Crime & Safety

Police Ask For Tips In Double Homicide

Morton Grove police continue to search for clues about the 1979 killings in forest preserve near Dempster Street, not far from Niles.

The Morton Grove Police Department is asking the public for any information related to a crime committed more than three decades ago.

"On September 5, 1979, at approximately 9:00 p.m., the bodies of two females were found in the Cook County Forest Preserve (St. Paul Woods) near the 6600 block of Dempster in Morton Grove," reads a Morton Grove police report issued this past week.

"Both females were victims of homicide."

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The teenagers were identified as Eyvonne Bender and Susan Ovington, of Skokie and Morton Grove respectively (the report is available in the media section).

According to NBC Chicago, the two 17-year-olds intended to go shopping. They were later found in the forest preserve in Morton Grove with gunshot wounds. 

Find out what's happening in Niles-Morton Grovewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We'll never know why they went for a walk in the woods on a summer day, and never came out," says Susan’s sister, Judy Sanfillipo, in the NBC Chicago story. "There's got to be somebody out there who knows something."

The MGPD press release said the department and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office Cold Case Unit have been working on a joint cold case investigation since 2005. 

Police welcome information:

To mail information:
Morton Grove Police Department
6101 Capulina Ave, Morton Grove, IL 60053 

To speak with an investigator:
(847)663-3821 to speak with an investigator;

To email information:
tipshotline@mortongroveil.org 


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