The unsolved killing of a college student who went missing while driving from Evanston to Iowa in 1992 is the subject of a new episode of the TV show “People Magazine Investigates.”
Tammy Zywicki was heading to Grinnell College on Aug. 23, 1992 after dropping her brother, Daren, off at Northwestern University. Friends and family started to worry when Zywicki didn’t arrive at Grinnell when she said she would.
An Illinois State Police trooper found Zywicki’s white 1985 Pontiac T1000 abandoned on Interstate 80 near mile marker 83 in LaSalle County. Zywicki had been having car trouble on her trip, which started from her family’s home in New Jersey. An extensive search was conducted. Zywicki’s body was discovered by accident on Sept. 1, 1992 alongside a Missouri highway. The 21-year-old had been stabbed to death, authorities said.
Grinnell College student Tammy Zywicki. Tammy Zywicki disappeared Aug. 23, 1992. Her body was found nine days later. (Family photo)
A few persons of interest have been identified over the years, but advances in DNA technology slowly ruled those individuals out. Though the case has gone unsolved for nearly 30 years, retired Illinois State Police lieutenant Jeffrey Padilla expressed confidence in the investigation. “I am optimistic that this case is going to be solved within the next year,” he says on the Season 5 premiere of “People Magazine Investigates.”
The “Highway of Horrors” episode of the Investigation Discovery true crime program is scheduled to air at 9 p.m. Monday, just days after what would have been Zywicki’s 50th birthday.
tswartz@tribpub.com
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