A Saturday Morning in a Suburban Shopping Center
On Saturday, February 2, 2008, the Lane Bryant store in the Brookside Marketplace shopping center in Tinley Park, Illinois, was getting ready for a normal weekend rush.
The store sat in a large retail development at 191st Street and Harlem Avenue, surrounded by big‑box stores and a vast parking lot filled with shoppers’ cars.
Shortly after opening, six women — two employees and four customers — were inside.
By late morning, five of them would be dead, one would be badly wounded, and the man responsible would be gone.
Eighteen years later, the case remains unsolved.
Case Snapshot
- Location: Lane Bryant store, Brookside Marketplace, Tinley Park, Illinois
- Date: February 2, 2008
- Victims (killed):
- Rhoda McFarland, 42, store manager, Joliet
- Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, Flossmoor
- Carrie Hudek Chiuso, 33, Frankfort
- Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, Oak Forest
- Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, South Bend, Indiana
- Survivor: One part‑time employee, identity withheld, wounded but lived
- Status: Unsolved; suspect unidentified; $100,000 reward remains posted.
The Gunman Poses as a Delivery Driver
On that Saturday morning, store manager Rhoda McFarland and another employee opened the Lane Bryant and began their usual routine: turning on lights, checking inventory, and preparing the sales floor.
According to investigators, a man came in through the back door, posing as a delivery driver.
At first, he spoke with the employees in a calm way, giving the impression he was there on legitimate business.
As time went on, his behavior shifted.
He pulled a gun, announced a robbery, and forced the two employees and four customers who were in the store into a back room.
Police later said he tied them up and kept them there for roughly 40 minutes — an unusually long amount of time for a robber to stay inside a store in broad daylight, in a busy shopping center.
Six Women in the Back Room
The women were gathered in the rear of the store, restrained and terrified.
Exactly what happened in those 40 minutes before the shooting is not fully known, but investigators have said that at least one victim was sexually assaulted.
The surviving employee later told police that the gunman seemed to grow more agitated as time went on.
At some point, without clear provocation, he opened fire.
He shot all six women.
Five were killed; the sixth, the part‑time employee, was badly wounded but survived, in part by playing dead.
While the attack unfolded, Rhoda McFarland managed to dial 911.
The call captured chaotic audio and brought officers to the shopping center within minutes — but the gunman was gone by the time they arrived.
The Crime Scene and the Escape
Police arrived at about 10:45 a.m. and found a horrific scene in the back of the store.
Four women lay dead among clothing racks and storage items; a fifth would later die of her injuries.
The surviving employee, despite her wounds, was able to provide information that would become crucial to the investigation: a description of the attacker.
Outside, the rest of Brookside Marketplace went into lockdown as officers searched for the shooter.
Investigators later said they believed he fled in one of two vehicles seen on grainy external footage leaving the shopping center right after the murders.
Unlike many modern retail spaces, the Lane Bryant store itself did not have interior security cameras at the time, leaving police without clear video of what happened inside or what the gunman did as he left.
The Suspect: Sketches and 3D Renderings
Based on the surviving victim’s description, police produced a composite sketch of the suspect within days.
He was described as:
- A Black man in his late 20s to early 30s
- Medium to stocky build
- Cornrowed hair with a receding hairline
- One distinctive braid along his right cheek, with three to four light‑green beads at the end
- Wearing a dark waist‑length jacket, black jeans with decorative stitching or rhinestones on the back pockets resembling a cursive “G,” and a charcoal‑gray skull cap.
In 2018, on the 10‑year anniversary, Tinley Park police released a new 3D rendering created with help from Michigan State Police, hoping a more lifelike image would jog memories.
The updated image sparked new tips, but none led to a confirmed suspect.
An Unsolved Mass Shooting
Despite:
- A detailed suspect description
- A surviving eyewitness
- A 911 call from inside the store
- A six‑figure reward
- And an active multi‑agency task force
No arrest has ever been made in the Lane Bryant murders.
Investigators have said they believe the incident began as a robbery that escalated into a mass shooting, though some observers have questioned why a robber would target a women’s clothing store on a Saturday morning and stay inside for 40 minutes, increasing his chances of getting caught.
Family members of the victims, like Carrie Hudek Chiuso’s brother, have spoken publicly about their grief and frustration, but also their hope that someone who knows the truth will eventually come forward.
Tinley Park police maintain that the investigation is active and ongoing, with detectives continuing to review evidence and apply new forensic tools as they become available.
Why This Case Is on True Crime Maps
The Lane Bryant murders are anchored to a very ordinary place:
- A big‑box shopping center in a Chicago suburb, busy with weekend shoppers.
- A single store unit, indistinguishable at a glance from dozens of others across the country.
- A back room where six women were tied up in daylight and shot — and where a killer walked away unseen.
On True Crime Maps, the pin for this case marks that store’s location in Brookside Marketplace and invites viewers to step into the unsolved aspect of the story.
It’s not just about what happened; it’s about what hasn’t happened yet:
- No match to the description.
- No confirmed DNA hit.
- No person willing or able to name the man with the green‑beaded braid.
When you click this pin, you’re looking at one of the largest unsolved mass shootings in modern U.S. history — a reminder that even with witnesses, sketches, and national coverage, some killers still manage to disappear into the crowd.
