso were on the couch, but her head was hanging off of it, and propped up on a cushion on the floor with her arms posed and extended above her head. It was chilling. It appeared as though Amy was completely caught off guard. She might have been attacked while she was sleeping. Her time of death was estimated to be around 10 pm at the night before. Amy's cause of death was blood loss from the wound to her neck. The saddest thing that I read about this case was that a bloody washcloth was found near Amy's body and apparently her four-year-old daughter had attempted to wipe off her mother and wake her up. That is so gut-ranging. It's so heartbreaking when children are involved in these cases whether their victims are not and these children were victims because they lost their mother. I can't get it off my mind. What's even worse and more devastating was that police did not have any vibe elites. No justice had been done. The who and the why were left unanswered. They had a professional come in and even interview Amy's innocent little girl because they were desperate for clues. Charleston, Illinois, is a small town which means their police force is not that big either. The town is not used to dealing with brutal homicides. Not like this. The common crimes committed in this area are petty theft, burglaries. They deal with things like car accidents and minor stuff but violent crimes were rare. Therefore, they called in the Illinois State Police to help with Amy's homicide investigation. They interviewed all of her many friends, family members, neighbors, as well as her boyfriend who was the person they looked into first. Especially since this crime had all the hallmarks of a crime of passion, a crime that was personal in nature, one that was usually committed by a person that knew the victim. But they came up with no leads. There were no fingerprints left behind, and two months later they were still attempting to do DNA tests on anything that they could find, including strands of hair and fibers from the scene to no avail. Amy's killer was still on the loose. The close-knit community could not shake the feeling that they could be standing next to a killer at the grocery store eating with them at a restaurant or sharing a beer at the bar. Everyone was on edge. This person was part of their community. They were walking among a monster. What do you strike again? Murder is definitely not a great value proposition for promoting your institution of higher learning, especially if getting what you pay for is the ultimate goal. Yikes. And maybe that's why articles about Amy Warner's murder were few and far between hidden beside half-page ads for July 4th blowout sales at a local furniture store urging locals to hurry in for those unbeatably low prices on your dining room, bedroom living room furniture, and more. To be fair, Amy's story was first page news, and this was the story continued nine pages deep but situated right underneath the headline on the front page, where it said woman found dead in Charleston, which was posted the day after Amy was found, was a larger picture underneath. And my eyes were drawn there. To even larger print, where the bolded words said huge estimate, little details, and the picture shows an eastern Illinois student working on an etching in one of the fine art studio centers. The upcoming renovation was estimated to cost them a whopping 42.9 million dollars. That was more than three of this university's major projects combined. And maybe that's why there might have been less money set aside for, I don't know, the police force. The most important aspect of this town was the university, is the university. Everything else lives in its shadow or dies in it, in Amy's case. Considering Charleston consists of only nine square miles of land, a town that takes about eight minutes to drive from one side to the other, or an hour walking distance, the university really is the main attraction. It's at the heart of it all. It's why you come to Charleston. And it's what brought 18-year-old Andrea Will there a year before Amy's murder in 1998. That was the year that Andrea lost her life as well. Andrea had just graduated from Batavia High School in 1997, just a three-hour drive from Charleston. Andrea's friends referred to her as their little princess. She was an honor role student, she was on the track team, and active with her high school newspaper. Andrea was a shy young girl, but she was beautiful, and she was popular in her hometown. And she was excited to attend Eastern Illinois University. She was a marketing major, and a member of the Sigma Cap of Severity. She lived in Lawson Hall, a nine-story on-campus COVID housing unit. I'm going to show it to you right here. But on the night of February 2nd, 1998, just four days shy of Andrea's 19th birthday, she left her dorm room without telling her roommates where she was going, and they were worried about her all night long, and they had good reason to worry. Because by the next morning, the campus was buzzing with the horrific news that Andrea was dead. Worse, that she had been murdered. This wasn't a mystery. Her killer had already confessed to the police. As a matter of fact, he confessed to his parents before a police were ever called. As Andrea was lying lifeless inside his off-campus apartment. The killer was 20-year-old EIU sophomore Justin Boulet, known as Jay. Justin and Andrea had been dating during the fall semester, and she would frequently come over to hang out at his upstairs apartment on Jackson Avenue. It was a mere three-minute drive from her dorm room. Justin was from St. Charles, Illinois, which is a town only a couple miles from where Andrea was from. They met at a summer job during high school, and things were going great until winter break in college. Justin had tried calling Andrea a number of times while they were back home, but she never answered. By the time the spring semester started, Andrea broke the news. She wanted to see other people. They were young, and she was in her very first year of college. The night of February 2nd, around 10 pm, Justin descended the long wooden stairs from his apartment and knocked on the unit below him, where Brian Graham lived with his girlfriend Michelle McVee and their baby. Brian wasn't exactly friends with Justin, but they lived in the same building, and he'd visited Justin in the unit upstairs a couple times since he moved in during the summer. He thought Justin was really nice. He was a quiet guy. He never noticed anything weird about him at all, and that's probably why he said yes when Justin asked Brian if he could borrow his car to go pick up his girlfriend at her dorm room. But then around 3.30 in the morning, Michelle and Brian were woken up by what sounded like soothing type of music, but it was louder than usual for someone like Justin. He had always respected the fact that the lower level unit was occupied by a family. So Brian just knocked on the ceiling a couple times, and Justin turned off the music. He and Michelle really didn't think much of it, however, just a couple hours later, the music was replaced with police sirens, followed by cops. climbing the stairs to Justin's apartment. Something terrible has happened. Those were the words that Justin spoke to his parents Raymond and Marcy Boulay sometime after midnight when he called them crying, which was very out of character for him. He said, "I need you." And his mother told him they would be right there. He instructed them to meet him at his apartment, which was over 200 miles away. It's a good three-hour drive. When they arrived, Justin was already waiting outside. He got into their car and he told them to drive to the town square. That is where he confessed through tears that Andrea was injured or worse. He told his dad to hold him and that he wanted to speak to him in private. However, his mother, Marcy, she made sure to tune in and she did not miss a beat. This is what she overheard her sons say about what happened to Andrea. He said that she came by his apartment. They ate some pizza. They had sex. And he gave her a birthday card. Then he said that her tone completely changed. She was being mean to him. She was like demanding her presence. And Justin said, "The next thing I knew, I was coming out of a haze. I was on the floor. She was beneath me. And the phone cord was wrapped around both of us. She was dead. I couldn't believe it." His dad asked him if he hurt her. And Justin responded by saying, "I'm not sure. But when his dad asked if they needed to go check on Andrea, Justin said no. She's gone." Charles and police were called at 5 11 AM. And by 5 30 AM, Justin was arrested. His parents drove him right to the station and handed him over to police. Officers walked into Justin's apartment and right away they found a handwritten note from Justin detailing what he said happened between him and Andrea. Justin wrote that an argument started between the couple. When Andrea let him know that she no longer wanted to be in a relationship with him anymore, she was already seeing other people. His words went on to read that we got into a fight over stupid stuff. She told me about the guy she was dating. "I lost it. I couldn't let go of her neck." There was more in that letter, but tending to Andrea was much more important. Officers discovered her lifeless body and saw Justin's bedroom. However, it wasn't just Justin's hands that were around Andrea's neck. Her autopsy report showed that she was expixiated with a telephone cord. What did Justin have to say about all that? Well, not guilty. That's what. He said he had no recollection of the actual murder. He doesn't remember what happened and he doesn't know how it went as far as it did. But he was very remorseful. He insisted that he had a moment of temporary insanity. Now I know many people do not want to hear this and they may call BS, but these defenses do exist and there's a reason for that. It does happen. People snap. They fly into a rage and the adrenaline takes over, putting them in a fight or flight mode and instinctually they want to fight for what they love and believe in or against what they fear in that moment. The fear of losing the girl that he thought he was in love with could most definitely cause a man a moment of heated passion, anyone a moment of heated passion to the point of them seeing red as they say. Justin Belay was seeing orange from the shoulders down in his prison jumpsuit as they escorted him into the courtroom for his very first appearance and orange is my favorite color by the way. My shirt's kind of orange today, but I digress. More evidence was piling in. Andrea was found lying on her back on Justin's bed with her legs outstretched. In the living room, there was a phone sitting on a table with a 25-foot extension cord connected into the wall and to the phone. Well, a three-foot portion of that cord was loose. It seemed like it had been stretched out by force. I think you know why. On an end table near the couch, investigators found Andrea's wallet, her keys, and her shoes. Then in the bathroom, on the shower curtain rod, hung a pair of damp, tan, women's pants. What was very eerie is that only one Beatles song was playing over and over again in the CD player. There were two garbage bags that were found outside of Justin's apartment and inside. They found a white men's t-shirt and a pair of white striped women's underwear. There was blood on that t-shirt and long brown hairs. These items were sent to the Illinois State Forensic Lab for testing. The results showed the blood was a match to Andrea's DNA. There was also Simon from Justin found on those underwear. And even more interesting were the marks on Justin's body. He had to take off his shirt and other pieces of clothing when he was being booked for his arrest and officers took photographs from different angles. There were scratches on Justin's right bicep, discoloration right underneath his arm, and more scratches on his right hand. There was also an abrasion to the top of his right shoulder. There was an interview with Andrea's sorority sister Jerry Thrasher and she said that on the night of Andrea's murder, Justin called Andrea while Jerry was on the phone. So she took a message for Andrea and told him that she would have her call him back. And she did. Jerry never listened to that conversation because she left to go meet up with some friends. However, she did tell authorities that the couple was broken up at the time the murder occurred. Something I want to point out from the case that I just did on Brittany Brashears was that she also had been broken up with her boyfriend at the time yet she's still met up with him. And I know this is completely normal. You know, maybe your ex says, "I just want to talk. I just want to get some closure." But this is actually very frightening because you're in a state of vulnerability. You're with a person who, let's say they're trying to get you back, is also in a state of vulnerability, fear, sadness, and really their behavior can be completely unpredictable not only to you but to themselves. Regardless of Justin's plea, the jury found him guilty of first degree murder. The judge in Justin's case rejected his defense of temporary insanity and he was sentenced to 24 years in prison. Now mitigating factors did exist in his case and the judge said he carefully considered everything. He stated that he could not ignore the fact that Justin had no previous criminal record and indications that he otherwise had a deeply ingrained respect for others. Justin made a statement to the judge. He said he was still in shock that there was no excuse for what he did but he would never knowingly hurt another person again. He said, "I'm unbelievably sorry for the whole situation and extremely sorry for my family sake but most of all, I'm sorry for Andrea." Hmm, I don't know. I don't like how he used the whole situation to describe what happened your murderer, your girlfriend. And there were a lot of character witnesses in this trial that testified that Justin was a good and caring person. Even his sister came forward and she said, "Please give him the opportunity to come home sooner by imposing a more lenient sentence." Everyone had kind things to say about Justin but of course, Andrea's parents didn't see this as just as being served. Andrea's mom actually made a statement that Mr. Boulay got away with murder that day. She told reporters that she was shocked that more values seemed to be placed on his life than on her own daughter's life. She said, "I will never understand this system. It's not justice for Andrea and it's not justice for my family." End quote. What's even more devastating is that Justin is actually already out of prison. Yeah. He only served half of his sentence. He was released in 2010 to his wife. That's right. He got married while he was in prison to his high school sweetheart. And now they live in beautiful Hawaii where she works as a professor. She was one of his character witnesses at his trial and get this. Justin allegedly works with children in child welfare services. What are your thoughts on that? But with all this being said, especially if you've been here before, you may be wondering, why am I getting into these murders so quickly? This is not how I usually do things. Well, it's because I really, really had to set the stage for what's to come. I wanted you to understand the atmosphere around this college, the events that had just taken place in the reaction from the students. Or should I say the lack thereof? Was it just all swept under the rug so easily forgotten? Or is this just a case of out of sight out of mind? The reason I'm saying this is because of the question I asked at the beginning of this video. I was talking about the murder of Amy Warner in 1999, the single mom. But you can add Andrea's murder at the year before in 1998 to this question. So what if two murders happened in town with Andrea being an actual student that attended Eastern Illinois University? However, she wasn't the first student to have been murdered and she wouldn't be the last. A neighbor that lived near Justin was interviewed by the media and she had seen Andrea several times. She wanted the students to know that even though she didn't know Andrea and wasn't a student like they were, she was still part of this community as a whole and she feels their pain. She added that the town had never experienced anything like this before, but that was definitely not accurate. Perhaps this woman wasn't living in the area in the early 70s or maybe it was before her time, but before Andrea and Amy, there was Shirley and Rarden. A 20-year-old sophomore She was an art major at Eastern Illinois University. And Shirley, just like Amy was a local girl, she also graduated from Charleston High School and she was taking the one mile walk home after her restaurant shift ended at Hardies. It was around 12, 30 in the morning, one Monday night in July. This was something that Shirley did on a regular basis, except she usually rode her bike. And that night she was on foot. It was her boyfriend that reported her missing just an hour later when she never arrived back home. He called the Charleston Police Department at 114 in the morning and there were no leads. This was in 1973, so the technology was not even close to what it was in 1998 and nothing like it is now. But on July 7th, 14-age boys who were tubing in a creek just an hour away from where Shirley went missing, they stumbled upon her remains. She was lying face down and was not wearing any clothing. Her autopsy revealed that she died from one single gunshot wound to her head. The bullet was never located and this case is still unsolved till this day. So that's three murders in this town. Two were still unsolved and one of those unsolved murders was an Eastern University student. So tell me, what would you be feeling as an incoming student? I can't possibly know everything that was in the media at the time, however, we have to keep in mind that everything in this town revolved around this university. Their goal was admitting students, enough students to keep everything running smoothly and murder is bad for business. That's why I'm not surprised to find an article like this in the university publication called The Daily Eastern News. This was February 24th, just two weeks after Andrea's murder. The headline, which I honestly still can't figure out, I don't know if I'm just reading it wrong or if it's written incorrectly, but it says, "Despite recent violence, cities, comma, campus rank high for safety." I don't want to be the grammar police, but shouldn't that say, despite the city's recent violence campus still ranks high for safety, are you ready for this? Buckle up, the article reads, "Despite experiencing two murders in two years, Charleston is still a wholesome community oriented town and Eastern campus remains one of the safest in the nation." I don't know where they're getting that info, but when I say they, I'm talking about who was quoted saying that. And please remember this man's name, Lieutenant Rick Fisher, chief of detectives for the Charleston police department, but it's what he went on to say that really made me question everything. In the very next sentence, he says, "And I quote, both murders were not the homicide type," unquote, "Sir, what come again? "Murders are homicides." Okay, here's a little law school lesson. I'm not gonna go into this deeply. Homicide is a top tier term. It's when one human being takes the life of another. Not all homicides are murders, because murders are the intentional killing of another human being. There are ways in which a human can, will, has, and does cause a death of another. And it's not intentional, so it's not murder. So right off the bat, this police officer is wrong. All murders are homicides, all of them. So to say that these two women who were murdered, that their murders were not the homicide type, is concerning to me. What point was this man trying to make? Well, let's continue to see what he said next. And once again, I quote, "And all the murders have been solved." And quote, "Now granted, Amy's murder, the single mom stabbed in her home had not happened yet, so this article definitely didn't age well, because that one is unsolved. But what about Shirley's murder?" Well, it is mentioned at the very end of the article that doesn't that contradict all of the murders being solved? Well, apparently he was referring to a couple other incidents, a hit and run, where someone drove their car over someone. Yeah, that's not murder. And the other was a fight between two guys at a bar. So why even bring up these incidents in relation to murder? Andria had just been murdered a couple weeks before. And it was 100% the homicide type, her ex killed her. But the lieutenant goes on to explain, and I am so glad he did. That before 1996, there were five murders in the first 18 years that he worked for the Charleston Police Department, four of those were domestic in nature, which by the way, he seems to completely discount as almost not being worth putting into the murder category, because they were women who, what, shouldn't have dated that particular man? Tell me more lieutenant, because I'm all yours. And he does. He explains that the domestic situations are classified as strangulation types of murder, okay. That's a cause of death, sir. Murder is still murder. He doesn't seem to understand the difference between manner of death and cause of death. And this man is supposed to be the lead detective on these cases. Do you see a problem here? He said another characteristic related to the murders is that all of the victims knew their suspected killers. So his advice, be concerned about the people you know. So essentially, this man is saying, it's not us, it's you. You're just choosing the wrong boyfriend. It's not our fault, he strangled you. Because next, he mentioned that despite the past crimes in Charleston, Eastern Illinois University seems to be a safe campus, adding quote, quite honestly, I don't think there's a safer campus than Eastern, unquote. Okay, a campus that hasn't had any murders is probably safer if you were to ask me. Then this man attempts to give some advice about domestic situations. He said anyone in an abusive relationship should seek assistance immediately. Because it usually escalates at a rapid pace. Adding that he does not like to hear about or see homicidal rages instead of the recent murder of Port Andrea than no one saw it coming. And he's been at Charleston Police Department for the past 20 years. And this is the first murder that had an Eastern student involved. Except for Shirley's in 1973, but he doesn't mention that. He does mention that some things you just can't predict. Sometimes people just flip. And I want to ask, so do you have a crystal ball? Aren't all murders completely unpredictable if we knew someone was going to kill someone, we wouldn't need you to solve crimes. But quite frankly, I don't think the job was being done sufficiently anyway. Still, he makes sure to let the students know that the campus police do a good job. And he doesn't want Andrea's murder to alarm anyone. Fair enough, she must have just been one of the unlucky ones, right? This article made me so mad if you cannot tell. And this was an ongoing theme. Just saying crap happens, we don't know why, but watch her back. Another chief in the neighboring town of Matune said that six murders took place in Coles County in the past two years. And that's the county that both of these towns are in by the way. He explained that all have been solved. Or at the least, a suspect is in custody. Saying, this says something positive about local law enforcement. Does it, though? A broken clock is still right, at least two times a day, chief. Their best advice was to stay in well-lit areas avoid walking near potential hiding places or isolated areas in halt loitering. Check out your car before getting into it and parking that and be cognizant as to where you are. And don't have a false sense of security. Well, I guess he said it all with that last sentence, Denis, and at the very end of this article, the author includes information about Shirley's unsolved murder back in 1973. It was almost laughable, but murder is not a laughing matter. This was concerning. This is the information that these students were getting. You realize I wouldn't be telling you this story if something else didn't happen after this. So let's jump to the following year. It's August of 1999, right before the beginning of a new school year. The fall semester is right around the corner. All the new students are moving into their dorm rooms for the very first time. The campus is buzzing with people. It's an exciting time for students, but it can also be a hard time for parents. They're saying goodbye to their children for the very first time in their lives. It's a turning point. When parents have to let go and allow their precious babies to fend for themselves in a new world, even if it's a world not too far away. Two of those new students were Carissa Brooks and Shannon McNamara. Both girls chose Eastern Illinois University because they both dreamed of becoming teachers. Eastern Illinois University, which I'm going to abbreviate as EIU from now on, is known as a Teachers College. It's ranked as one of the top teacher candidate preparation programs in the state. It was Carissa's freshman year, but Shannon was an incoming junior. She had actually transferred from Harper's College back in Palatine, Illinois, which was close to her hometown of Rolling Meadows. And that was about four hours away from EIU. This was her first time being away from home and she was ready. She could not wait for all the independence, the fun, the new friends, and of course, the boys. But her dad wasn't feeling the same. He was not ready for her to leave. He was content having her finish her studies back home. It's truly hard to let go, but you also want to honor your child's wishes and their dreams. And this was part of Shannon's ultimate plan. She wanted to graduate with a degree in physical education and a teaching certificate. Sports was a huge part of Shannon's life. I want to tell you all about that in just a moment. Karissa and Shannon's parents were helping them move into their new place. They're bringing boxes up to the dorm room. They're helping them unpack a little. bit, but it wasn't long before the girls were finally able to be free. Be adults and be a loan to experience all that the university life has to offer, and yeah, you had a lot to offer. For the most part, it's an all-encompassing campus. It's described at its own island. The campus has its own restaurants, housing, fitness centers, even its own bar, and this is all for the convenience of their students so that they really do not have to leave for much. They can concentrate on their studies with everything they need within walking distance. It's like it's own town within a town. Here's a bird's eye view of the entire campus. It's a pretty decent size. These photos of students during the moving day really bring me back. I remember my very first year of college. I lived on campus too, and this just brings back so many memories. It can truly be such an exciting time. Students are giving a map just like this one to help find their way around until they get acquainted with everything on campus. I too wanted to familiarize myself with this map, because I wanted to know everything I possibly could about what these students knew, what they felt like, and I usually want to understand what the culture and experiences were at the time that these cases take place. So let's take a look. You have this circle that's explaining that the admissions is in the old main building, and this was so cool. I've never seen this before. I use Google Maps all the time, but Google Maps had a special feature where I could actually virtually walk into the admissions center. I felt like a student. This was my first time stepping into this building, and I walked through the halls virtually. I even saw this little welcome message on the screen, and this must be how they welcome new students in for tours, or maybe new students for their orientation. I don't know, but it was a nice touch back to the map. You've got the visitors parking, the student services, and all the official buildings like the University Police Office. But as you go down this middle section, you start seeing academic buildings, the fine art center, the gym, courtyard, the library right here in the middle, and then you get to all the on-campus dorms. They're walking distance to all the academic buildings. There are actually 11 residence halls and two on-campus apartment complexes, with a little more freedom, and that's something to note. Three of these dorms are exclusively all female. And one is exclusively all male, and the rest are co-ed residences, but the most desirable place to live if you're going to live on campus is the coveted Greek court. Here's a bird's-eye view. It's a really nice area of campus. Now these homes are exclusively available to sorority and fraternity members. You have to be recruited in order to be accepted into a particular Greek organization. EIU has 11 sororities and five fraternities. Now I was not well versed in Greek life. My undergraduate school did not have fraternities or sororities, so I never learned about that. However, many of the cases I do sadly include college students, and a few of them have been a part of Greek life, including the women that were recently murdered in Idaho. It happened in an off-campus rental house right outside of their university. That case involves four students, all of whom were part of Greek life. Therefore, I felt it was important to understand this aspect of this case. Now from EIU officially, here's what the school has to say about Greek life. Becoming a part of a fraternity or sorority is a unique once-in-a-lifetime experience. Joining fraternal organizations means finding your home away from home and forming lifelong friendships. Fraternity sorority life is the best way to immerse yourself into an abundance of leadership, campus, and community, services, and opportunities. The first step to becoming a member of a fraternity or sorority is to participate in the recruitment or intake process. Through these processes, you'll discover the benefits of fraternity sorority life, make new friends, and become acquainted with the EIU community. You may consider contacting the respective councils or chapters vice-presidents of recruitment for further inquiries regarding membership expectations. And there are expectations, as a matter of fact, there are requirements, one of which is obviously to be a full-time student of EIU. But beyond that, there are also academic requirements. The average GPA to be considered for membership is 2.5, and some chapters may have a higher minimum GPA requirement for membership. So yeah, gotta be serious about school, or at least, be able to maintain that 2.5 average, which is usually a C average, I think. However, it's hard enough to maintain good grades with all the regular activities and the regular classwork, but being part of Greek life intensifies that by a lot. There are mandatory meetings, events, parties to attend all the time. It's a very serious commitment, and that's why recruitment is so important, because each organization wants the best of the best. It is such a big deal that there are entire YouTube channels that are dedicated to helping girls get accepted into their sought after sorority. I found a couple very informative channels. Priya Jones for one, she really shows some interesting aspects of all of this, some which I admit I found extremely cringey to say the least, "We've been waiting for you all summer, and we're so glad you're finally here!" But she describes Rush Week, which is the recruitment week, as women speed dating one other to get a spot in a new house, or get the new girls they want in their houses. She said it was a chaotic time. And then there are women like Samina Cole. She takes a little bit more of a serious approach and she offers tips and tricks to get into a sorority of your dreams. I wanted to sit down and film all the answers to the questions about sororities that you guys have been asking me from what you were doing recruitment, how does recruitment work, how much you hate to be an sorority, and is a sorority the right thing for you. I'm answering all those questions, hopefully you'll find this video super helpful. In today's day and age, with the dawn of TikTok, Greek life has been on display more and ever. And it's gone quite viral, making it even more of a desirable lifestyle for many people, especially women. Sisterhood Round O, TD Bammer Rush Week. The dress is from White Fox, my name tag from G5. My G5 loves the tide. Jesse, what's your favorite part of Bammer Rush Week? My favorite part of Bammer Rush Week is singing all of the G5 songs. My first day staff at TD Matt Yereens came from Alley Lians, my necklace is Michael Cours. This romper, looking for it is, I mean Dre is looking romper, came from Alley Lians. This is my getteroshpin, my shoes are Steve Madden. Hey y'all, okay, so today is Pref Day and I got invited back to two super awesome houses, so I'm so happy. For men, fraternities seem like a great way to actually meet the women who are good enough to make it into one of the sororities on campus. Too many, it's just a big excuse to party and has less to do with all the charity and the community events. I've seen entire videos on the toxic side of Greek life and why people should not want to be part of it, but to each their own. Everyone has their own reasons, one of which is usually about the future. Being a part of a sisterhood for the rest of your life can open up many career oriented opportunities. I found this out, reading Monster.com, the career recruitment site, and has an entire article about how five ways rushing a fraternity or sorority will help you land a job. I hope you learned something in my videos because I always do, but this author has 15 years of experience as an executive job recruiter and says Greek life and the entire recruitment season primes you for social skills and emotional intelligence that employers covet. Simply stated, you'll figure out how to work a room, her words. This article says that Greek life recruitment helps you interview later in life. You master small talk and caring on a conversation. You'll grow your network because once you get into a certain chapter, there are 9 million other people in the US with Greek ties. 90's and sororities have dress codes, so you'll learn how to dress the part for your future career. That's questionable. And because there's so much to do when you're involved in Greek life, you'll learn time management skills that will help you become a master at prioritizing your time and handling a lot on your plate. Lastly, you will learn to make quick decisions. Not only are each and every sorority scouting for new girls, but the girls are also scooping out which one they want to join. They may get offers to join more than one, so they have to make a decision from getting a taste of that one week during recruitment. This all makes sense to me. I can see why a lot of people want to be part of something like this. The back to Shannon and Curissa. Both of the girls were registered to participate in Rush Week. They both wanted a coveted spot in one of EIU sororities. They could not wait to get the chance to see how each and every one of them operated, but the house is looked like, and what the girls were all about. During this recruitment week, each sorority and fraternity decorates a table in the quad and showcases all that they have to offer. Here are some photos of what this looks like on the actual EIU campus. Everyone's wearing their fraternity t-shirt, their trophies on the table, just look at everything. It's supposed to make it as inviting as possible. This is what Shannon and Curissa were experiencing in September of 1999. The two of them had already become pretty close in the weeks leading up to Rush, as they settled into their room, and they explored the campus together. They're about to add one more girl to become a group of three best friends. During Rush Week, Curissa and Shannon go to a mixer at one of the frat houses, and they bump into Becky Noughton. She's also from the Northwest suburbs, just like Shannon and Curissa, so the three of them are instantly drawn to one another. It's so much easier to assimilate into college life when you feel like you're surrounded by a little piece of home when you meet people that are from the same area. The three of them were inseparable from this week forward. They had experienced this exciting time together. They bonded even though only two of the girls were truly interested in being part of Greek life. Becky chose not to join, but she did not mind living vicariously through her two best friends. Out of the three girls, Shannon was the most competitive. This was part of a personality. It was engrained in her since childhood. This is the part where I really want you to get to know Shannon McNamara. Shannon Elizabeth McNamara was born June 21st, 1979 in Rolling Meadows, Illinois to her mother Cindy and her father Bob McNamara. Shannon has one younger brother Bobby and Shannon was a daddy's girl. She started gymnastics at a young age and also followed in her mother's footsteps by joining cheerleading as well. But Shannon really shined when it came to running. She made all conference in track bringing home gold medals and trophies while attending Rolling Meadows High School. Shannon was always ready for competition. One of her friends Tim Richard to grew up with her said that he used to have a crush on her in the sixth grade and she could beat all the boys in basketball including him and she was one of the fastest runners her age that he had ever seen. She was also incredibly smart. But most of all she was one of the sweetest and nicest girls you could ever get the privilege to know. Shannon was very compassionate. She cared about people and had a dream of educating them through sports. Her ultimate goal was to become a high school teacher and that is how she ended up at EIU. Growing up Shannon just knew how to make people feel loved and cared for. So this made sense that she would want to cultivate that into her adulthood and hope to shape the future of tomorrow. When she was a nanny for her neighbor's kids during the summers, one of the little boys caught her. He broke his leg and she would just sit on a chair next to him while she was babysitting and his little sister Abby was in her lap and she would make sure to entertain both of them by reading, playing games, talking about Pokemon, just to make sure that both of the kids felt like they were getting her attention. She just knew how to cheer you up. By the time she met Becky in college, Shannon was someone that would instantly make you feel like home. She was warm, genuine and someone that you just wanted to get close to. Becky Felix Shannon was easy to get to know but she also saw how confident Shannon was. When it was time to rush for the sororities on campus, Shannon was pretty ruthless. There was that truly competitive side to her. She would not give up until she won. She also stood out in a crowd. She was very athletic and many people, girls and guys would comment on her body. She was fit. Every inch of her was toned. She was strong too. And she didn't mind showing it off because after all, she earned it. Every sorority wanted a champion. They wanted someone who checked off all the boxes. Intellectual, good-looking, charismatic fun and for one sorority on campus, Alpha Phi. They also wanted someone wholesome and down to earth and they had their sights on Shannon from day one. Shannon ended up getting offers from every sorority on campus. But she ultimately did choose Alpha Phi. She felt like the girls were more her style. They were grounded and she really wanted to choose wisely since she would essentially be spending every day with these people for the rest of her time at EIU. It's one of the most popular sororities on campus and Shannon fit right in. She was used to getting a lot of attention and the girls of Alpha Phi definitely made sure that they were noticed wherever they went. Boys definitely took notice as well, especially if Shannon. And she didn't mind because she was looking for someone that she could get together with. Someone who shared the same love for sports and academics, someone like a guy named Keith Lasky. He was a star baseball player at EIU and Karissa was trying to get to know a guy named Sean Burnett. He was a sophomore studying computer engineering and he was an all-American guy. This was the perfect opportunity to get to know other students. What was it? It was the annual Greek games during Greek week. It's a huge deal on campus. It happened during the spring semester and that year there were so many fun games. It's basically sorority against sorority or frat against frat and all the students on campus come to watch these little Olympic-type competitions. One of those games was a huge tug of war and Shannon was chosen as team captain. Of course she was and she was determined to win and they did. She was a tough girl but it was all in good fun. It's basically a week-long party which continues into the night at frat houses and even bars around town. One of the most popular spots is Marty's. It's right here across from Lincoln Hall. It actually should be on the campus map but it's not officially part of the campus from what I can tell but when I looked it up on their website and on Instagram it's obvious they cater her to EIU students. They do homecoming specials, contest and challenges like this one where they encourage students to take pictures of the school mascot and tag them to win. They even have their own apartments for rent. I saw this post and it says you want to live steps away from your favorite bar and campus. Marty's apartments are available for rent for the upcoming school year. This was definitely one of the most popular local hangouts not just for students. A lot of people from around town would come there too. And this is where Shannon, Carissa and Becky hung out a lot. Shannon got a lot of attention but she didn't give a lot of attention to guys. She was picky but like I mentioned she was interested in Keith. He was a good looking guy and she could really see herself with him especially for the long term. He definitely noticed throughout the Greek games and would bump into her in class as well as out partying and before they knew it they were hitting it off. They had a lot in common. They were both really fit and athletic both popular and they started to date. But Shannon still spent a lot of time with her girls. They were really her top priority. They were having the time of their lives. It's the one time in life where I think many college students don't have to worry about anything except for tests picking out their best outfit of the day. There's a lot of time to indulging gossip, drinking and just having a carefree time. But there's one thing that stood in their way of being as free as they wanted. And that was living on campus. By the second semester both Karissa and Shannon had boyfriends. Karissa with Sean, Shannon with Keith. And the girls lived in an all girls on campus residence. I don't know which one. I wasn't sure but from what I gathered it was a cross from an all boys dorm. And I looked at some videos and I believe it was most likely Lincoln. It's the all girls dorm across from the twin all boys residence called Douglas. So there were rules about when boys were allowed over. They were strictly prohibited from spending the night. And anytime you'd have a guest over they had to sign in and out. There were arrays that would actually check the rooms every night and make sure that everyone was in compliance. And when you are in that exciting honeymoon stage you want to spend every moment with your significant other. The boundaries set on the girls whether they were living on campus were getting to them. So they started to look for off campus housing. They still wanted it to be in close proximity to campus. And there were a lot of apartments to choose from. They decided that all three of them would live together. That way they could split the rent. They did not come from wealthy families. They were taught to work hard for what they wanted to achieve. So all of the girls had a job. Karissa and Becky worked at the campus call center where they would try to collect alumni donations. And Shannon worked at the campus fitness center which was the perfect job for her. They wanted an affordable apartment close by. So they started taking tours. Anytime they were off work and they didn't have classes they would look at another apartment. And eventually they found the perfect place. It was brand new. Not even fully built yet. But the construction was set to be finished by the fall. That was right after the summer with plenty of time to plan ahead. The company making this apartment complex was called unique apartments. And the actual apartment building I believe was called millennial apartments from the legal documents that I was able to find. And it appears as though this is where that construction was going on. This is only three blocks away from EIU. As you can see on the screen it's a very convenient location. Plus it's really close to one of the off campus fraternity houses. Sigma Phi. This is a very popular part of the students that live off campus. The girls were excited. They took a tour and they loved the apartments. They loved it. They would be brand new. They would be the first tenants to ever live in this new complex. They immediately put down a deposit and secured their spot. Until then the girls were having more than enough fun to pass the time. There are so many pictures of them spending time together throwing parties all around campus and beyond. Shannon spent a lot of her time with her sorority sisters. Here's a picture of her with her Alpha Phi shirt on at a party. Now we've talked a lot about Shannon. But there were also things happening with Karissa as well. Karissa was a bubbly blonde. She was very pretty. Very fun. She loved the smile and laugh and spent time with her friends. She was dating Sean Burnett at the time. Sean fell hard for Karissa. To me she actually resembles Bernie Spears from back from the baby one more time days. I mean it was the kind of early 2000s. That style is actually coming back. The holder tops, the butterfly clips, flare jeans. That's how my daughter dresses now but that's how Karissa dressed. She was super stylish and she definitely got the attention of the boys. It was kind of nice though to have a boyfriend especially when there's guys that try to make passes at you and they won't leave you alone. At least having a boyfriend you can have an excuse to shoot them away. Better yet a boyfriend can get in their face and tell them to stop. Many times when Shannon was working at the rec center. Guys would come up to her and either just talk her ear off, asking her a bunch of questions, or they would use some cheesy pick of line. But it wasn't long before the girls were sharing stories about experiences they'd had on campus, that made them feel less than comfortable. It started with Shannon sorority sister Gretchen Clark. She had just gotten out of the shower and she was sitting at her desk doing her makeup when she felt a presence behind her. And when she turned to look, there was a man standing right at her window, just a foot away from her looking at her. So she screams her roommate comes running, they're worried about her, they're like, "What's wrong? What's wrong? What happened?" And she was terrified. She wasn't sure what to do. Should she call the police? Should she ignore it? Was this something to even worry about? She wasn't sure because as she told this story to her friends and other people on campus, some of them kind of acted like she was making a big deal out of nothing. I disagree. I think that's very violating. It's wrong. It's okay to report that. But Gretchen didn't. Instead, she just warned other ladies on campus that there might be a stalker prowling around peeking into windows a night. Be careful. Gretchen was having a very hard time dealing with this incident. Other people may have shrugged it off, but it made it very hard for her to feel safe. She didn't trust anyone. As she walked around campus, she would be looking over her shoulder all the time. She kept examining every person looked her way. Call it paranoia, but Gretchen did not feel comfortable. Every guy that she came in contact with became a potential stalker. She would study their eyes and their facial features, just trying to figure out if they looked similar to who she saw staring at her that night. But as busy as she was between her classes and Alpha Phi, the worries began to shift to the back of her mind. However, for the students that had already been on campus the past couple of years, the news of a stalker had them riddled with fear. They remember Amy and Andrea. They have reasons to believe that this stalker might be more than just an innocent person who was lost and wandering around EIU. To them, knowing that a woman's throat had been slashed as a few blocks away less than a year ago, and it had never been solved, meant that a killer was still out there. Was he gonna strike again? Was this him staring into corrections window? Something unexpected and terrifying happened before the summer even began. Something that threw the girls off guard and ruined all of their plans for the following semester. In the middle of the night, a fire began to rage on the 1100th block of Fourth Street. The biggest fire that anyone had ever seen on campus board was huge. The city was in a state of emergency. People were evacuating their apartments nearby. There were fire trucks, ambulances, police cars, sirens were blaring towards the blaze, and the fire was spreading faster. There were multiple structures up and flames along with cars, heavy machinery. It took a while to get this fire under control, but once it was completely out, an entire investigation commenced. It was suspicious, especially because of how fast it started and spread. They suspected it was arson. This fire burned out 11 structures, two of which were so damaged, they had to be torn down. Residents and students who lived there had to be relocated and many of their treasured belongings were destroyed forever. Not only that, there were at least 20 vehicles that caught fire and a number of them were too damaged to be salvaged. Ultimately, the fire was deemed to be a result of arson. Starting in a building that was currently under construction, that entire building was destroyed, as well as a construction trailer, backhows, and two forklifts. That was the building that the girls were supposed to move into. It was gone. They estimated that this fire caused $3.1 million in damage. It was shocking for these girls. When they found out what happened, they had no idea why anyone would intentionally do something like that. It was terrifying to think that someone in their community was most likely responsible, yet the authorities had no one in custody. The girls were obviously very sad and disappointed about their new apartment burning to the ground. Now they were back at square one with the summer approaching. I wouldn't exactly say they were desperate, so to speak, but they didn't have a lot of time to look for something, especially because 11 other buildings were affected at that point. So other people were looking for a place to stay, as well. So I'll say that they kind of lowered their standards just a little bit, but they would not budge on the area. They still wanted to be in that prime location. Most of the apartments were already rented, but there were students who were graduating and moving out. So they hoped to get lucky and find something within their budget that was close by. And one afternoon, Becky drove them around. They were all excited. They were going around the neighborhood, looking at apartments that Karissa had already picked out. Finally, they found something that all three of them could agree on, and the best part was, it was still on fourth street. The same exact street, even the same side of the road, that the new apartments would have been on. It's just a little ways down from where the fire was, but it wasn't nearly as nice as the new building that they were set to move in. It didn't have all the bells and whistles. It was an older building, and the only apartment that they could get was a basement unit. But it did have some positives. There were only six units in the entire building. All of them were three bedroom units, which was perfect for them. So this would mean it would be quieter than that big building, plus they were on the first floor, which had some perks. You don't have to lug all your furniture, your books, or groceries, up flights of stairs. So here's the building. You see how this unit is down below a little bit? That is what is meant by basement style. They were in this one, apartment number one. They were excited to get apartment hunting over with. It's stressful not to have a place to live, so the girls were excited to find the spot in such a short amount of time. Here is where the fire was. It stretched down this entire portion of the street. Here is the building rebuilt. This is where they would have been living. So compared to what they settled for, I can definitely see why they were disappointed, but still, they were grateful that they had somewhere to go next semester. Before they left for the summer, and Shannon's dad wasn't thrilled about this apartment. He really preferred the newer one. It seemed like it was a lot safer for the girls. It was more secure. There were not doors from the outside leading right into the units. He just really didn't like the idea of the girls living in an older building, but parents worry. And sometimes there's really nothing to worry about. The girls convinced them that they're all looking after one another. They take possession of the apartment in September of 2000 at the beginning of their fall semester, and they are so excited. They're excited to be back together, and they're all living together this year. It was Shannon's last year. The two other girls were going to be sophomores, so they got to work quickly, making this place feel like they're home. They were decorating, moving furniture in, setting up their rooms. It was great. The three best friends all living together for the first time in their own place, making their own rules, which means Karissa and Shannon can spend more time with their boyfriends. No restrictions, no curfews, just fun. Shannon, Karissa, and Becky bounce right back into the routines just like the year before. They're going to classes, parties, on-campus activities, hanging out at Marty's bar, and spending time with the guys and their friends. Keith and Shannon were even more serious this year than they were before. Shannon is going to be going into her career by the end of the second semester, and she's getting more serious about her future, and she knows that she wants Keith in it. He had plans to continue playing baseball at a professional level. They were in all the same classes when it came to physical education, so it was perfect. It made sense that not only had they found each other, but they formed a very strong bond. However, it wasn't rainbows and butterflies for Karissa and Sean. They made a really cute couple, and they had a lot of fun together. But Shannon and Becky started to notice that they would get into arguments more and more frequently. It was with some people might refer to as a toxic relationship, a lot of bickering, insults being thrown back and forth, raising their voices in public while everyone turned to see what was going on, especially when everyone was out drinking. It seems like alcohol didn't always bring out the best in Sean, and one night, while the girls were partying at Marty's bar, Sean starts to get loud with Karissa. There was nothing that these girls could do. They could just stand there and listen, hoping that Sean would just cool off, but he ends up storming out. And then later, they heard this loud banging on their apartment door. It's walking distance from campus. The girls were already settled in for the night, but the banging would not stop. Then they heard a male's boy shout Karissa's name. It was Sean. It seemed like he didn't think that the argument was over quite yet, and maybe he liked to get the last word in. They had both been drinking. Sean wanted her to open the door, but she didn't want to talk. So the banging got louder and the shouting intensified, and then to their surprise, Sean kicked the door in. Karissa is screaming. She's telling him to leave, but he just comes right inside, and he kept coming toward her. He was just begging Karissa to please hear him out. Please talk to him, but she kept telling him, go home, get away from me, leave. This wouldn't stop. So finally, Shannon came out of her bedroom, and she asked them what the hell is going on? At this point, Sean cools down a bit. The girls tell him you've got to leave. And there must have been strength in numbers because he finally retreats, but the girls are left with a door that's hanging off the hinges. Was this one of those domestic situations that Lieutenant Rick Fisher was warning women about? How these things can escalate quickly turn into something he's. referred to as a homicidal rage. It seems as though Corissa and Sean definitely needed to take some space, maybe forever. But the very next morning Sean is right back over and he brought a peace offering, a brand new door, with tools to install it. The girls wanted to save money and whatnot, and needing a new door, but back on, they took him up on the offer. He repaired the damage that he'd done, put in the brand new door, and apologized to all of them for the way he acted the night before. Corissa accepted the apology, and Shannon and Becky just figured Corissa knew best. The couple didn't usually fight like that, not the way it had escalated, so they figured this is probably just a one-time thing. Everyone had their own problems to deal with, their own stressors, so life had to go on. And the girls were really enjoying their apartment. Since this is a college town, don't look at what's on Google Maps, the front yards of these homes are usually peppered with beer pong tables, radios blasting music during the day, and sometimes the night, block parties, people walking up and down on the streets at all hours of the night. This is definitely not a quiet neighborhood. They could literally walk out their door and be standing among parties, or walk a block away to the next apartment where there would be a bunch of frat guys yelling and even fighting outside. There was never a till moment. That's what 4-3 was all about. But the girls like to spend some of their time doing more laid-back activities. One of those activities was spending time in their front lawn, especially during the warmer months in spring. They had the perfect grassy area to lay out on the lawn on lawn chairs and sunbathe. It definitely did not go unnoticed. Three beautiful bikini-clad ladies oiled up in the front yard, cat-calling galore. This became a regular activity for them. It was a time that they could spend talking, gossiping, getting tan, studying. It was perfect. Maybe this apartment was a better choice after all. The other one didn't even have ample room for their little DIY beach days. It was the last time that these girls would ever be living together during college. Becky was going back home for summer. She had landed a job at the bank, but Carissa and Shannon decided they want to take summer classes so that they can get ahead and graduate faster. So Shannon let her parents know what her plan was. That she was not coming home. Carissa had just got in a waitressing job and Shannon was excited because she just got a job at Marty's doing some bartending. Shannon's dad was not thrilled. He wanted her to come home for the summer, but it's hard to stop your children when there are adults, so Shannon got her way. It was the first week of June in 2001, and Shannon had just started her first shift at Marty's and the girls were settling into their new summer routine. Both of the girls were now working late, and they would come home sometime after midnight on the nights that they had shifts. Both of their jobs were walking distance, and things are going well. Almost two weeks into this new routine, it's Monday, June 11th. Shannon does not work the night but Carissa does, and she expects to be off somewhere around midnight and then head home as per usual. Carissa gets off work and is walking home by around 1.30 a.m. She's alone. It's dark, but it's only a short distance, and she walked it many times before. She wasn't worried about anything until she heard a car behind her. It was going really slow, and it wasn't passing her. It was keeping pace. She was too scared to turn around, so she just kept walking, and it kept up right behind her. She finally decides to look back, and she notices it's a truck. She can't see the driver in the dark, but it's definitely following her. She's scared. She picks up the pace, and then so does the truck. She doesn't have far to walk, so she keeps going, focused on getting inside her apartment. As she slips inside the front door, she sees the truck stop. It's just idling right outside. She is really freaked out. She knows that she was being followed, so she quickly locks the door behind her, immediately calls her boyfriend, and tells him what's just happened while knocking on Shannon's door to see if she's home. She doesn't get an answer, but by then she's already packing a few things and heading over to Sean's, after he tells her to get out of there and come to his place or right now. She quickly grabs her stuff, exits as fast as possible, locks the door, and runs to her boyfriend's. This is terrifying. Clearly, someone is stalking girls on campus. Luckily, Kersa had Sean to protect her. She spends the night, and Sean drops her back off at the apartment at 8.45 a.m. the next morning on June 12th. Kersa walks up to her front door. She puts the key inside the bottom lock first, and she unlocks it. But when she puts her key into the deadbolt, she notices it's unlocked, and that's something she clearly knows that she did not leave unlocked. Shannon must be home, because neither one of them would leave it unlocked when they left. As soon as she walks in, she realizes that Shannon is home. But how Kersa is made aware of that probably haunts her for the rest of her life. Shannon was laying lifeless on the living room floor right in front of the doorway. She was nude from the waist down. Her shirt was on, but it was lifted off of her chest and pulled up over her head, hiding her face. Her arms were outstretched above her head, and Kersa could see a large pool of blood. Shannon was not alive. In a panic, Kersa runs to the neighbor's unit and asks them for a phone so she could call 911. The police were there in minutes. They quickly secure this area, putting up the crime scene tape and planning for crowd control. Upon arrival inside Shannon's apartment, officers see exactly what poor Kersa witnessed when she arrived home that morning. Shannon was lying on her back. Her bra was pushed up. A yellow t-shirt was also pulled up and over her head. Her legs were spread apart and her arms were extended above her head. Right away, the first responders could see that there's a wound on her lower abdomen that went all the way up to her chest and a wound across her chest, almost in the shape of a cross. Her body had definitely been posed in this position. This was done to shock whoever stumbled upon her body. The Charleston Police Department calls in the homicide detectives right away, as well as the Illinois State Police to assist on this case, and that's a good thing. Considering a very similar case of Amy Warner's just occurred three minutes away and was still unsolved. Officers are notifying Shannon's family, and the word is traveling to her loved ones and her friends quite rapidly. Shannon's parents are devastated and they're shocked. Shannon's dad, Bob, he was the one that got the call and he could not believe it. It wasn't actually sinking in. He knew that he was going to have to tell his wife and Bob, of course, loved his daughter so much. They were so close, but Shannon was even closer to her mother, Cindy. It was literally the worst news that their family has ever gotten. They sent their daughter off to college and she was going to be sent back home to them in a coffin. It's not what you expect to happen when your daughter goes off to college and it's still happening. It just did. Four students in Idaho, they were murdered in November of this year and an arrest was just made in that case. Why is this happening? No one can understand how this could happen to Shannon. She was a girl that her family referred to as their angel. Becky, who was back home, gets a call from her mother who tells her that Shannon was in their apartment and she was killed. And they don't know who did it or what happened, but she's dead. Becky just fell to her knees. She was bawling her eyes out. She could not believe this happened to her best friend. She didn't understand who would do something like this to Shannon. It wasn't long before all of Shannon's sorority sisters got the news about her murder and it changed their lives forever. They didn't feel safe. They hadn't felt safe before, but now they really didn't feel safe, especially Gretchen, who had experienced a man at her window. Did Shannon have a stalker too? There were so many questions, but the officers were very tight-lipped about what was going on. They were not giving out any details about how Shannon was killed. Besides, an official autopsy had not even been done yet. That was coming. For now, the forensic teams were diligently collecting evidence from Shannon's apartment in hopes that the killer has left enough clues behind to put someone behind bars or worse put them to death since Illinois had the death penalty on the table. Back outside the crime scene students and members of the community are gathering around their reporters that are starting to show up. Lots of cop cars align the streets and everyone wanted to know what is going on. Call it morbid curiosity or fear or something else. I don't know. Nowadays, some people call true crime entertainment. And I understand that there are aspects of what I do that can be categorized as such, but has steadily become an obsession for some people. They are going to great lengths to be the first ones on these scenes, sometimes to get exclusive photos to sell to the media, or to create TikTok videos, or start entire Facebook groups and become somewhat famous for discussing recent crimes, even appearing on the news. And I admit, I have joined these groups. And lately, I have personally felt pretty badly after reading the way that people nonchalantly speak about someone who will never walk this earth again. It's like solving the murder is some kind of game to them. Something just passed their time and it's not. This is a job for professionals. And that's one reason I don't cover unsolved cases. I want to wait until I have all the facts. And recently with the Idaho case, online sleuths are responsible for ruining the reputations of innocent students, Right. residents and even their parents, all because they're trying to piece together clues without even having any of the actual evidence in front of them. You're probably not one of these people, but think twice about doing this. I've been tempted to get involved and leave commentary, I've done it before, and I understand its human nature, and there's nothing wrong with being curious. But going to the extent of harassing, blaming, naming, doxing, or ruining someone's reputation before the case has even gone through the legal proceedings, I don't think that's okay. Back to Shannon's case, which does have some striking similarities to the case in Idaho in many ways. People are gathering around. A lot of them are offering information to police and reporters, some just want to insert themselves into the case for publicity. Nevertheless, the police have to take every tip seriously, so they set up to canvas the entire area while the crime scene technicians process Shannon's apartment, and her body is sent to Coles County Coroner's Office for a full autopsy. With such a close-knit community, especially among students, there's a lot of fear and a lot of speculation about who could have done this. Of course, the rumors start to fly right away. It could be any one, but of course, most people, including the authorities, want to look into Shannon's boyfriend first. This was a brutal crime. I will get into the autopsy report in just a moment, but at first glance, it seems like a crime of passion. Police are eager to begin to speak with people in the area, especially those who knew Shannon, and there's definitely not a lack of people coming forward. Warning, there is going to be a lot to this. I found so much information about this case. I was able to get a hold of a lot of interview information, and so much of it was important I can't wait to share it all. The investigators have their theories. One thing they believe is that this person must have known Shannon. Maybe they watched her in her roommates, stalked them, knew their routines, knew when they would be home. And the one person they want to speak to actually shows up at the crime scene, Keith Lasky. He is trying to push through the crowd. He wants to know what happened. People are trying to keep him from entering Shannon's apartment, and he's trying to barrel through. He's pretty belligerent. He's just screaming things, sounding as though he's in disbelief of what just happened, but the investigators don't buy in all that. They want to sit down and talk to him. So they ask Keith, what were you doing the night before? And he admits he was with Shannon. She says they hung out at his apartment for a while, then they went out with some friends. Shannon decided she wanted to call it a night. That was fine. She went home. Then according to him, he stayed out and party with his friends until later, when he returned to Shannon's apartment, but then when he left to go home, she was still alive. He said I had nothing to do with her murder. Investigators speak with Shannon's parents. They wanted to know if they were familiar with Keith, and Bob says he met him once just a couple weeks ago on June 3rd, when Shannon came home for her brother, Bobby's high school graduation. They don't know Keith. He seemed all right, but they didn't really have any other information, just from that one short gets together. Bob just really hoped that this man, that he just served dinner with his daughter, wasn't the killer, because it seemed so wrong. If it turned out that he just catered to a monster, Becky and Karissa didn't know much about Keith either. They did not take classes together with him. So all they knew was what they heard from Shannon. Keith is completely cooperative, until they asked him to provide DNA. He declines at first, and I understand why, just imagine this. You're not guilty, let's say, but you know, you were with Shannon last, and you had sex with her, or you left your DNA behind, just from the mere fact that you're her boyfriend, you're in her apartment, and maybe at some point they run out of suspects, so you're the target. I mean, I'd be apprehensive if I were a guy like Keith, but usually investigators mean more than just someone's trace DNA being there as a result of being friends or a boyfriend that just frequents the apartment. They're usually matching DNA to the killer's blood, for instance, so Keith decides to allow it. Meanwhile, during the canvas of the neighborhood, investigators are looking through garbage bins. They're looking for any evidence that may have been dumped by the killer and sure enough. They stumble upon something. It's a knife. A kitchen knife from a cutting block set, and it's fairly large in size. This is an actual picture of it, and as you can see, it's covered in dried blood. This was collected for analysis, and I want to show you where this knife was found. Here's Shannon's apartment on 4th Street. Now behind these other buildings, across from her building, there's this garbage bin. Here it is on Google Maps, where I view it's in this vicinity. It's almost a clear shot from her place through the grass to the back of these apartments. Did anyone see anything? Did they hear a commotion? Investigators need to know more. They show the knife to Carissa, and she quickly identifies it as belonging to the set that her and Shannon own that's in their kitchen. Wow. Things are moving so quickly in this case. Reporters are talking to a lot of students. Many of them are hoping to add their own perspective and information about Shannon and whether they heard or saw anything. Most of these students are upset. They're scared. But then there's this one guy, this one male student, and he's just lingering. He's walking back and forth, he's looking, he's waiting, he's watching. He seems kind of upbeat, almost like animated, and one of the reporters asked him if he wanted to be interviewed. He was excited. He said sure. But then when he's asked to give his name, he clamped up and said he didn't want to. Then he turns around and he leaves abruptly. The reporter didn't see where he was going after he reached the crowd of people, but he mentioned this to the police because he found the guy's demeanor a little bit odd. No one is being ruled out. Even Shannon's roommate, Carissa, is a person of interest. Why? Because they're asking themselves. Why leave the apartment that night? What did she know that Shannon didn't? There was her boyfriend that night. Did Carissa have a reason to be upset with Shannon? Because after all, information came in that Shannon had gotten in the middle of Sean and Carissa that other night when Sean kicked in the door. Everyone has to be questioned. Of course, Carissa is completely cooperative. She gave police all the information that she had, including her being afraid of that truck that she thought was following her home. And how she went to her boyfriend's because she didn't feel safe. We can't know for sure, but she says she knocked on Shannon's door. Before the autopsy report even comes out, investigators are zeroing in on another person of interest. They find something that they think links someone to this crime and let me tell you what was found at the crime scene. One of the window screens in the apartment was cut open. There was no actual forced entry into the window because it was already open or at the least it had been unlocked. So it did not have to be broken into you, but the screen of course was cut. It was sliced with a sharp object. The condition of Shannon's bedroom indicated a struggle had occurred, most likely starting on the bed. They believe Shannon was sleeping when the assailant came inside. The mattress was skewed off of the box spring and away from the wall. And there was also an overturned lamp. And the room just looked disheveled. One of the tables was actually missing a leg. And then it seemed like the struggle continued down the hall towards a bathroom where there were bloody hamprints and smears on the walls leading in that direction. The bathroom seems to be where Shannon was overcome by the attacker. It's where most of the evidence of a struggle was left behind, however, as she was dying or after she had been killed. It appears as though she was moved into the living room where she was placed on the floor and wounded post mortem after death. They found a piece of a latex glove near Shannon's left arm. A razor blade was on the floor for bedroom and a handle of a box cutter and a pair of panties were found in the hallway on the floor adjacent to the bedrooms and the bathroom. But they find something else, a credit card, and it doesn't belong to any of the girls. Before they get into tracing down its owner, let me tell you the details of Shannon's autopsy. She may have been caught off guard in her sleep, but as soon as she realized what was happening, that woman defended herself. There were traces of bloody skin underneath her fingernails, which most likely belonged to her killer, Dr. Travis Hinman, a forensic pathologist performed her autopsy. The manner of death was homicide and the primary cause of her death was determined to have been exphyxia due to choking. There was a rag that was found lodged in Shannon's throat. And the coroner said, quote, "The washcloth had been so tightly packed into her mouth that I had to remove it forcibly." Dr. Hinman described the contributing causes of death as follows, manual strangulation, mothering by placing a hand or hands over her mouth. The presence of a large quantity of blood in the stomach lining cavity due to lacerations of the liver, and a very large gaping wound on her abdomen. Dr. Hinman noted a wound to the left side of her chin, five small wounds to her neck, one long wound to her abdomen running from the base of her sternum to the top of her pubic area, a defensive wound between her thumb and forefinger of her left hand, another to the base of her ear, one to her vaginal area, and another extending from her lower back down the middle of her buttocks and beyond. There were three parallel wounds across her back, as well as one wound running down the length of her back. It was extremely horrific. She also had multiple bruises and contusions all over her body. The bruises were so numerous, they weren't even assigned numbers during the autopsy. The multiple contusions and bruises to her neck, in the pathologist's opinion, might have been self-inflicted, so let me explain what this means. She was trying to remove the killer's hands from around her neck. neck so she would press her own fingers into her neck with force and that's what caused the bruising. It was noted that there was bruising on the left side of her neck and jaw as well as multiple bruises and abrasions of her right elbow and both sides of her mouth, her lips and just below her chin. There were signs of manual strangulation and enlarged bruise on her left hip region. She also suffered blows to the head that resulted in a brain bleed. Her liver was so damaged by force in a way that was very hard to do. The pathologist believed the only way this could have been accomplished was that she was stomped on. That is unbelievably sad. That's so sad. I mean no one like Shannon deserves something like this. They don't. It's just heinous. And after all that, Shannon was put on display for someone to be shocked to the core when they found her. Investigators have to find the person who did this and they think they already have his name. 25 year old Anthony B. Mertz. That's the name that was on that credit card that they found at Shannon's. The card was bent in half and it appeared as it would have been used to try to break into Shannon's door. But who's Anthony? How does he connect with Shannon? Wait until you hear all of this. They look up his name and they find out he goes to Eastern Illinois University. He's a student and that was shocking to them. I think I would be shocked too. I think the first thing you think of is this is some deranged person. Maybe they're older. Not really someone blending in a campus. But all they know is that they have a Navy federal credit card with this name on it. Not only that he lives right across the street from Shannon. I mean right across the street. Look at this. So could there be an innocent reason his credit card is in her apartment though? I mean this is a party town. Everyone comes over each other's houses. Sometimes strangers tag along with people that you know. Could the girls have been friends with Anthony? I mean they did live on the same street. They were bound to have mutual friends right? Yes of course and that's why detectives need to do more digging. Officers who had camped us the area earlier were actually given Anthony's name from someone that lived in his apartment building. They eventually track him down in one of his neighbors apartments. His neighbor's name is Brian Beaver. Anthony is wrapped in a sheet on Brian's floor. One of the officers had to shake Anthony because he was not fully awake or coherent at the time. But once he set up he was paying attention. They asked him whether he had heard or seen anything the previous night and Anthony replied that he had just been drinking all night. The officers left but they went back later after they heard that his credit card was found at Shannon's apartment. They brought him back to the police station for questioning. Anthony said he had been drinking with Brian Beaver's at Brian's apartment at the night before. And then his last recollection of that night was that he was watching a Batman cartoon DVD at around 2 a.m. at Brian's. While talking to Anthony officer Patrick Callahan noticed some minor cuts and abrasions on Anthony's hands. Anthony says this happened the night before when he broke a shot glass. Callahan asked Anthony if he knew the girls across the street that lived in the apartments where Shannon's apartment was. Anthony said he did not know who they were. But he was aware that females lived there because he saw them sunbathing. When asked when he saw this he said he saw them recently. And when he was given a description of Shannon Anthony said yeah I've seen her sunbathing outside not too long ago. That's interesting for sure. Well what police had was enough to obtain a search warrant for Anthony's blood, hair, and fingerprints which were collected that very same evening. They were on the ball in this case. They're working as quickly as they could probably because of where it happened. The university being so close by and in involving a student's murder. Many of the students were already saying they didn't want to come back next semester for the fall. I am sure there's a lot of pressure from the university, the community, etc. to get these types of cases solved and fast. Like I've been saying murder is not a good look for the school. It's summer break in Illinois in this case. Plenty of time for students to decide hard paths on coming back when there's a killer on the loose. Police also obtained a search warrant for both Anthony and Brian's apartments. They searched Anthony's apartment at approximately 9 p.m. that same night on June 12th and confiscated his computer and a bag containing some rubber gloves. They did not find any clothing in either one of those apartments that appeared to have blood on them. Illinois State Police Officer Michael Bernadini interviewed Anthony again at approximately midnight on June 12th going into the 13th. Anthony agreed to undress and be photographed at which point the officer noticed that he had minor scratches and abrasions and some bruising on different areas of his body. He also had two tattoos of the rim Reaper and on his back a large tattoo of a cross with skulls around it. When questioned again about Shannon, he denied ever meeting her or ever entering her apartment, although he admitted visiting other apartments in the building. He offered no alibi regarding his whereabouts on the evening of June 11th. When they told him that they found his credit card in Shannon's apartment, he said he lost it when he was out the other night. He has no idea how it got at Shannon's place, but someone must have found it and dropped it there. Then he became increasingly emotional. He was tearied and finally he asked officer Bernadini a very interesting question. He said, "Why aren't I under arrest for this yet?" End quote. The interview finally concluded and that is when Anthony was arrested, almost by request which is very weird. I don't think I've heard someone say that in a while if ever. It seems to them that they have their man, but I want to say something because of what I have been seeing lately with the Idaho case. An arrest is just that. It's taking someone into custody under the suspicion that they're involved in a crime, but it does not mean they are guilty. It does not mean they automatically get the title "Murder." It's alleged murder, alleged criminal, allegedly they were involved. But what concerns me is that the court of public opinion thinks arrest, apparently automatically means that the police don't get these things wrong. We've seen plenty of cases where police get it 100% wrong. So let's please keep that in mind. It's going to get harder and harder for courts to have fair trials when labels are being put on people so quickly without any evidence being presented. And this is especially concerning because of how fast rumors spread on social media. Obviously I want the Idaho case to be solved just like I want every case to be solved, but I want the right person behind bars. And if we're too quick to conclude someone's guilty, then we can make mistakes and leave the real killer on the loose. So let's just keep that in mind, and be patient, and let things play out any court of law. Before we place labels on anyone please, in this country we have the privilege of the presumption of innocence and that is so important. It doesn't mean that I think the guy that they arrested isn't involved. I have no opinion on it because I have nothing to go on and it's not my job. The small community in this case in Illinois is shocked when they find out they arrested a university student. And that reporter that had come forward about that strange guy who seemed way too animated, that was hanging out in the front of Shannon's apartment, when he sees who they arrested, he realized that that was Anthony that day. So at this point in Shannon's case, they have arrested their first suspect. Check back in a couple days for part two or check below in the show notes for the link if it's already out. I'll see you soon.