Tammy Zywicki left her home in New Jersey and headed to college where she was enrolled in Grinnell, Iowa. She stopped in Evanston, Illinois where she dropped off her brother at Northwestern University. Tammy never made it back to her college where she would have begun her Senior year, majoring in Arts and History. Her brother Darren reported that her car repeatedly overheated during that same trip.
That same night her parents never got the call they expected from Tammy. The next morning, Tammy's roommate told them she never got there.
Her vehicle was seen parked the day after dropping her brother off on Interstate 80 at mile marker 83 in Utica, Illinois between 3:00 P.M. and 4:00 P.M. on August 23, 1992. Her vehicle was a 1985 white Pontiac T1000. When an Illinois State Police Trooper located the vehicle abandoned on the highway, he tagged it as abandoned. When Tammy's vehicle was finally searched, it was noted that her vehicle was locked. Inside was Tammy's packed bags and other belongings. Missing, was her car keys and her purse. Her Canon 35mm camera and her wristwatch which played the tun 'Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head', and a St Giles Soccer Club patch was missing from Tammy's shorts. - And Tammy.
On September 1, 1992 the search for Tammy ended. Her body was found about 500 miles away from where her vehicle was found. A man walking down on Interstate 44 in Lawrence County, Missouri found the body of a young woman. Her body was wrapped in a red blanket, wrapped in duct tape. The clothes matched the description given of the day she disappeared. She was identified thru dental records. Tammy had been stabbed 8 times and sexually assaulted. The stabs were made in a circle around her heart and once on her right arm. Duct tape was over her mouth. It was determined she had been dead up to a week prior to her body being found. Tammy had been killed somewhere else then dumped where she was found.
While there has been suspects, most of them were cleared. No one has been charged for Tammy's murder or disappearance. No suspects have ever been named.
Witnesses reported seeing a semi truck near her vehicle. He was described as a white male, 35 to 40 years old and about 6 foot tall with dark bushy hair.
Witnesses said they saw her standing beside her car. A semi truck was seen parked behind her vehicle before she went missing, appearing to be offering her assistance. The driver of that truck was described as a white male, 35 to 40 years old and over 6 feet tall with dark, bushy, collar-length hair. His truck was described as a white truck with two brown diagonal stripes down the side of it.
Her funeral was held on September 8 1992 at the St John Neumann Roman Catholic Church in Mount Laurel. She was buried in West Newtown Memorial Cemetery south of Pittsburgh.
SUSPECTS
James Dante Mackey, 38, was a Tampa truck driver arrested in Indiana on attempted rape. In his truck were women's undergarments and pornography. Investigators however found no evidence tying him to Tammy.
Bruce Mendenhall was a souther Illinois trucker convicted in 2007 for 7 murders. While his profile was killing young sex workers and Tammy was not, there was a chance he could have been a suspect, but he was never able to be tied to Tammy's murder.
Lonnie Bierbrodt was a truck driver that fit the physical description, and his wife was said to own a wristwatch similar to the one stolen from Tammy. There was not enough evidence to arrest him. He later died.
CLARK PERRY BALDWIN
LINKED? NOT SO MUCH.
May 6, 2020 a man named Clark Perry Baldwin, 52 of Iowa, was charged in connection to the murder of three women after his DNA was linked to their murders. Two murders were in Wyoming and another in Tennessee. He was arrested in Waterloo, Iowa and being held at the Black Hawk County jail awaiting extradition. The woman murdered in Tennessee is Pamela McCall who was 24 weeks pregnant at the time.
The two women in Wyoming are still unidentified. One was named the 'I-90 Jane Doe' and the other was named 'Bitter Creek Betty', both women's bodies were found in 1992 but were never identified.
Baldwin was previously charged in 1991 for allegedly raping a female hitchhiker from Kansas in Wheeler County, Texas at gunpoint. The Chicago Tribune reported that a 21 year old woman told police he struck her in the head, tied her hands and mouth then tried to choke her to death. He allegedly admitted to it, was released from jail pending grand jury proceedings, but was never prosecuted.
Detectives are looking in to any link between Baldwin and Tammy's murder. May 8, 2020 the Illinois State Police made an announcement that Baldwin is not a suspect in Tammy's disappearance or murder.
REWARD FOR INFORMATION A reward is now up to $50,000 for anyone sharing information that would lead to the identification of the killer. Anyone with any information is urged to contact your local FBI Office, or the Illinois State Police, Zone 3 Investigations at (815) 726-6377.
Information accumulated through:
The Chicago Tribune
NBC News
The FBI
The Herald & Review
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