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Lane Bryant: Out of sadness, some lives changed for the better

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:25:16 -0500

Five lives ended on Feb. 2, 2008. Dozens more were devastated: the husbands and parents and siblings left behind, the small children orphaned. But in the few years since five women were shot dead at a Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park and a sixth survived a graze wound, a handful of young lives also changed, tasked with carrying on a legacy to make these women’s lives count. Samm Hortsman and Terrs Gacek are among the 16 students given scholarships by the families of Carrie Hudek Chiuso and Sarah Szafranski. Oak Forest High School grads Hortsman, 18, and Gacek, 19, …

Families of Lane Bryant victims cope with losses

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:22:11 -0500

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.

'It's not finished'

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:35:32 -0500

Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki remembers Feb. 2, 2008, as if it were yesterday. He remembers the overcast day, sleet falling from the sky. He remembers getting a call from police Chief Michael O'Connell.

Search continues for LaneBryant gunman

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:35:46 -0500

He's still out there. Two years later, the lone gunman who executed five women and wounded another inside a Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park has yet to be caught. While police continue to chase tips, they're no closer to catching the person responsible for the Southland's worst mass murder on record.

Keeping the evidence safe, orderly

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:36:19 -0500

Deep inside the Tinley Park Police Station is a room filled with items that one day might break the Lane Bryant mass murder case. Evidence from the store, from victims and items collected throughout the two-year investigation are safely stored in a separate, locked evidence vault.

Police: Lane Bryant investigation not cold

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:36:49 -0500

Tinley Park police recently turned down the chance to tell the story of the Lane Bryant massacre investigation on national TV. That's because it was a cold-case show and the Lane Bryant investigation is anything but that, Tinley Park police Cmdr. Pat McCain said. "We still consider it a very active case," he said.

Clergy pray for closure for Lane Bryant families

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:37:08 -0500

The Tinley Park Ministerial Association hosted a 30-minute memorial service Monday - the one-year anniversary of the Lane Bryant murders - to remember the mothers, wives, sisters and best friends who were murdered. Ministers and priests offered encouragement, peace and inspiration to the victims' families and friends and to the Tinley Park community as the healing process continues.

Families cope through faith, love

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:37:23 -0500

One year ago, five women became forever linked inside a Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park. Their day's innocent beginning - shopping for clothes or reporting for work - ended instead in violent death. Their families were torn apart, left only with their faith and the support of loved ones and friends.

365 days, 5,600 tips, no arrest

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:37:47 -0500

It's a chilling anniversary Tinley Park Police Chief Michael O'Connell and his officers would do anything to have prevented. But as of 10 a.m. Monday, the killer who gunned down five women and left a sixth for dead in a Lane Bryant store in the village will have been on the run for one year.

'The scar will heal'

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:12:49 -0500

Lane Bryant murders: The dark shadows of letters that spell "Lane Bryant" are all that remain of the women's clothing store. An outsider isn't likely to know the store is still a crime scene; the place where a gunman committed the most horrific homicide in Tinley Park history.

Hunt for Lane Bryant killer continues

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:38:23 -0500

Six months after terror struck Lane Bryant, the Tinley Park store's doors remain locked and its windows draped in paper. A memorial of aging flowers and rosaries that once spilled onto the driveway in front of Lane Bryant is gone. Police continue to hunt for the killer. And families still mourn.

3D image of Lane Bryant shooter released

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:38:46 -0500

Tinley Park police have released a 3D computer-generated image of the Lane Bryant killer, one that makes the shooter look more life-like than the hand-drawn sketch police were using.

Lane Bryant survivor still terrified

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:39:24 -0500

The public signs of the mass murder at Tinley Park's Lane Bryant store are recedeing. Privately, of course, the wounds still are still fresh for the families and friends of the five victims gunned down during a botched robbery Feb. 2.

Tinley Lane Bryant killings among nation's worst unsolved murders

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:14:13 -0500

Tinley Park Police Chief Michael O'Connell remains confident the person who executed five women in a Lane Bryant store Feb. 2 will eventually be caught. But today, the killings stand as one of the worst unsolved mass murders in American history.

Survivor: 'Bravest women I've ever met'

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:30:13 -0500

The only survivor of a killing spree at a Tinley Park clothing store spoke for the first time, offering sympathy for the friends and families of those murdered by a man who has yet to be caught.