I remember when Emily went missing. At the time I didn’t have the resources to do anything; even say anything. I couldn’t help but silently watch over her disappearance, with such a tragic and unsuspecting end, without answers.
Emily was reported missing by her dad when he realized that something was wrong. She was supposed to be home, at 2215 Coronet Road in Loves Park. It is difficult to gage with certainty when an adult is missing. We tend to hesitate, not only in disbelief that something is really wrong, but making that call makes everything real. For Tommy, I can’t imagine making that phone call to report her missing was anything less than the most fearful thing he would have to endure, following the rest of his life without answers. Her dad last saw Emily June 18, 2017 about 5:30 A.M. in her bed sleeping. By the time he’d reported her missing, all his calls to her were unanswered, going directly to her voicemail. She hadn’t shown up for work. Twice. Law enforcement attempted to ping her phone. Nothing.
Emily is one of those incredibly beautiful women, inked with signs of life and scars, piercings to her taste, long endless flowing hair, piercing eyes as they were seeing right thru you, and an amazing smile. She captured everyone’s attention when she disappeared. She was simply captivating. Emily was epileptic and had two different medications she was supposed to take three times a day. She required glasses or contacts because of it. This alone would enlist her endangered. Her vehicle was also missing, a 2002 two door silver Pontiac Grand AM, plate# V414149 with front bumper damage.
Of course, I have spoken to her beautiful sister who today still fights for Emily’s truth. I pulled her case file from the leading law enforcement agency in hopes of getting more answers. While she did live a life of fun, she always had her responsibilities to life, her friends and most of all, her family. While there were several suspects, and many that knew Emily, talking, a timeline was made by law enforcement.
Emily was at work the last night she was seen as a bartender at Shooters North located on 7742 Forest Hills Road in Loves Park. According to that video, she left there by herself.
She then went to Neighbors Bar & Grill at 7745 Forest Hills, right next door. She was there till it closed at 2:00 A.M.
About 2:00 A.M. she went to a twenty-four hour bar, Slots of Fortune at 4745 Bluestem Road in Roscoe, Illinois.
She then went to Steak & Shake at 1568 West Lane Road in Machesney Park. There was no video there.
She was then at Walmart at 3849 Northridge Drive in Rockford. This may have been where she went to the bank. There was a transaction at 11:30 P.M. at register 14 where she purchased a size medium t-shirt, a DVD Public Enemies, a greeting card and a size large red gift bag. At the time of this video, her hair was seen in a pony tail, wearing tight blue jeans, black sleeveless t-shirt with white letters on the front and back of the shirt, and was carrying a dark colored purse. She was alone at Wal-Mart. These items were never located and her dad knew nothing about a gift.
About 5:00 A.M. she texted a friend saying she was dropping off a friend, then text someone else saying she was headed home.
An award to bring Emily home began at ten thousand dollars and later was raised to sixteen thousand.
No one came forward.
There were several people interviewed that may have been persons of interest in Emily’s disappearance, so I have decided not to release that information to anyone other than her family. There was a video footage on June 19, 2017. Emily’s vehicle was seen traveling southbound in the outside lane of Forest Hills Road, using a right turn signal as the vehicle passed the intersection with Rivington Road turning on to Windsor Road.
October 8, 2017, almost four months of silence, she was found by someone swimming in a river when they noticed an antenna sticking out of the pond. Emily’s body was found inside her vehicle on the 9800 block of fantail place in Roscoe Illinois in the rock river near McDonald Road and 251. This was literally where her last ping cell tower was linked. The Department of Natural Resources checked the area where her vehicle was recovered and was unable to locate a point of entry where the vehicle entered the vehicle. This brought more questions than it did answers, but finally, Emily was home. Inside her vehicle it was reported there were no physical signs of trauma. The Coroner did not rule on the cause or manner of her death. “It’s not suspicious, it’s not suicidal, there’s nothing to lead us to believe that at all”. There were no signs of a struggle. However, Emily was found with her seatbelt off, in the passenger seat. The water was 4’ high. It was dry weather. Both the passenger door window and the small window behind it were broken. The passenger window was open approximately one to two inches. Her body was lying across the front passenger seat with her head near the dashboard and her legs between the driver and passenger seats. The vehicle was filled with mud up to about the middle of the dashboard. Both doors were locked and the key was in the ignition. The ignition was in the on position. The vehicle gear shifter was in the neutral position. Neither seatbelts were secured but both were running through the belt attachments mounted on the side of each seats. In the back seat a purse was located. In the purse was a plastic Ziploc bag with bottles of medication in it, and a wallet with Emily’s Driver’s License. A cell phone was located on the front driver’s side floorboard. The Fire Department removed the trunk lid with a saw because they were unable to open it. Nothing evidentiary was found in the trunk. Law enforcement removed the data recording module and let it dry but no data was able to be recovered from it.
Law enforcement did some testing on an identical car. With the engine running and transmission in park and all doors closed they discovered the doors locked automatically when the vehicle is taken out of park. The doors only automatically unlocked after placing the car back in to park and turn the ignition to the off position. With doors closed and locked they were unable to open the doors using the door handles. The Detective had to either unlock the doors using the power door locks or unlock them manually using the lock lever near the door handle. With the engine running, transmission in park, and either door open he could not use the power locks to lock the doors. He had to manually push the lock lever near the door handle to the lock position to lock the doors.
Her funeral was held at the Sunset Memorial Gardens at 8800 North Alpine Road in Machesney Park. Her family believes this was not an accident. I am unsure if law enforcement continues to investigate Emily’s death.
