Families of Lane Bryant victims cope with losses

• Reprints

Carrie Hudek Chiuso’s mother, Penny (left), and brother, Michael, talk about their lives as they approach the second anniversary of the murder of Carrie and four other women at the Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park.

Updated: January 27, 2011 3:22PM

Two years have passed since five women were senselessly murdered inside the Lane Bryant store at Brookside Marketplace in Tinley Park.

In those two years, five sets of families and friends have had to continue living.

They've had to go on.

Babies have been born, holidays have been celebrated, and people have gotten older - all without their loved ones.

Two years have passed, but not one of those women has been forgotten.

And they never will be.

Jeni Bishop

Baby A.J. was just 6 months old when his mom was tragically killed. Now the 2 1/2-year-old toddler is walking, talking and coming into his own.

"He's a fabulous little guy, so laid back," said his grandma, Pam VanHuffel, of South Bend, Ind. "He's full of life and fun and happiness. He just doesn't know any better."

A.J.'s mom, Jeni Bishop, 34, an intensive care nurse from South Bend, was one of the shooter's victims that fateful February morning.

"I don't know what it will be like when he grows up and he realizes he doesn't have a mom here," VanHuffel said.

Bishop was shopping that day as her husband attended a roofing convention at the nearby Tinley Park Convention Center.

"With each day, it gets a little easier," said her husband, Brian Bishop. "Your focus is the kids and to make sure they're happy and healthy."

Alongside A.J., his big brother and sister also are growing and thriving.

Jacob, 9, made First Holy Communion last year. And 7-year-old Jocelyn, or Joci as she's known, learned to ride a two-wheeler and lost her two front teeth, their grandmother said.

"These are just things that tug at my heart," VanHuffel said.

Through it all, the family is sticking together.

Jeni's parents take care of the kids when Dad is on business trips at least twice a week.

And her sister takes care of the kids in the summer when they're off school.

And there's Bishop.

Jeni's family is in awe of his strength - especially during the holidays.

"The way he's been able to handle Christmas all by himself, Jeni would be so proud of him," VanHuffel said.

Connie Woolfolk

Connie Woolfolk's friends are hoping to win the lottery. If they do, Woolfolk's family will win, too.That's because two years later, Woolfolk's friends still enter her in their Lotto pool, friend Barbara Moore said.

"We're not letting go of her," Moore said.

Woolfolk, 37, a mortgage broker from Flossmoor, left a huge void in her loved ones' lives.

"It's still raw," Moore said. "I think about it frequently. It's hard to conceive losing such a friend in such a crime."

Moore and Woolfolk met while working for the village of Park Forest, where Woolfolk had many roles, including administrative assistant.

And the grisly death of a close friend still haunts Moore, who cringes whenever she drives past Brookside Marketplace, where the store was located.

"It's painful for us," she said.

And every Saturday morning, Moore thinks about calling Woolfolk's mother - though she doesn't want to be intrusive.

Woolfolk's mother is caring for her two teenage grandchildren - Connie's kids, Moore said.

There's Victor Rodriguez, who was 16 when his mother died, and Maeric Rodriguez, who was 10 and suffers from spina bifida, a birth defect in which the spinal cord doesn't fully develop.

"She loves and cares for them," Moore said of Woolfolk's mother. "That's her heart now."

Carrie Hudek Chiuso

Carrie Hudek Chiuso has now missed two years worth of holidays and the joyous birth of babies to her family. There's Hudek Chiuso's namesake and niece, 2-year-old Carrie, and a new baby, 6-month-old Rylin.

"My sister never got to meet either," said her brother and father of the children, Michael Hudek.

Two years after the tragic death of a wife, sister and daughter, the family is still grieving.

"It's not gotten any easier," Hudek said. "There's not a day that goes by that my family doesn't shed a tear over my sister."

"We just miss her all the time," Hudek Chiuso's mom, Penny Hudek, said.

But family members have had no choice but to continue their lives.

Hudek Chiuso's husband, Tony Chiuso, has taken down the couple's wedding photos and rearranged the furniture in their Frankfort home.

He still deeply loves his wife, who was 33 when she died.

"It's something I have to do if I want to move on," he said, his voice trembling. "It's going to hurt people in the process, but that's something I don't want to do. It's really difficult trying to move on."

Meanwhile, the memory of the 33-year-old Homewood-Flossmoor High School social worker is kept alive with a charitable organization dedicated to her life.

Carrie's Fund has collected more than $200,000 to help send students from Homewood-Flossmoor and from the Lincoln-Way schools to college, Hudek said.

So far, three students have gone on to college in her memory.

"It keeps her legacy going," her brother said.

"It keeps the girls (who were killed) from becoming just a statistic," Penny said.

Rhoda McFarland

Weddings and babies are some of the family milestones Rhoda McFarland has missed. Seven months ago, her younger brother Maurice Hamilton got married, their father, Hilton Hamilton, said.

"She would have been right there," Hamilton said of his daughter. "Everybody grew up in the past two years."

There's also a new member of the family - an 8-month-old baby.

Though the family has celebrated these happy additions, the ghastly unsolved crime still weighs heavily on them.

"It's two years later, and nothing has been done," Hilton Hamilton said. "I hope I'll be alive when they catch him. I just want to see him brought to justice."

But he's focused on the happy memories of his eldest daughter, the Lane Bryant store manager, a pastor and a mentor.

Hamilton said he's empowered when he thinks of McFarland and her four siblings as children riding the family's horses on Southland trails.

He remembers his daughter as a hero for who she was that fateful day and throughout her life.

McFarland called 911 instead of choosing to sneak out the door in the back room.

And she was also a pastor and a mentor.

"I was so proud of her when she went into ministry," Hamilton said.

Sarah Szafranski

Sarah Szafranski's family thinks of their beloved daughter every day."We miss her greatly," her dad, Ted, wrote in an e-mail.

The 22-year-old Oak Forest native was the youngest of the women slain in the Lane Bryant clothing store.

Sarah, who graduated from Northern Illinois University, worked as a paralegal at CNA Insurance in downtown Chicago, where her father works.

They used to ride the train together every morning.

The reserved family, which includes mom, Mary; dad, Ted; brother, TJ; and sister, Katie, have relied on their faith and family for the past two years.

"We are comforted by the love and support we have received from our family and our friends," Ted said.

The family's strong faith extends to the other fallen women.

"We keep in our prayers the other victims and their families as well," Ted said.

And Sarah is a constant presence in the community.

Her family has provided four Oak Forest High School students with scholarships for college in honor of Sarah. This year, two more graduating seniors will receive the scholarships, Ted said.

Just around the corner from her family's home sits a bench the Oak Forest High School badminton team made in Sarah's honor. Engraved on the bench is "An Angel Among Us."

HOW TO DONATE

Carrie-Fest May 22 at CD&Me, 23320 S. LaGrange Road, Frankfort. The daylong event raises college scholarship money for Homewood-Flossmoor High School and Lincoln-Way High School District 210 graduating seniors in honor of Carrie Hudek Chiuso. The fund this year also is branching out to technical schools - funding scholarships for cosmetology students. For more information, visit carriesfund.org.

Friends of Sarah Szafranski scholarship fund. Donate at Oak Forest High School, 15201 S. Central Ave. For more information, call (708) 687-0500.

Bishop Children's Education Fund. Send a check to 1st Source Bank, 4105 Lincoln Way West, South Bend, IN 46628.

Lane Bryant massacre on Dipity.