Amy Blumberg ////// 639 | Forensic Files

thank you [Music] [Music] thank you foreign garage wherever you are whatever you are
doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who
the rabbits show respect to him and the Chipmunks genuflect to him here is the captain yes another New Year in True
Crime it's good to be seen and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend
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[Music] O'Fallon Illinois December 31st 1999. New Year's Eve twenty-year-old Eastern Illinois
University student Amy blumberg was working a day shift at the onstage dance apparel store
the store is a small Standalone store owned by Amy's aunt and uncle the store was located at 138 Eagle Drive
just a stone's throw from U.S Highway 50 and not far at all from Interstate 64. it was the holiday season and Amy was on
winter break from her college courses at Eastern Illinois University it was a Friday and because it was New
Year's Eve it was expected to be a rather slow day at the dance store Amy was working alone
around 6 PM Amy's parents Ken and Sue blumber began receiving phone calls from Amy's friends
they were wondering where Amy was Amy had plans to spend the evening with some of these friends to celebrate the new
year her mother Sue made multiple calls to the store trying to reach Amy without success
after a couple of hours and was still no word from their daughter they became increasingly concerned
they decided to drive to the store the blumbergs arrived at the store around 9pm
when they pulled into the lot they observed Amy's car still parked in the lot the lights were on inside the store by
now the store should have been closed and Amy should have left long before 9 pm Amy's parents parked their vehicle and
both of them hurried to the front door of the business they found the door unlocked
after entering the store Amy's parents saw Blood on the door jamb of the entryway to the hall in the back of the
store Sue stayed in the front portion of the store and immediately called 9-1-1 to
request an ambulance Ken went to the back part of the store where he encountered a tremendous amount of blood
in the back hallway Ken came back to the front part of the store and told Sue that they were too
late then they went outside and waited until police arrived at the scene this True Crime garage
[Music] New Year's Eve is a day when many choose to move on from the past year and look
forward to the bright days in the new year to come if last year wasn't your best year well don't worry about it next
year we'll certainly be better and if last year was great well then get ready for maybe the best year of your life all
starting tomorrow it's a day and night that is often celebrated with dancing eating drinking singing and sometimes
even fireworks the celebrations generally go on past midnight into January 1st New Year's Day now sadly in
Eastern Illinois for many there was nothing to celebrate only sorrow and grief while many Americans were bracing for
the Y2K scare the blumbergs were wondering what happened to their daughter and the O'Fallon Police Department just
caught a murder investigation officers with the O'Fallon Police Department arrived on the scene shortly after 9 pm
officer Schaefer and Stover entered the store together the store itself looked as they had
expected it looked normal but behind a door on the left side of the store they spotted blood there was a trail of
blood and blood spatter on the floor of a small hallway behind this door down the hall the first door was to the
men's bathroom the officers noticed a pool of blood on the floor of the bathroom the hallway
then continued to the right where the blood trail continued as well that hallway at the door to the women's
bathroom inside this store the officers found the body of a female on the floor the officers checked for a pulse
confirmed that she was dead and went outside to secure the scene unfortunately the deceased was Amy
blumberg she was born September 28 1979. she was just 20 years old a junior at Eastern Illinois University
taken Way Too Soon by some unknown killer Amy was survived by her parents and brother
in the coming days hundreds gathered at the Grand Ballroom in the Student Union at Eastern Illinois University
this was a memorial service for Amy a room full of classmates friends and her sisters from Sigma Kappa
so many wonderful people had so many wonderful things to say and fond memories to share that day her mother
said at the service that quote God will get us through this now Captain before we get into the
investigation I'd like to go through some of the evidence that was found and recovered at the crime scene
so back at the dance store crime scene technicians arrived at the scene of the murder at 9 35 pm on
December 31st 1999. they immediately located a person keys on top of a counter in the store
the cash register in the store appeared to be undisturbed they found blood on a door frame about one foot off of the
floor leading to the hallway looking at the blood trail in the hallway it appears that someone was
dragged across the carpet towards the men's bathroom in the men's bathroom they located a pair of nylon pants
underwear socks and Tennis Shoes then the blood trail LED from the men's room to the women's restroom the victim's
body was lying on the floor she was nude from the waist down and bullet evidence
was found at the scene so what we have here Captain is when unfortunately the blumbergs arrive at
the dance store to look for their daughter Amy the first thing that they notice is that
her vehicle is still in the parking lot and that the door to the business itself
was unlocked right from my understanding when you walk into the store and scan the store everything looked and
appeared as normal however if you walked in further you would start seeing signs
of a struggle and seeing this Blood Trail in this hallway at the back of the store that would tell
you something horrible had happened and as we just described with this Blood Trail and what the police and
technician's perception of this Trail was that somebody was dragged it looks like our victim Amy was attacked and
then possibly moved once or twice to where she is finally found in the women's restroom can you explain this
dance store a little bit better for the listeners it's a dance apparel store I don't know everything that they sold but
that was their key product that they were peddling and the store itself was relatively new again this is not a
holiday but it's the day before a holiday and as we see often a lot of times we have shortened hours on days
like this and that was the case here from my understanding as well but she was the only one working at this store
at this time well like you said it was the day before a holiday so it's shortened hours so let's dive into the
timeline of this case Okay using the experts opinions and some known facts of the case we can get a pretty firm
timeline for the day in question now we know that the door to the store was found unlocked when
Amy's parents arrived at 9 00 PM but we can likely get rid of about three hours that are in question on this day here
because of a couple of things one the store was scheduled to close at 6 pm shortly after six this is when Amy's
parents are notified by at least one of Amy's friends that they could not get in
touch with her so whatever happened had to have happened before 6 PM or Amy would have just closed the store left
and went about her business for the day well like you said the door was unlocked
her car was in the same position it was when she got there and no contact with friends or family
through at least a telephone anyways yeah so something would have happened at 6 PM or prior preventing Amy from
closing the store and going with her friends also there's a side note here that I think is key Amy was given
permission to close even earlier if the store was really slow now the coroner gave an estimated time
of death of 4 pm and we usually know that that's more of a window of time less of an exact time
but using that let's go through some of these other details so we have the cash register which showed the last sale was
recorded for a 29.96 pair of black leotards this was at 2 26 pm so if the corner is correct and the
register is right well then the Killer was in the store sometime between 2 26 pm and roughly 4 P.M as given the
estimated time of death so roughly uh hour and a half window we can go back before 2 26 p.m before this recorded
sale because we have in this case two eyewitnesses we have a father and daughter these are customers
that were in the store that day the gentleman's name is Leroy Yager he told detectives that he and his
daughter arrived at the On Stage store around 12 30 p.m on December 31st 1999. the purpose for the visit was to
exchange a purchase for his daughter that was too small when they arrived this again at
approximately 12 30 PM the store was closed with a sign indicating that the clerk would be returning soon Leroy
figures this was a lunch break that makes sense given the time of day so Leroy and his daughter went to lunch at
a place nearby when they returned to the store the store is open so the two walked in
this is when Leroy noticed a male customer who Leroy estimated to be in his 40s looking through
the clothing racks Leroy's daughter then proceeded to try on several leotards until she found the
correct size now while doing so Leroy was busy speaking with Amy the solo store clerk at that time right Leroy's
daughter overheard the male customer asked Amy if they sold dance shoes in the store
then the man left the store a short time after this then Leroy and his daughter they
complete their purchase and then they left the store but to be perfectly clear here
Leroy's purchase was not the 2 26 PM purchase in question right later that evening when he learned that Amy had
been found dead in the store he contacted the O'Fallon Police Department ultimately working with a sketch artist
to create a likeness of the man he saw in the store obviously police want to speak with this
man because you have two situations that are possible either he's a potential eyewitness with
additional information that they need or he's somebody that they may want to consider as a person of interest or a
suspect in this case yeah because he could have came into the store by himself and basically surveillance the
area Leroy described the man's clothing as washed out jeans with a dark colored jacket he recalled that the jacket
reminded him of a ski coat he also told police that there were two vehicles in the parking lot while they were there
and he described them as a black car and a maroon car remember this is a stand-alone store
that does not share a parking lot with other businesses and the lot itself is rather small so
it's one of those situations captain that you pull into the lot and you're pretty sure that the vehicles that
you're seeing belong to the store either there are people working there or customers inside this store when it
seemed like Amy parked in the front of the store which some stores were like that there's no back parking for
employees well what we can figure out here is one of these vehicles is Amy's so what we need to know is who does that
other vehicle belong to so as you can see we are dealing with a short window of time here we know that
Leroy and his daughter did not go into the store until after 12 30 PM because when they first arrived
the store was closed briefly right he says that they had lunch they went back to the store so even conservatively
we're looking at probably at least 1 p.m probably later in fact that they returned to the store and they are in
the store well this is good for law enforcement that it's a stand-alone store with a standalone parking lot
because you have people driving by that could give you some kind of account you hear on the news that this young
girl is murdered maybe you drove by and saw which cars were in the parking lot around that time so that is a good thing
for law enforcement and to close up our time our window of time here even more again we have Leroy and his daughter in
the store they're in the store long enough for Leroy to make several observations
to chit chat with Amy exchange their previous purchase all before leaving so now we are probably
looking at 1 30 at the very earliest that they are departing the store I think it's likely closer to two or maybe
even 215 but to stay conservative we can say Leroy left the store at 1 30 p.m maybe
later and everything was fine at the time that he left then a sale recorded on the
register at 2 26 pm so still business as usual and then we have the estimated time of
death is roughly 4 P.M kinda reminds you of a couple of other cases doesn't it Captain several that we
have covered in fact here in the garage but to keep it brief I'm just going to name two real quick one solved that's
the super bikes case and one unsolved yogurt shop where we have information from eyewitnesses from persons patrons
at these businesses that are telling us one the times that they were in the business and what they
saw while they were there another thing going for law enforcement is Leroy is you're not looking at Leroy as just the
eyewitness at first you have to put him in the person of interest category but because they have such a solid timeline
then they can quickly figure out if Leroy has an alibi because it's possible that Leroy goes to the store with his
daughter and then comes back but I believe they were able to figure out that Leroy himself had an alibi for
the time of where they think the murder took place yeah that's exactly right and
I don't think that at any time they were looking at this individual as a suspect what you have here is you have
a conflict and that conflict immediately is two things you find this young woman working by
herself at a store who is murdered you have a short window of time of when that murder could have
taken place and now you're asking the public hey anybody that was at the store here that
day please come forward with information and help us out you have two very different things you have Leroy who was
there with his daughter coming forward with helpful information and you have an unknown man who is not coming forward
with any information at all I'm just saying that if I'm law enforcement I'm going to do my due diligence and make
sure that Leroy has an alibi for the time and make sure that he didn't have some conversation with this young
girl and decide to come back well of course yes I I would hope that they would be as diligent as you their
Captain well somebody's a condescending dick today it does very much remind me of both of those cases Superbikes and
yogurt shop because in both of those cases we have detectives who are looking for that
quote last customer or the very last person in the store before the [ __ ] hit the fan we do have
some of the autopsy information here in this case they found several bruises on different portions of the body
indicating a struggle signs that Amy defended herself she was shot once at close range or what is listed as an
indeterminate range again this was just one shot it was an indeterminate range but it is
listed at a close range there was an entry wound to the back of her left ear and an exit wound in front of her right
ear in the doctor's opinion the bullet wound would have caused a rapid death but we do have some forensic evidence so
let's dive into that a red substance was found on the carpet in front of the cash
register this was determined to be human blood matching Amy's DNA blood and debris was found on a dress on a rack in
the front of the store human blood was found on the hallway door frame as we had already mentioned there were several
hairs that were collected from the body and the victim's clothing that did not belong to the victim
a hair was collected from the victim's right ankle a single bullet was recovered from the
scene this was a 38 caliber bullet with six lands and grooves with a right twist
this particular bullet was from a 38 caliber class of bullets and given the bullets weight design and bearing
surface this bullet was consistent with a 38 automatic caliber bullet between the 38 caliber revolvers and the
38 caliber special derringers there were 49 different possibilities for make and model of the gun that was
used in this crime now experts at the time when asked how many of these types of guns were in
circulation they put the guess at well this would be in the millions they said it's
fascinating how many different models and types of guns there are so police needed a gun for comparison purposes
with this bullet that they found this wasn't a unique situation that was unique enough that they were able to
really hone in on exactly the make and model that they were looking for and police were also asking the public for
help as we said they were looking for anybody that had been in the store that day and
frankly as you pointed out Captain do your due diligence they're probably looking for anybody that had been in the
store anytime at all if you want to come forward with any bit of information that you think was
suspicious or of could be of some importance to the case right and possibly like I said before the
eyewitness is driving by because we have a single store with a single parking lot
that somebody did somebody see a certain vehicle around four o'clock they could come forward and let you know and then
also there's some businesses around there so what time did those employees get off did
they notice anything out of the ordinary when it comes to the Dance Shop [Music]
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[Music] all right we are back cheers to you Colonel cheers everybody a Happy New Year's cheers to everybody out
there yes as we said the police were asking the public for help in Amy's case and specifically they announced that
they are looking for a white middle-aged man who was a customer in the Dance Shop
the day of the murder they described this individual as five feet six inches to five foot eight inches tall wearing
blue jeans a gray t-shirt white tennis shoes and a dark ski jacket so police need your help and then in this case
Captain this is this is interesting I I love to see the different tactics that are used by different jurisdictions and
what unique crimes generate different unique tactics and this is something that's not
terribly uncommon but they set up a special 24-hour phone line so this was a voicemail phone line
that is set up to record tips for police and detectives you could call any time of day
and you could leave any information that you want there and because it's a voicemail I'm
guessing it's Anonymous maybe they can track your or trace your your call if they want but from my understanding they
were putting out the vibe to everybody that these are going to be Anonymous that you could call
anonymously and leave your information what they have here and what they bring in and this is one thing that I think is
Paramount to any case and I love when I see investigators and police departments
doing this they very quickly identify that this case is problematic for many reasons and
so they're not above calling in help and so what they get here is they get 18 investigators from the Greater St Louis
area from the major case Squad who were assisting in the case and the FBI was called in as well
in O'Fallon they had a three detective unit that we're all putting in very long hours to try to find the killer who the
newspaper said shot Amy blumberg in the head for no obvious reason on New Year's
Eve Police Captain Jim Stover said that the detectives will be working on the case as long as I need them and that
overtime was not a concern And in regards to the comment of shot for no obvious reason I believe is
warranted as the police were seeking not only a suspect but they were trying to figure out a motive for this as well
right per the information released to the public the store was not robbed and Amy's car was found undisturbed in the
parking lot of the dance store but she was found nude from the waist down so possible sexual motive in just a couple
of days a five thousand dollar reward for information was put together this was from donors that reward would grow
to over eighteen thousand dollars within a couple of months and then something happened that I'm
sure many in the area were thinking might happen as the investigation dragged on right due to the lack of an
obvious motive detectives were looking into similar cases 20 other murder cases in fact spanning from Maryland to
Washington State specifically they were checking into possible parallels with the one that was called
the interstate 70 or the I-70 killer well because this dance shop it's how far away from I-70 it's not terribly
far and it's also within the range of states that these some of these killings were taking place
similar descriptions of the individual exactly so what we have here is the I-70 killer eight years prior to Amy
blumberg's murder had shot and killed store clerks for no apparent reason along the same
Interstate in several States including the St Louis area which we are talking about the greater being very near the
Greater St Louis area here with this case and like the I-70 victims Amy blumberg was working alone in a low
traffic specialty store she was shot once in the head in the middle of the afternoon the store was
not robbed Captain Stover is quoted as saying we have no evidence whatsoever to indicate that this homicide is related
to the I-70 murders but on the other hand we have no evidence that it is not there are a lot of things that are
similar and a lot of things that are dissimilar end quote right just to fill everybody in in case anybody's wondering
the I-70 killer is a still unidentified serial killer that is known to have killed six store clerks in the midwest
in the spring of 1992 the nickname derives from the fact that several of the stores in which the
victims worked were located a few miles off of Interstate 70. his victims were usually young women all of the stores
attacked were specialty stores and were usually only robbed of very small amounts of cash right he is also
suspected of shooting three more store clerks in Texas during 1993 and 1994 one of which survived also there is a 2001
murder of a store clerk in Terre Haute Indiana this is believed to possibly be connected to the I-70 case as well due
to the lack of leads in Amy's case and given the similarities in these scenarios Amy's case was easy to try to
fit in with the I-70 cases well and if you're not following us on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram what are you doing
with your life we'll put a composite sketch of the I-70 killer on our social media now the I-70 killer case has been
covered extensively the case was featured on Unsolved Mysteries America's Most Wanted and dark minds and as said
the Killer is yet to be identified and police have not publicly identified any suspects save but one and we'll get to
that here in a bit now in Amy's case the O'Fallon Police Department did release two
composite sketches of persons that they would like to talk to along with those descriptions given one
of which was the male customer seen in the dance store and the other was of a man that was seen in a nearby store
behaving suspiciously on the same day of the shooting so I want to be clear here because this is a
little bit difficult these are two composite sketches that they're putting out at the same time right and the
police are telling you this one is given from one eyewitness who says I saw this man in the dance store this is
what he looked like on the day in question the other is from a separate eyewitness at a different location that
says this man who looks like this description was behaving weird that day apparently
there was a guy in some business and I I want to say that it was a real estate office I I had it in my notes somewhere
here Captain but I can't find it at the moment but the interaction was strange because the person was saying this was a
a female eyewitness says this man approached me and he kept asking if I was alone or if there was anybody else
in the building and then he left now the caveat here that police are throwing out
to the public is look we're not saying that this guy is the same guy but doesn't mean it's
not right they're saying he could be the same guy but we want you to be well aware that these are two descriptions
coming they're they're actually similar descriptions these are two descriptions coming from two different eyewitnesses
that were at two different locations at different times of the day so they're they're throwing out that that warning
that buyer beware to to the public that this could be the same person it also could not be the same person so
don't lock in on that too much and don't bother yourself with that too much we just want to know if you can Mr public
come forward with any information on either of these composite sketch drawing what I do know from doing this podcast
for so many years there's so many cases where it's washed out jeans and some dark colored jacket
that is not the look that I'm ever going to go for ever well it's just like the Delphi case you have people coming
forward they're like uh this man must have must be responsible because he was wearing a blue jacket and jeans
um news flash most of America wears a blue jacket and jeans most men in their 30s their 40s in America at 1999 were
wearing dark jackets and jeans so while this individual Leroy and his daughter are trying to be very helpful
unfortunately the clothing is pretty much nondescript well yeah because this is like the uniform of the guy that has
given up I got I just wear my old faded jeans and and some jacket some dark jacket that's it you just described me
although I've not given up but I've I'm also not giving up my [ __ ] jeans or black jacket here's some interesting
things though captain and these may all be coincidental the dance apparel store was relatively
new and these are like just some sad again when we cover these you find these little tidbits of information that just
make the story even more tragic and even more happenstance right that this is is
almost a little more random the dance apparel store was relatively new again it's a small building itself and only
about a year old the business is only about a year old at the time of the crime and it never opens again after Amy
is killed and in fact they put it on the real estate market one month after the murder doors never open up again
so it's listed for sale in early February of 2000. Amy was the owner's niece she was only
working there because she's on winter break from college and likely covering and working by herself on a day that
they were expecting very low traffic and probably very few customers at all so Amy is killed on the
last day of 1999 by early March 2000 police had ditched the two composite sketches of the men that they wanted to
interview now I've said this plenty of times here in the garage Captain I am a fan of the composite sketches as they
always generate a lot of calls and a lot of information coming into police but the big problem always seems to be the
same people have a tendency to hyperbolize these sketches right I know this sounds
like I am stating the obvious but it clearly is not so obvious to the masses so I'll say it anyway it's not a picture
it's not a photograph of the suspect in this case it's just a sketch of persons that law enforcement want to
identify and interview it's not a picture it's a sketch of a person as described by another person with a
fallible memory who is doing their best to to piece together the likeness of this
individual that they saw at a time when they didn't know they were supposed to be paying so much attention to
everything but also we have cases where we actually have photographs but maybe the
maybe the photograph is a little bit blurry or pixelated so it's hard to make out and then individual like you said
the composite sketches I think it's a good thing I think having a picture is a great
thing too but I think sometimes it it leads to people going they're trying to help
but they go oh I gotta I got a buddy that lives out of state who's never even been in this state but he kind of looks
like that guy I should probably call so I think there it becomes sometimes that they actually
get too many leads right and I'm not trying to fault the eyewitnesses for trying to help they are simply giving a
description of someone that they saw often you know this case thankfully with Leroy he's calling in that night
and he's so it's a little more recent but often times we're talking about somebody trying to give a description of
someone that they saw 24 48 72 hours earlier when they themselves were just going about every day normal activities
so often these Witnesses they do not know or would not have any way of knowing that they are looking at someone
that at a later time it might be important to be able to describe that person in great
detail and when I worked at the bank this is something that we actually did to practice they would give us a
scenario and maybe it was on video footage and we were told to pay attention and then we were told to give
the best description as we could and yes if you do it more often more frequent you get better at it but it's pretty
astonishing how bad some people are well and then when we talk about yes it's great because a lot of information comes
in a lot of tips a lot of calls come in but the reverse of that is you have to take into consideration this would
anybody like to try to come up with an accurate over and under number for the tips calls email submissions and social
media side by sides that were wrong in the Delphi case right how about the hundreds of tips called in in 1989 1990
and 91 in the Amy mihalovic case which still is yet to see an arrest here police did the right thing this is
something that I've not seen done very often we've seen it once or twice but they are forced to scrap the composite
and not just scrap the composite they come out and they tell the public please disregard and forget about the
Composites that we released the key they said at the same time is to focus heavy on the physical description
that we gave out so thanks for calling in but the guy you were calling about that looks just like the sketch in the
mahalovic case the suspect lives in California well he cannot be the abductor and killer if he physically was
not in Bay Village Ohio in 1989. and that's one of the things that we've had to deal with when we go do a live event
or we go to a conference somebody would come up and go I think the Killer is this guy
and the description of the Killer is let's say five six to five ten and the person that they think was the killer is
six four and you start by going well I think you you need to especially when there's a picture you need to be able to
match the picture but then also like you said match the description and that was
the problem the exact problem that they were having here right like just like you said if if we're looking for a guy
that that is of this description well then if you're calling about some guy that's four foot two inches or some guy
that's six foot ten inches tall you're calling us with the wrong person and that was the problem with the sketch in
the Amy blumberg case and in this case Captain Stover is telling the public look thank you people for coming forward
with information however we're scrapping these composite sketches and we're telling you public to forget about it
because tipsters that are calling in have been focusing solely on the face of this composite
sketch and totally ignoring other details of the man's General description and he says look we are spending a lot
of time and working a lot of leads from people who look at the composite but do not look at the description so
they're showing up to talk to some guy that yes his face might match that very general face that's in the
sketch but very quickly they can look at the guy and tell from any number of other reasons that this is probably not
a great lead we spent our time driving out here to meet this person we are wasting resources at the time when we're
we got this case with with this uh essentially even though they never announced it but we talked about the
major K Squad persons from the Greater St Louis area assisting and the FBI calling in so essentially what you have
here is a task force in the early days and months of this investigation but also know thyself
don't go around and act like expert if you're not and some of these people look all the people that I met that gave me
some far out there suspects to look into and plenty of cases that we've covered they all mean well they just don't
really understand that they have no clue what they're talking about on the one year anniversary of the murder the case
was still unsolved and it looks like the leads had pretty much dried up at that point the tip line did receive a lot of
calls and a lot of incoming information early on most of the calls were tips and
leads on persons who who were resembled the composite sketch none of those panned out in that year to
come the police interviewed they said they interviewed more than 225 people that all knew Amy and
the same one common theme that they found throughout all of those interviews captain
was we interviewed 225 people and came up with zero enemies for our victim and so they they come out and they say
look we can tell from everybody we spoke to that Amy was wholesome she was energetic she was well liked she was
kind and fun-loving her friends called her blums and police were now actively telling the
public we believe this was a stranger killing that was what they were calling it a
stranger killing they were focusing their search for a suspect on similar killings in other cities and states like
we said earlier with the I-70 cases Sue blumberg told the Bellevue news democrat quote
that's what makes this difficult to believe even after a year why would somebody do this to a person they don't
even know end quote police said that the FBI profilers and Quantico were adding to their study whenever the O'Fallon
Police Department fed them new information also proof that there's just evil people
out there O'Fallon Police Department come up with this Theory after working the case very hard that this is probably
a stranger killing and we don't have any of the experts to disagree with them we
have the major case Squad unit and we have the FBI agents in Quantico who seem to be all on
board with this theory that O'Fallon Police Department are now using and working in Amy's case
so this will bring us up to two years into the investigation the reward fund stopped growing by this point captain
now we're sitting at about twenty thousand dollars and the calls to the tip line were rare at this point Sue
blumberg after the case was opened still open the second year stated that it's in God's hands now when the time is
right something will happen well sadly let's go out another year then we get to three years later three
years after the Murder by this time the tip line had gone silent but police had not they told the
Bellevue news democrat there's somebody out there who knows something and people
eventually talk we are still looking for the last customer at the store that day
who bought a black leotard around 2 30 p.m we can't tell the size because they didn't keep track of that
and detective Jay Stanley had one last thing to say on the matter quote it's personal now we've become very close to
Sue and Ken blumberg Amy's parents and we would like to close this what's not clear captain
and Leroy's statement and I'd like to go back to the statement here because now we can see three years
later and it seems like it always has been from the get-go that a heavy focus and rightfully shut
and rightfully so is on this last customer but what's not clear about Leroy's statement to me and I'm sure it
probably was to police at the time because I'm sure they spoke with him extensively and on multiple occasions
but if both of these vehicles were parked in the lot when he and his daughter were in the store
it his statement as far as the way that it reaches us States these were the two vehicles that
I saw while we were there what we don't what we don't know and what we we cannot
tell from that statement is what exactly does that mean does that mean that these two vehicles were parked
in the parking lot when you arrived were they parked in the parking lot while you
were in the store where they parked in the parking lot when you left this is going to take us up to December 20th
2003. this is 11 days before the four-year anniversary of that terrible day when Amy was taken away
and a long-awaited announcement was made on this day the O'fallon authorities charged a
suspect in the 1999 East Illinois University students murder it took a messy divorce and a strange
ex-wife and almost four years who finally make an arrest in this case Edward Scott Phillips 37 years old who
also went by the names of Ed and Eddie was charged with first-degree murder police were looking at Edward Scott
Phillips for about two and a half weeks very quietly before actually charging him and announcing that they were
charging him with this murder to the public Edward Scott Phillips was already in
prison serving time on unrelated charges of burglary perjury and obstructing justice
it looks like all of those charges are in direct relation to Edward's ex-wife and their messy divorce from my
understanding captain I think she had moved on they were divorced Edward clearly had not moved on
and he had broken into her home broken into the home of the person he believed to be his ex-wife's boyfriend and he had
left threatening messages and threatening calls to both individuals so he's eventually picked up and charged
and put in uh jail or prison for those charges so he's already locked up and had been for a period of time before
police get to him to talk to him about Amy's case now before all of that mess Edward worked for the Illinois
Department of Corrections for which he drove a truck delivering food to different prisons
now the tip that comes out that leads law enforcement to their suspect after all
of these years really came out of the blue completely out of the blue the arrest came by way of a tip called
in from Edward's ex-wife Dawn she passed along her suspicions to her attorney her divorce attorney at the
time who then began talking with police what police Learned was that Edward owned a 38 caliber gun at the time of
the murder and that that night the night in question Edward came home with blood
on his clothes which at the time he had told his wife that his clothes were bloody
because he was forced to move a dead animal off of the road sounds fishy now Edward also fits the description
no matter how much you one argues how vague it is or not vague right he fits the description of the person
that the police were looking for as either a witness or suspect that last customer well it probably took
her a minute to come forward too because once he's in jail or prison like you said maybe she felt safe enough to go to
her attorney and say hey this guy should be looked at in this crime I think that's what you have here
I think that you have this wife who was suspicious about this sister situation all along
never brought it to anybody's attention until she felt like I don't have to worry about this guy doing something to
me the general description that we get of Edward now mind keep it keep in mind this is four years after the the
homicide at the time of his arrest he's five foot eight inches tall fits the height he's roughly 210 pounds with
brown hair and Hazel Eyes now at the time of the murder he lived about 130 miles roughly from the crime scene wow
now this is weird captain because when asked by detectives about the day in question
Edward Scott Phillips says he was the quote last customer that they had been looking for but he goes on to tell them
I did not kill Amy so detectives go and talk to this guy Edward Phillips who is already in prison
at the time anyway again his charges weren't particularly serious offenses compared to the other
cases we have discussed here today right but what what is his reason for buying these leotards well at the time I and I
I can't tell you what he told police because I don't know we don't have those statements but at the time of Amy's
murder Edward Phillips lived with his wife Don and his daughter in Mount Sterling Illinois so he admits that he
was at the dance store that day okay well this has got to make the detectives extremely suspicious right
from Jump Street right because here you have been asking the public for help in the case for damn near four years and at
no point does this guy come forward and say hey I was there that day this is what I know I would like to help this
poor family the police and the community but instead no he chose to do nothing well like you said he lived over 130
miles away so right out of the gate with this guy you're already you already know
one of two things either this guy is a soulless gutless loser or he's your killer
now look even the devil hates a loser so if I'm in there questioning this guy I'm
thinking he's probably both he's everything we just said and he's probably our guy right his General story
Captain was that he drove out of town to attend I believe he said a gun show but there
was something that he drove to this area and he was looking he he had a destination that was not the dance store
he couldn't find that destination so he decides to turn around and start heading
home and when he heads home he sees this dance store and he thinks that he's going to stop in and buy something for
his daughter I do not like the cut of this guy's gym well it gets it gets so much worse so he he already tells police
that yes I was in the store that day but you gotta you gotta listen if you pay if you don't pay any attention to
anything else that we've said so far today in this case pay attention to this not only does he tell police yes I was
the last customer that was in the store that day I I'm the guy that you were looking for
uh as far as that final charge on the register the final sale on the register that was recorded
but he says Hey I was in the store on that day in question by myself I bought something for my daughter then I left
the store a short time later I returned to the store because I decided to return the
item or exchange the item he says that when he arrived he couldn't find the store clerk
instead he finds a trail of blood he follows the trail which leads him eventually to Amy's body he says that he
then panicked because he had an unregistered firearm in his possession on that day
so he decides to flee the scene drives back to his home in Mount Sterling again about 130 miles away
and disposing of the unregistered pistol along the way he gets home and his wife
sees blood on his pants he says I have got blood on my clothing because I had to move a dead animal off the road that
gun that Edward disposed of and the murder weapon which I and many others firmly believed to be one in the same
has never been located right after Phillips and his wife Don got divorced they were in this heated child custody
battle and that's when Don told her attorney the attorney tells the police about the
blood stains on Edward's pants on the night of December 31st 1999. this of course leading them
to question him so unfortunately the weight continued for those Seeking Justice for Amy the trial against this
scumbag took some time to get to Edward entered a plea if not guilty at trial prosecutors showed the members of the
jury an empty box for 38 caliber pistol bullets found in Phillips Home which would match the small caliber bullets
that killed Amy Bloomberg and the prosecution had a man testify a man who knew Edward
Phillips this man testified that he sold a pistol to Edward and the prosecution had the bill of sale
with Edward's signature on it and evidence so this gun that he admits was unregistered he has it on him at the
time of the murder and he disposes of it shortly after Amy is killed matches the caliber
that killed our victim and we have proof positive from his own words and from this gentleman who sold him the gun and
kept this bill of sale with Edward's signature on it all of these years later and like you said law enforcement was
looking for this last customer for years never comes forward and then when they actually do talk to him he's like oh
well not only was I the last customer I went back in and I saw that she was murdered and I I didn't come forward I
didn't tell anybody so you want to talk about putting painting yourself into a corner that's
exactly what this knob head did and there's going to be some people that will say oh man I I can see why he
panicked and he just kind of freaked out and yeah maybe he wasn't thinking clearly but here's the thing
at the end of the day they have the evidence to match the bullet to the gun that killed this
poor young woman even if you are in possession of a firearm with you that day they can very
quickly go yep that doesn't match the bullet that killed this young woman right so just just by having a gun doesn't
make you guilty of anything you could have if he was innocent which he's clearly not uh he could have helped
in this situation well he doesn't know what the actual murder weapon is or he shouldn't if he's innocent he shouldn't
know so it could be a nine millimeter or 22 or see what I'm saying so the fact that he would get rid of his gun when
you don't even know what the murder weapon would be if you were innocent right not not to mention the fact that
there would be uh intricate markings on that would be able to tell exactly which
gun fired that bullet now despite what the defense called only circumstantial evidence the jury only needed 24 hours
of deliberation and on May 29 2007 Edward Phillips was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 55
years in prison without parole at sentencing Edward Phillips who declined to testify at trial turned to Amy's
parents and told them quote I did I didn't kill your daughter if you didn't commit this crime you
wouldn't be freaking out you call 9-1-1 they come you have an unregistered gun and then you tell them do a ballistic
test I never shot my gun today well and what's interesting here too even all of these years later is that
well Amy's case while it was looked at in in consideration to be a part of the series of the I-70 Killers cases
well that cannot be the case if Edward Scott Phillips is not the I-70 killer because Edward Scott Phillips regardless
of what he said to Amy's parents I believe and so do everybody else including that jury the only people that
matter they believe he is the Killer and I think that you could the defense can call it
whatever they want circumstantial evidence whatever it looks to me like a pretty good mountain of evidence
convicted this guy and they found the right guy now for some quick follow-up on the I-70 killer case our long time
listeners know that we covered the case in depth over two years ago if anybody would like to go back and listen to
those episodes that's true crime garage episodes 4 41 and 442 from November of 2020. great episodes if I'd say so
myself thank you you did you did an excellent job I mean your part was okay but my
part it was some of my best work my part was lacking at best lacklusters as some
of the reviews stated since then there has been some movement on the I-70 cases in October of 2021 we get updated
suspect composite sketches now a little bit more of my rant here Captain this is the part where I have a
big problem WTHR who I know does some great work I've read a lot of their articles over
the years but this is aware they this was very disappointing to me because they titled their article
authorities with Saint Charles Police Department in Missouri released age-enhanced photos of the suspected
I-70 killer these are not photos nobody would look at these and go those are photos but
again the masses sometimes have trouble understanding and comprehending exactly what's going on and if you tell them
that they're photos there are going to be some people out there that believe that these are photos these are sketches
that they are releasing to the public of an unknown individual sketches of an unknown individual will never be as
accurate as a photo so I think it's just I think it's poor reporting to call them
photos yeah definitely poor reporting which you don't get on this show I don't want it to make its I don't want
to seem like we're coming down hard on people that see an image and go well that could be my neighbor or that looks
kind of like my uncle and maybe he was responsible because again when people go out of their way to
actually call in call in these tips their gut is telling them I I should call in because worst case scenario I'm
wrong but if I don't call in they don't have this information so I know that there's
a lot of people out there that see these sketches I mean that's one of the reasons why in the Delphi case they said
hey stop comparing these people online that's that's not going to help the case any
and I would argue in the Delphi case that the man they arrested does not look much like the first composite sketch or
the second composite sketch maybe he looks somewhere he to me looks somewhere in between
the following month a month after we get these updated suspect composite sketches
uh in November of 2021 Terre Haute police announced that the I-70 killer was a possible suspect in a 2001 murder
of a liquor store clerk his name was Billy brosman the crime went down like this on the
evening of November 30th 2001 brosman was working alone at the 7th and 70th liquor store in Terre Haute Indiana
security camera footage showed a white male suspect entered the store and pull a gun on brosman and robbed the cash
register the footage then showed the suspect Lee brossman to the back of the store and murder him with a single shot
to the back of the head the murder of brassman occurred just seven blocks from the murder of Michael McCown and was
similar in MO to the I-70 murders unlike in the I-70 murders though we have security footage of brosman's
killer that exists and police have stated that they have a person of interest in the case so they're they're
telling us hey the this could be connected it also may not be if this person of interest pans out
and he is not tied to any of these other killings then we get this intriguing update from
KMOV News 4 that reads the person identified earlier this week as the I-65 serial killer is now being looked at as
a possible suspect in the I-70 murders with a local task force scrambling to compare notes with police authorities in
Indiana so this would be information from last year captain and they go on to say the
Indiana State Police have announced that numerous pieces of DNA evidence tied Harry Edward Greenwell to three Motel
Highway killings in Indiana and Kentucky between 1987 and 1990. the I-70 killings
happened just two years later as we know in 1992 Greenwell this guy who they already know killed
three people died of cancer in 2013 at the age of 68. the I-65 killer was also known as the
day's end killer his first victim was at a Super 8 motel in Elizabethtown Kentucky before he killed
again at the Days Inn in Merrillville Indiana and then finally at the Remington Indiana Days Inn police say
Greenwell attacked a fourth victim later at the Days Inn in Columbia Indiana but
she survived and gave police a composite sketch which matched Greenwell quote we
are talking with the Indiana task force said detective Raymond Floyd who is heading up the St Louis task force
investigating the I-70 murders right now it's preliminary but there are definitely some similarities and we are
going to pursue them also last year in 2022 we get confirmation that DNA evidence exists in the I-70 killer case
and was sent away for testing police have said that DNA testing results were back they received the results back last
year they had some material from the April 1992 Terre Haute case this was the murder of Michael McCown
that had DNA evidence on it they sent it out for testing last year they get this
results back however due to the active investigation investigators are not sharing the results currently from that
testing because they have said several other agencies other police agencies and other jurisdictions have evidence that
is currently being processed or will be processed and tested soon so the police are reminding the public
and all of these jurisdictions that involve the I-70 cases that they're refusing to call the I-70
cases cold and I say rightfully so look at all the activity in these cases it looks more and more
likely that maybe even 30 years later that we are finally going to get some answers and some of these still unsolved
homicide cases all I gotta say is winner winner chicken dinner if it's confirmed
like you said it is that they have DNA that gives me a lot of hope that the I-70 serial killer case could be solved
in 2023. foreign [Music] again we want to thank you for our awesome 2022 onward and upward in 2023
Colonel do we have any recommended reading for the beautiful listeners first one of the Year this week we are
recommending the shadow of death the hunt for the Connecticut River Valley killer available in paperback Kendall
and now audiobook on Audible this is by Peter Ginsberg and it's a complete breakdown of the Connecticut River
Valley killer case which was one of the last cases we covered here in the garage
at the end of last year so check out the shadow of death the hunt for the Connecticut River Valley Killer by Peter
Ginsburg and if you are driving or if you are at the gym and you can't write down that title always know that you can
go to our website truecrime garage.com click on on the recommended Tab and you will find that great title there for you
along with many more yes and we'll see you back in the True Crime garage Batcave next week and until then be good
be kind and don't litter [Music] foreign

Amy Blumberg ////// 639

Part 1 of 1

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

New Year’s Eve 1999, O’Fallon, Illinois - Police respond to a call of an unresponsive store clerk at the On Stage Dance Apparel store. They find blood all over the back hallway of the store. The female clerk was working the day shift alone. Unfortunately there was nothing that medical technicians could do to save her life, she was dead when they arrived. Police quickly secured the scene and the hunt for her killer began. This week we explore a case out of Illinois that had locals and Law Enforcement personal examining possible links with that of the I-70 Killer.

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Brief Summary

Amy Blumberg was murdered on New Year's Eve 1999; Edward Scott Phillips was later arrested and convicted for her murder.

Key points

Tragic New Year's Eve Murder. On December 31, 1999, Amy Blumberg was found murdered in a dance store.
HelloFresh Meal Prep. Enjoy restaurant-quality recipes delivered to your door, ready in under 15 minutes!
Police Seek Public Help. Authorities are looking for a white middle-aged man seen at the Dance Shop on the day of the murder.
Investigation Tactics. Police set up a special 24-hour phone line for anonymous tips in Amy's case.
I-70 Killer Connection. Detectives explore links between Amy's murder and the I-70 killer, a serial murderer.
Composite Sketches Released. Police release two composite sketches of suspicious individuals seen near the crime scene.

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