On the rainy morning of Oct. 25, 1977, Stephanie Lyng left her Palatine home to run a quick errand. She dropped off a Girl Scout check at a neighbor`s house, explained that she had to get home to meet carpet installers and said goodbye.
She hasn`t been seen since.
For 15 years, the mysterious disappearance of the 39-year-old mother of four has frustrated authorities, who worked and reworked the case like an unsolvable jigsaw puzzle in a vain effort to find the daughter of Chicago Sun- Times columnist Dorsey Connors.
Authorities apparently never had much to go on.
There was no sign of forced entry at her home, and her body was never found. Lyng`s husband, Edward, told police that he assumed his wife had run away.
Though the couple were estranged, investigators never believed the story. But they also had no real evidence against him-until now, they say.
Lyng, the 58-year-old owner of a successful Hoffman Estates vending machine company, was arrested Nov. 2 on murder and bribery charges in connection with his wife`s disappearance and has since been indicted. He has appeared briefly at two court hearings, but few details of the case have been disclosed, leaving many questions unanswered. Among them: Where is Stephanie Lyng`s body? What happened 15 years later to lead police to make the arrest?
And, ultimately, did Edward Lyng do it?
Ronald Menaker, an attorney representing Lyng, said his client would plead innocent to the charges. He said his client is a ”well-respected member of the community” and characterized the prosecution`s case as weak.
He said it is based on questionable new evidence 15 years after the fact from two ”not very believable” witnesses.
The two witnesses, identified as Lyng`s nephew and former girlfriend,
”both have reason to lie,” Menaker said. The two apparently have also changed their testimonies over time.
Prosecutors remain tight-lipped, and a spokesman for the state`s attorney`s office declined to provide any details. However, a picture of their case is emerging, supplied by court and police records, as well as sources close to the investigation.
The picture portrays Lyng as a heavy drinker who physically and psychologically threatened his wife as divorce became an issue, according to police investigative reports dating back to her disappearance. A year before Stephanie Lyng vanished, she confided to friends that her husband had tried to choke her while she bathed, one police report said.
Edward Lyng didn`t want the divorce, telling his wife ”she would simply disappear” if she went through with it, according to a Palatine police search warrant request written just before Lyng`s arrest. The request said police learned of that threat while interviewing a psychologist who had treated Stephanie Lyng days before she vanished.
Police records also show that the couple had tried to work out their differences. They underwent counseling with a priest, and Edward Lyng had entered an alcohol treatment program at one time. The alcohol treatment seemed to work for a while, and she withdrew her divorce petition. But when he began drinking again, she refiled her petition.
Friends and neighbors also told police that Stephanie Lyng was obsessed by a fear of being murdered, either as she slept or while taking a bath.
”Many times near the end, she said, `Lord, I`m not going to make it, but you take care of my kids,` ” one of Stephanie Lyng`s friends said in an interview, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Dorsey Connors said that while her daughter`s friends were aware of Edward Lyng`s menacing behavior, Connors was kept in the dark.
”Steph didn`t want to worry me, and God do I regret it,” Connors said in an interview. ”We would have had her out of there in two minutes. But she was a very religious girl and was trying to keep a home for her children.”
The Lyngs met while attending Loyola University night school and were married in 1961. At the time of her disappearance, the couple shared their Palatine home but slept in separate bedrooms, the search warrant request said. Investigative sources say they believe that Lyng, despite his affluence, couldn`t tolerate the idea of paying several thousand dollars in monthly support to free himself from his estranged wife.
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So investigators say they think he decided to kill her. First, he sought a hit man to do the job-someone who could make her death look like an accident, the search warrant request alleges. When he couldn`t find someone, prosecutors allege, Lyng committed the deed himself.
According to the search warrant request, police believe that Lyng was waiting for his wife when she returned from her morning errand. It says Lyng told Christine Rezba, his former girlfriend and former employee, about the murder and how he hid in the family room until she walked past. He hit her in the head with a gun and tied her up, it says. Then he stabbed her, wrapped her up and cleaned up the mess he had made, it says. Then he put her in their station wagon and drove her to Lake County where he buried her, according to the search warrant request.
From almost the start, police figured Stephanie Lyng a victim of foul play. They knew she wasn`t the type to abandon her daughters without an explanation. But they also couldn`t find evidence connecting Edward Lyng to his wife`s disappearance.
Rezba provided an alibi, telling police that she coincidentally met Lyng on the road as she headed to a doctor`s appointment. She said they agreed to meet later at a restaurant to talk about her returning to work for him. Years later, she would deny this account, implicating Lyng, according to police.
Two days after Stephanie Lyng`s disappearance, Edward Lyng entered a hospital for the removal of kidney stones. Police said Lyng`s lawyer at the time refused to let them talk with Lyng or arrange for Lyng to take a lie detector test.
An intensive search of the Lyng home was made by police evidence technicians on Nov. 2, 1977, but nothing was found.
In the many years since, investigators from the Palatine police force and the state`s attorney`s office tired themselves out pursuing bogus tips and blind hunches.
Twice, work crews were called to vacant lots to dig for a body they couldn`t find. Three times witnesses were called before a grand jury to answer questions.
Sources say a 1983 grand jury produced a tantalizing bit of circumstantial evidence. Rezba, testifying under immunity, changed her account of the alibi. She said that Edward Lyng had concocted the story and arranged to meet Rezba hours after his wife disappeared. Rezba followed Lyng in a separate car to O`Hare International Airport, where he dropped off the family station wagon.
Police had found the car parked at O`Hare four days after Stephanie Lyng disappeared. Bloodstains on the car matched Stephanie Lyng`s blood type.
Still, investigators believed that the testimony of Rezba, Lyng`s girlfriend at one time, wasn`t enough to bring charges against Lyng. The search warrant request and new court documents show that Rezba claims she had been threatened by Lyng.
Throughout the 15-year investigation, Lyng lived in the Palatine home with his daughters, who ranged in age from 8 to 15 when their mother disappeared. They continued to live with him in the house as they grew up. The four are all adults now, two of whom are married.
Lyng might never have been prosecuted had there not been a break-in at his vending machine company on the night of Sept. 30, 1992. A Hoffman Estates police report shows that an employee found coin bags containing $1,825 missing. Lyng also reported the theft to police.
Hoffman Estates detectives recognized Lyng`s name and called Palatine police to see if their investigators were interested in the situation. They were.
During the investigation, Hoffman Estates police brought an employee, Lyng`s nephew, James Schweiger, to headquarters for an interview. A Palatine detective sat in. Schweiger started talking.
He told the detectives that three or four weeks before Stephanie Lyng`s disappearance, Edward Lyng offered him $40,000 or $50,000 if Schweiger could find someone to kill her, the search warrant document says.
Schweiger said he thought about it and even discussed the deal with a friend, but he turned down the offer. Detectives immediately took Schweiger to visit the friend, who corroborated the story.
Investigative sources said they then arranged for Schweiger, wearing a concealed tape recorder, to meet Lyng, who reportedly offered Schweiger a substantial bribe-an ”interest” in the vending machine company-to keep him quiet, according to a court document filed by prosecutors. One of Lyng`s attorneys, Rick Halprin, denied that accusation at the bond hearing.
It isn`t known what conversation is on the tape recording or whether it contains any incriminating evidence.
Three weeks after they spoke to Schweiger, investigators went back to Rezba, who now has the last name Knutson. She also talked, detailing Lyng`s alleged account of how he murdered his wife.