Veronica Blumhorst /// Part 1 /// 425 | Forensic Files

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links at truecrimegarage.com and that is enough of the business. All right, everybody gather around, grab a
chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime. A young woman leaves work late at night and arrives
home. Her car makes it into her usual spot in the garage but somehow she never makes it inside
the house. With very few clues left behind police are left scratching their heads.
The number one suspect the boyfriend acts suspicious but nothing ties him to the
disappearance. The case grows cold and languishes for 30 years. In so many of these missing persons
cases decades pass there is no movement on the case and we are left with no resolution.
But in this case all is not as it seems. After nearly three decades there is new information
that is not really new at all but it was left out of the case files. Some suggest that this information was
conveniently lost or covered up intentionally. This is True Crime Garage and this is the case of Veronica Jill
Blumehurst. Veronica Jill Blumehurst was born on September 4th, 1969. Nothing is known about her birth
parents. This is actually a major speed bump for the investigation. It's complicated but we will get into
that the why that is important after we get to know a little more about Veronica,
her family and the day that she went missing. Veronica was adopted by Paul and Betty
Blumehurst when she was only seven months old. She had an older sister named Carolyn,
also adopted but from a different family and a younger brother named Todd who was
the Blumehurst biological son. Reports are that Veronica had some early physical disabilities that impeded her
ability to walk but with the help of leg braces and hard work she eventually overcame this.
She had magic shoes. She was also diagnosed with a learning disability and took special education classes in
school. Veronica was somewhat quiet and shy but was friendly and everyone liked her.
She was a bit of a homebody. Her family likes to say that she often was tucked into bed by 8:00 p.m. unless she was
working or with her boyfriend. In 1990 Veronica Blumehurst was 21 years old and living at home with her family
in Mendota Illinois. Veronica lived with her parents and her brother Todd on Monroe Street. Mendota
is a very safe small city of about 7,000 residents in northern LaSalle County. Well, and on top of that they moved
there because the father became a firefighter and he was well connected not just in
the fire department but also with the police department as well. Yeah, her father Paul was a firefighter. Her uncle
was a police officer and her mother worked at a nursing home. Her older sister Carolyn in 1990 was in
her mid-20s and lived about 20 minutes away with her husband. Veronica was working as a sales
associate at a local retailer about a half a mile from her home. This is at Dempsey's Super Value.
She had multiple job duties. This included cashier, manning the movie rental counter, and selling lottery
tickets. Many people in town knew her as the friendly movie clerk and although she was not a gregarious person she was
described as bubbly. When she wasn't working, Veronica spent a lot of her time with her boyfriend
Jeff Verwica. A 22-year-old computer science junior college student whom she met about six
months earlier. The two were serious and had discussed marriage although they were not officially
engaged at this time. Now, we relied heavily on the terrific series of articles in this case by Jim
Haggerty that was released earlier in 2020 on the Rockford Advocate website. We spoke with Jim as well and we'll be
sharing some information that he gave to us. Now, let's get into the events, Captain,
of September 19th and 20th of 1990. This weekend ahead of us marks 30 years that this young woman has
been missing. And foul play is absolutely suspected in this case. Now, the day in question will
be Wednesday, September 19th, 1990. Mhm. Veronica went to work at 5:00 p.m. for her evening shift as usual. This is the
cashier gig at Dempsey's Super Value. She has worked there for several years. Veronica recently had a bad case of mono
and she wasn't feeling very well. Have you ever had mono? I have not. It's awful. It just
you feel completely drained. Like you don't even feel sick so much or at least I didn't.
I just felt completely exhausted. Well, they ruined the New York Jets football season last year. Mhm. So, you know it's
serious. So, she's not feeling well. She's still taking medication for mono at this time.
Around 9:30 Veronica's sister Carolyn came into the store and talked to her sister about a doctor's appointment that
Veronica had the next day. This, of course, to address the mono that she's still fighting off. Mhm.
Then Veronica called Jeff, her boyfriend. She rented a movie for herself from the
store's catalog of VHS films. This was the Bette Midler movie Stella. Old school VHS.
Mhm. Be kind, rewind. Mhm. When her shift ended at closing time, she walked out of the store in the
company of another sales associate. This was her friend Sharon Van Diver. And what time was this at?
It was late. This was at 1:07 a.m. So, Veronica told Sharon that she was very tired and she was going to go home
and go to bed. She intended to watch the movie the following day. Mhm. The two walked to their cars parked on the west
side of the parking lot. They warmed up their vehicles, defrosted the windshields,
and then Veronica got into her blue Chevy Corsica and drove north out of the parking lot onto
Meriden Street and headed east toward her home on Monroe Street, which again is just half a mile away.
The next morning, Veronica's brother Todd woke up for school. Todd was having some car troubles, so
Veronica was supposed to drive him to school that day. Right. She wasn't downstairs yet, but he saw her car in
the garage, so he just simply waited. But, she never came down. When he went and looked in her room, he
realized that she was not there. So, now he's like, she's not home at all. He called his father at work at the
firehouse, and his father told him, you know, just drive your own car to school and I'll come and pick up this vehicle
later and I'll do some work on it. So, Todd leaves the house. He goes off to school.
Paul, father, arrived home from his overnight shift around 8:00 a.m. that morning.
He assumed that Veronica was out to breakfast with her boyfriend Jeff and simply forgot about driving her brother
to school that day. Again, it's not a regular activity for her to drive him. Maybe it just slipped her mind. Well,
and like you said, Jeff is this is a serious relationship, so the family knows who Jeff is and and
everybody is aware of of who he is. So, Paul leaves the house again. Some reports say that he went off
to his part-time job. Some say that he went to run some errands. Regardless of why he leaves the house,
when he returned to the house, the phone rang and it was the doctor's office. They're
calling to say that Veronica didn't show up for her follow-up appointment that was scheduled for that day.
Then the phone rang again. Now, this time it's Jeff, the boyfriend. He's asking for Veronica. Is Veronica there?
They were supposed to go out to lunch, he said. Paul told him that Veronica was not home
and actually asked Jeff, had he seen her anytime since she left for work the previous day. Mhm. He said, no, I had
not. Starting to worry, Paul calls his wife, who's at work. He asked her if she had seen Veronica that morning and she
says, of course she had not as well. All right, so we are in a weird spot here, Captain.
Everything appears to be as it should with the exception that no one knows where Veronica is. Mhm. Her car is
parked in its usual spot in the Bloomhurst garage. It also appears that the vehicle arrived
at or about the expected time. But, anywhere that Veronica should be, she is not. She wasn't home to drive her
little brother to school that day. She missed a doctor's appointment and she was not out with her boyfriend. I heard
it reported multiple times. Some people say that it was a follow-up doctor's appointment and some
people were saying that because she didn't feel like the mono was getting better or she
wasn't feeling better that it was a extra appointment. And so, that makes it even more important. Sometimes you don't
follow up on an appointment cuz you're feeling better. The other thing to hear is the garage
setting. Right. There's multiple different kinds of garages. Your house now has a attached garage.
Your house before had a detached garage, but this this is a detached garage and it's I believe roughly about 30 ft away
from the house. So, it's it's quite a distance between the garage and the house.
Well, and it looks to me too that you would actually, if you were driving and wanted to park in the garage, that you
would enter the garage from an alley that is behind the house and behind the garage. Right, that makes sense. That
you wouldn't pull that that there may not even be a driveway to get you from Monroe Street to the garage.
Mhm. So, with Veronica's car in the garage, this means that she or at least the vehicle
arrived home after her shift at the SuperValu the night before. Her mom woke up around 2:00 a.m. and
from the kitchen window, she could see Veronica's car was in the garage. The garage door was shut and the
lights were off. This was the family's kind of signal, you know, that everyone was home and
safe at the house for the night. The last person in would close down the garage and Betty,
it was routine for her to get up in the night to check that the garage was closed down. Well, and again, like we
said, it's a very small community. Her father works for the fire department within the area. I think one of their
neighbors was a police officer. It's a very safe area. So, since there's no sign of Veronica, Paul, he gets in his
vehicle. He drives out to the sister's house, out to Carolyn's house, again about 20 minutes away.
And this was just to see if Veronica was there. She was very close with Carolyn and there was some reason to believe
that she intended to go to her sister's house that day to talk about maybe wedding arrangements or wedding dresses.
But, Veronica was not there as well. When Paul showed up at the house, Carolyn was immediately alarmed.
She says, you know, her father was normally a calm and practical dude, but on this day, he
was quite panicked and this set her off. So, Carolyn had no idea where her sister
was and she followed her dad back to the Bloomhurst home. When they arrived, they were surprised to see Veronica's
boyfriend Jeff as well as their neighbor John. John lives across the alley behind the
Bloomhurst home. He is, as the Captain was saying, a Mendota police officer. Jeff called 911 around noon to report
Veronica missing. With the arrival of the police, people started to gather at the
Bloomhurst home and searchers fanned out to scour the neighborhood. We aren't going to get into the whole
scope of the search, but the PJ Star summed it up nicely by saying, quote, "Police quickly began searching the town
and questioning people. Two hours after the first report, planes began to crisscross the sky for a glimpse of a
missing woman." That day and several after, just about every fire and police department within
30 miles of Mendota assisted in the search. Hundreds of civilians scoured the area hour after hour, day after day,
not stopping even in the rain. Dive teams jumped into lakes and ponds to seek clues."
End quote. Now, remember Paul was a firefighter, so you can imagine that we're going to have an all hands on
deck type of response. Right. And that her neighbor was a police officer. Yeah, the police chief stated
that he could not even begin to guess how many man-hours were expended on the search,
Mhm. which extended to a 15-to-20-mile radius of Mendota. And yet, there was no sign anywhere of
this young woman. No sign anywhere of Veronica. It seems that she has just simply
vanished. Now, at the house, it was Veronica's sister Carolyn that thought someone
should check the trunk of Veronica's car. We got the car in the garage. No one's thought to check the trunk.
And this is really we've talked about this with many cases that we've covered. When a person goes missing,
the vehicle is located, this is always a very traumatic experience for whomever is the one that
is in charge of opening up the trunk. And a lot of times we tell these stories and it's a family member
that's opening up the trunk of the vehicle and it's something that they never ever forget. Right. Now, Carolyn
was very careful to open the trunk very very slowly. All that was in there, thankfully,
was Veronica's overnight bag, which I guess was packed and still in there from the weekend before.
Mhm. Now, of course, police looked at whether Veronica had actually made it home that night.
As we said, her car was found in the usual spot in the unattached garage about 30 ft from the house. Right. Betty
usually left the garage lights on for her, so Veronica would not come home to a dark garage. Again, their routine was
that Veronica would shut off the light, close down the garage before entering the house.
Sure enough, the garage door was shut. The garage light was off. There was no sign whatsoever that anything was amiss.
No sign of a struggle. Nothing was dropped. You know, there's not items laying on the ground that
Right. We don't have blood on the garage floor. Yeah, or any personal items that would
be lying on on the ground out there. But so we we have evidence that the car made
it into the garage. The light got turned off. The door got shut. We have evidence of that. We don't have
evidence that it was her. Other than her co-worker saying that I walked her out to her car.
Probably actually saw her drive off for a second. Yeah, and I say that that it appears that
everything was as it should be because we don't have a whole lot of time between when
the co-worker said that they left from their shift to the time where her mother would routinely wake up to make
sure that the garage, you know, that Veronica's vehicle was in the garage and the garage was shut down.
It was 1:07 according to the co-worker. And according to her mother Betty, Betty
would usually get up around 2:00 a.m. to look out the kitchen window to check and
see if the garage was shut down. Yeah, so nothing seems amiss except for we have a missing woman. Correct.
Correct. So police did begin to suspect that Veronica did drive home, did in fact drive home and then immediately
left with somebody else. This, of course, is because not only was she missing, but some of her personal
items were missing that seemed to indicate that she had taken them with her. Mhm. These items were her purse and
car keys. The items that she was wearing, of course, were were gone as well. And this included her boyfriend's class
ring, her earrings, a watch, her glasses, and her red work smock. Also missing was the VHS movie that she
had rented at work and brought with her when she left that night. So Captain, you're starting to see a
picture here of if in fact she did drive home, she gets out of her vehicle, shuts
off the light, closes the garage door. She's going to walk from the garage to her her house. Yeah, roughly 30 ft away.
And it's almost like everything you would expect for her to be carrying into the home with her
that night Mhm. is also the things that are missing along with her. Yeah, so then the question becomes
is she abducted? Does somebody pull up that she knows and says, "Hey, come with me real quick."
And she gets in their car. What happened? Right. And I've not been able to find anything
in regards to if the vehicle was locked or not or if the garage was locked or if it was common for
either to be locked. It It's likely not important, but I was looking for those details. Yeah, but to be very clear,
yes, there was a search that happened. We have planes flying overhead. We have people searching
countless man-hours, 15-mi radius. They didn't do a lot of searching of the actual property
of of the house, of the garage, of her car. The idea to even search her trunk was
not the police officer's idea, came from the family. Well, and I think the problem here is
very similar to what we were talking about yesterday on Off the Record. It's what do you think that you're
searching for can often dictate the way that a search is is that you go about the search.
And it feels to me like in in these very crucial hours, you know, we can sit here 30 years later
and go, "Well, why didn't they do this? Why didn't they do that?" But in these very crucial hours,
they think that they're just looking for a person who who is missing for any number of reasons.
They're not fully aware, maybe they're not equipped. I don't know the answer to that, Captain, but
for whatever reason, they don't think that they should be looking for clues uh or evidence for for foul play at the
time. They're simply looking for Veronica. Right. The Bloomquist family also believed that Veronica must have
left with somebody she knew. Her paw told the Register Star that if his daughter was taken against her will,
it was by somebody she knew. Otherwise, there would have been some noise or some
sign of a struggle in the garage. She's always been, he says, very naive and overly trusting. I think what it's kind
of a weird statement that he gives there, but I think what he's saying is even if she was taken against her will,
she may not have realized that at the time and very likely willingly got into someone's vehicle or walked away with
somebody that night. Uh dogs were brought in to track Veronica's scent from the garage.
This is a good move. After sniffing an item of of her clothing, the dogs left the garage and
went into the alley behind the garage. And after about 200 ft, the dogs seemed to become confused and simply lost the
trail or whatever trail they were following. The obvious conclusion was that Veronica
may have gotten into a vehicle that was waiting for her in the alley. When she disappeared, Veronica was 5 ft
tall, 100 lb, with braces and hazel eyes. She was wearing a mint green sweater with a white tank top,
cream-colored pants, and wire-rimmed glasses. All right. We are back. Cheers. Cheers,
cheers, cheers. Police labeled Veronica a missing person. Early reports state that police did not believe that there
was foul play, but it was clear to everyone who knew her that something bad happened to Veronica.
Well, we see this a lot with police where they go, "Hey, she's an adult. She probably took off. Maybe she's with
another guy and doesn't want to tell her boyfriend about it. Maybe she took off with some friends. Maybe she took off to
start a new life." Yeah, they did the typical thing. They thought that she left on her own. You
know, she is 21 in their defense. There is no sign of a struggle. So they awaited They waited about 24 hours to
take an official report. But again, her friends and family are saying she didn't
run away. That this is totally out of character for her. And there is some evidence of this, right? She did not
take any additional clothing or any sentimental items. Right. It's just the things that she would have
carried from the vehicle to her home, her and those items are the only things that are gone.
She rented a movie just the night before. That seems like a strange thing to do if
you're planning on taking off the next day. Mhm. She had a doctor's appointment later
that day. And remember, she wasn't feeling very well the morning before. In fact, she considered calling in sick to
her shift at Super Value. Plus her family, they're on record. They said that she only had $10 cash on her at the
time and that she left her paycheck at work uncashed. Well, she lived kind of a simple life. She struggled through
school, so going to college was not really an option that she put into her own mind. And so really her plans were,
"I like my job. Yes, it's kind of strange hours, but it gives me a bunch of time during the day to do my own
thing." And really the plan for her or her plan for herself was, "I'm going to get married and become a mom, and and
that's what I'm going to do." And I'm pretty sure that in regards to her job with the those weird hours,
I'm kind of guessing here, Captain, cuz I don't know for certain, but I'm thinking that she probably shut down the
store. That that store must close maybe at the 1:00 hour, and that's why her co-worker's pretty firm on that 1:07
a.m. time of having last seen her. Mhm. Again, $10 cash on her at the time, she had a paycheck at work that was left
uncashed. If she intended to run away, she would have very likely needed some money, some
resources. You would wait to get that check and cash it. Well, let's stay on that check for a second because it's
reported multiple ways. Some people make it seem as if there was a check left in
the car. Like she had a work check in the car. That was what I believe is not the case,
that she had actually a check that she was going to be receiving that the next Friday in a couple days.
And that's the check that people are talking about her not having. Correct. The information I have says that the
check her paycheck was at her work. She also never used any credit card or accessed her bank account after the
night that she went missing. Finally, Veronica's mom, Betty, was battling cancer at the time. Of course,
Veronica was very concerned about her mother and made sure to check in with her all of the time. So, the
idea that Veronica would just leave was really unthinkable to her family and friends.
A co-worker of hers says at the Super Value who says she was the closest of the employees to Veronica
said that she would have told someone if she was planning to leave or to go somewhere as she often spoke and told
everybody at work about her upcoming plans. I'm reading a little between the lines
here, Captain. I don't know that I believe that this statement from the co-worker means so much that she would
have told us if she was planning on running away and starting a new life somewhere.
I think it also hints to the idea of if she had something going on that day to meet with a specific person or go to a
specific place she probably would have blabbed about it to her co-workers at some point leading up to that event.
Right. And what we have pretty much on record is her telling her co-workers, "Hey, I'm going to go home. I'm not even
going to watch this movie. I'm just going straight to bed." So, no talks about meeting up with her
boyfriend afterwards or meeting up with a friend after work. She seems like an open book, doesn't she? Where we have
both co-workers and her family that seems to say that they were very aware of what her plans would have been for
the following day. Well, and I think a lot of people make something out of the fact that she was
adopted and maybe now that she's a little bit older, maybe she would want to know where she came from. But all
indications point to she was kind of curious, but not that curious and felt that it would be almost like a insult to
her family that that gave her this life that she enjoyed. Yeah, her adopted family is her family. And I believe that
was her own words. You know, this this is my family. Whether it means now or whatever, however she felt about it
she didn't feel the need to seek out the people that gave her up. She was living
with who she wanted to live with. She was very proud that her parents adoptive parents were the ones that raised her.
She's in a unique situation, too, Captain, where her sister her older sister was adopted as well
Mhm. from another family. So, if she had any weird or mixed feelings about being
adopted, she had someone sharing the exact same experience as her to go to and bounce things off of. Yeah. Police
eventually came around to the belief of foul play in connection with Veronica's disappearance
and their thoughts this is not that it was not a random abduction. So, per the Register Star that we quoted
earlier, Chief Ken Hahn said police {quote} "Doubt that it's a random abduction in in part because the Super
Value store where she worked and her home are off the beaten path. Mendota is also small enough that everybody knows
everybody Mhm. and any strange face or vehicle would likely be noticed." End quote. Now, I know this is back in what,
1990? Yeah. But answer me this question if you could. As many cases as we've gone
through, especially missing person cases, if you're in law enforcement, how are you handling this? Because to me,
it's almost like they use this, "Well, we think that she just took off on her own and she'll turn back up." It's
almost like they're which I know that happens a lot of times. I know that there's thousands of missing person
cases and within 24 hours, 48 hours that person's found and they're okay, no big deal.
But it seems to me that it's not the responsible thing to do. That it's just it's
it would be better to you know, let's wait and see and not put out any information at all. Mhm.
I think it's a tricky situation because she is an adult. I think had this been a younger person
that we wouldn't be in the same boat that we are now. Right. I do also believe that there's likely in many of
these cases things behind the scenes that we are unaware of. Simple things of okay, well, we have our
our shift roll call for police uh first first shift, second shift, third shift of of this day. Mhm. Oh, one
of the notes is we have a missing young woman. She's 21 years old. Here's a description of her and a picture even
though we've not gone official with it at this point. Yeah, it's it's weird because when you look at these small
towns, especially the ones that are safe and have very low crime rates, you go, "Well, what else could they be working
on?" Just make this priority number one. Yeah, but it's also strange, too, because it's like maybe their their
words and their actions don't necessarily match up where they go, "Well, look, we think that she went
missing on her own or she went went to go hang out with somebody." But we're also all hands on deck and a
bunch of people searching and we have a 15-to-20-mile radius of a search. That seems a little
take that's that's a little more taking it serious than the words of "Oh, we think she'll turn up."
Yeah, I I think we're probably putting those in the wrong chronological order. It's obvious to me that it would be oh,
she might turn up and then it's all hands on deck for a search later. okay. So, who took Veronica? Now that
the police have come around to the idea that she's not just gone, that she's not
just where she shouldn't be or was expected to be that someone took her and their words are, "We believe there's
foul play in connection with her disappearance and we also do not believe that this is a random abduction." I
think they're probably pretty spot-on with both of those thoughts and theories. Now, as we've seen in so many
cases, the investigation is going to start with those closest to her. So, two days after Veronica was last seen,
police sat down with Veronica's boyfriend, Jeff. As we saw, Jeff showed up at the
Bloomhurst home very quickly after learning from Paul that she was missing, right?
He hears from Paul and then Paul goes off on some errands, out to the sister's house, comes back to
the home with the sister and now Jeff, the boyfriend, is at their house with the police officer
and now it's kind of becoming a thing that Veronica is missing. Right. So, him being there, I guess is understandable.
Right? He would go over there to look for Well, if they're supposed to have lunch that day. Well,
he goes over there cuz he now believes she's missing. Not just to pick her up for lunch. He's
already gone from the father. what I'm saying is he was had plans with her and she didn't
show up and now he's worried where she's at. He and Veronica were serious at this time. He loved her
by all accounts. He was concerned when she didn't turn up. But then he called 911 rather than
leaving it to her parents. I think some people might think that this is weird. I'm totally fine with
this. Right? Because we've sat here before in these same chairs and said, "Why isn't anyone taking action?" Mhm.
So, we're not going to uh punish somebody for being the first to take action. Yeah, and I I don't fault him
not all for that. You wonder was that uh a discussion that Jeff and Veronica's father had.
Right? Like you wonder because they there was a conversation before Jeff shows up at the house. Did Jeff tell the
father, "Hey, I think we should call 911 or I think we should report this to the
police" and the father says, being the firefighter, being the guy that is said by his own family to be always
calm, level-headed did the father say, "No, it's it's early. Give it a give it an hour. Give
it a couple hours. Let me go to her sister's house." You know, was Jeff was he panicked from from the get-go? Well,
like I said, I mean, it just throws another wrench in the whole case because like we said, she had some learning
disabilities. She struggled just to get through school. I mean, they had to get her special help just get her
through school. So you would assume that Jeff would know her almost better than anybody at this time.
You know, especially when you're 21, with your parents. So, I just wonder if he really
understood her capabilities within side the world. When we talk about how her father says
that she had this sense of naivete, how much does Jeff understand this? But he would have a
better sense of who she was, what she was capable of doing and like I said, this this the house being 30 ft from the
garage it leans to the idea that you could abduct somebody but it seems like the idea that somebody would have to
know her and on some capacity to get her into that car. Agreed, and I think you could look at
this thing with Jeff of calling 911 one of two ways. With him arriving at the house and
calling 911 and and throwing himself into the investigation, it's either one of two things. Either he is responsible
for why Veronica is missing right and he's manipulating things to make it look like he's concerned or to me I I think
you could go either way with it, but you could also lean that this is further confirmation
by somebody else outside of the house that she would not have just went off somewhere. But this Jeff guy is a unique
character. He seems to have some social immaturity. I guess would be the way I'd put it.
Well, the best communicator with people. Kind of a nerdy guy, smart guy. Everybody says
he's pretty bright. Well, there's there's what we have is we have several people that say Jeff
started to act inappropriately early on in this case. So first of all, they said that he would
not leave the Bloomquist home. So he showed up there. He stayed there for 3 days sleeping on the couch.
And the father Paul said quote, he was constantly asking how the investigation was going. Yeah, almost like he was a
little too concerned. Yeah, Paul says that he Jeff began answering the phone as if he was a
person that lived there. Right. Trying to control the situation. Okay. And Paul told the media that he
would not meaning Jeff would not leave our house. We didn't think much of it at first, but then we would just he would
just lay on our couch in the fetal position. Paul says, I think he went home to shower, but other than that he was at
our house all of the time. Mhm. Every time the phone rang, he would try to answer it. We thought that was very
strange. Again, it's it's one of two things. The same thing we just talked about.
It's either him trying to control the investigation knowing what the police know, knowing what the family knows,
or he's just really freaking concerned. Well, not only is he concerned, but he just doesn't think other people are
capable. So he don't need to answer the phone, I'll answer the phone. You know what I mean? Uh I I don't know that I we
would I would take it that far. Um to to worry that people aren't capable. Paul's a firefighter. I I don't
want to try to think of what what Jeff was thinking. Just judging his actions, it shows me
it's either one of those two things. He's trying to know be the first to know about the investigation to cover his own
ass right or he wants to be the first to know that everything's okay and that the
woman that he loves is alive and well. Right, but that's why I'm saying about the
maybe he there was a sense of him not thinking other people were going to do as much as he could do for the
investigation. That's why he has to plant himself in their house. That's why he has to
answer every phone call. That's why he has to talk to the police about every detail. That's why he's getting
arguments with people about details and and conversations about her going missing.
According to the Rockford Advocate series on the case again by Jim Haggerty, Jeff, the boyfriend approached the
producers of the radio broadcast of the Mendota high school football game that took place on Friday, September 21st.
This is the day after Veronica came up missing. Jeff asked them to play something for
him during the halftime show. It was a recording that Jeff gave them to play that had Jeff reading some words
and he says on this recording quote, I am making this recording for you because me and all your friends and family miss
you. We want you back. I don't care what the problem is. I don't care where you are or whoever
you're with. I won't be happy until you're back with me. I hope I haven't pushed you or anything.
I don't think I have. I want you to know I love you. Everybody else loves you and we're waiting to hear
from you cuz we got some sad people. And wherever you are and whatever you are doing, call the Mendota Police
Department at and he gives their number cuz I love you. I know you love me. So I brought this tape for you to hear
cuz it's going to be strange to a lot of people out there, but you know this song
and it's for you. And you know I always think of you when I hear it. Veronica, I love you.
This was followed by a polka song. Unfortunately, I do not have the the name of the the song.
It's followed by a polka song. Well, polka's big in that portion of the country.
Makes me think of you every time I hear it. Well, so a lot of people thought that
this was totally strange, right? Maybe this guy is one of those just a dramatic person who
is gushing publicly about his feelings and it might be overreacting in the eyes of some.
But airing this public statement basically very very shortly after Veronica went
missing, I do think it's a little odd. Yeah. A little odd. And a quick background investigation on
Jeff revealed some concerning information. Um according to people who knew him at
work, he had a temper and was the type to quickly fly off the handle over very small things like a machine
malfunctioning or something not working properly. Didn't he have a accident at some point? He did. Further, a co-worker
of his who was a long-time friend of Veronica's told police that Jeff had become
possessive and controlling of Veronica and would get mad at her if she was late for something or busy when he wanted to
talk to her. Veronica told this friend on several occasions quote, he's mad at me and I
don't know why. This friend believed Veronica was afraid of Jeff's angry outburst.
Another co-worker of Jeff's, this is a woman, told police that he had called her down to their workplace one night
after Veronica vanished, but didn't want to talk about work stuff. Creeped out, she left, but Jeff followed
her home and demanded to know whether she thought that he had done something to Veronica.
He even said to her quote, this is according to this woman, I don't know why anyone would think I would have
anything to do with her disappearance or murder. The whole incident left her feeling very
unsettled because Jeff and I have a problem with this, too. Jeff was the first person to mention the
word murder in regards to Veronica. To everyone else, she was just missing. Now,
Jeff, her boyfriend, he is saying the word murder. Kind of want to argue with you on that a little bit because
isn't that kind of similar to the 911 call? Everybody's looking for her and you go,
well, I don't think that's enough. Going to call 911. Hey, I think she's just missing.
Right? That's a level of concern. And he then ramps up that level with of concern by saying,
uh I don't I'm not so for sure that it's just a missing that she's just missing.
I think there's something more nefarious here. Yeah, I I don't know. To me it's similar
in where one may talk about somebody in the past tense and be the only one to know that they're
no longer with us. True. True. After his daughter went missing, Paul Bloomquist recalled that one weekend
when Veronica had gone to a polka festival with Jeff, she had come home with bruises on her
face. She told her parents that she walked into a speaker. So now there's a question to
Veronica's parents, was Veronica covering up for something that actually happened,
something bad that happened on that trip and maybe Jeff was to blame. Maybe was she covering for Jeff.
It's worth mentioning that this character assassination of Jeff was not it doesn't seem to be universal.
Veronica's parents, Paul and Betty Bloomquist and sister Carolyn and her husband, they all liked Jeff.
They have said that he was I think you used this word, a little odd, a little quirky, but he He was a
horse of a different color. Well, they all said that it was clear that the two of them were in love. That
that he very much loved Veronica and she loved him and things seemed great between the two of them.
Of course, people pointed fingers at him because he was the boyfriend, but there wasn't much to go on, right? Even
after years passed. Jeff moved away and started his own family. But in 2004, 14 years after Veronica
vanished, the Mendota Police Department officially re-examined her case. And in the course of doing so, they did
some re-interviewing of people and reviewing of the evidence. This examination also included some new
interviews. For example, Veronica's closest friend Tracy was interviewed for the first time
14 years later, for the first time. And then they gave the case file to the Bloomer family.
And what it contained about Jeff, the boyfriend, was enough to convince some family members,
particularly Todd, Veronica's little brother, that Jeff had killed Veronica. And when the case file was leaked to the
public, it had the effect of trying Jeff Veverka in the court of public opinion. So, what
do we have as evidence that points the finger in a negative light towards Jeff? Well, it's the case file. So, let's go
through what this case file said. On September 23rd, 1990, this is 2 days after Veronica went missing. Police sat
down with Jeff, who was at the time a composing room worker at the local paper, the Sterling Daily Gazette, as
well as a community college student. The investigator who interviewed him, supposedly over a long period of time,
there varying reports on this, and you're going to have that when you have a case that's 30 years old.
Most reports say that it was about 6 hours, maybe a little longer. The officer, the investigator who
interviewed Jeff, then wrote up a summary of what he says Jeff said in this interview.
And what has been purported to have been said by him is very suspicious. Now, this investigator who wrote up this
report was Mendota Police Department investigator John P. I'm going to go with P for his last
name. That's P period. Who was in charge of the investigation. Yes, this is the same John who was
neighbors with the Bloomer. His house was directly across the alley that was in the back of their home.
Here is what the report says Jeff told police. Keep in mind that this is all as described by the interviewer John, not
verbatim and not taken from any transcript or recording. Either of those things apparently do not exist
in this case. This is all as described in Jim Haggerty's series about the case. He has personally reviewed the police
report containing this information about Jeff. So, in this interview, it said that Jeff
said that on September 19th, the last day that Veronica was seen, he drove his father's van to Veronica's house
and then used Veronica's car to run some errands. He later returned to the car to the Bloomer's home.
That's a confusing story in its in itself. I don't know why he wouldn't just use
the van to go about his errands, but this is what police are saying he said. Then around 4:40, he was in his van and
he saw Veronica leaving for work. So, he drove to Supervalu, waited for her to park. When Veronica pulled into
the lot, he said he inched the vehicle, his van, up next to her vehicle, and then the two kind of, you know, gave an
I I love you type signal to one another. He then drove home to his house in Sublette, Illinois,
and didn't talk to Veronica until 9:30 p.m. She called him from work, he said, and they discussed having lunch after
the doctor's appointment the next day. He said he then watched a movie and fell asleep at 1:30 a.m.
Then, according to Mendota Police investigator John, his report says Jeff gave reasons why he
might be involved in Veronica being missing. And he also gave us ways he thinks it might have happened.
Per the report, Jeff blurted out that maybe someone she knew in a van, no, a truck, drove up by her garage, and she
got into the vehicle with them. Maybe they got to fooling around, and maybe she said no, and she was pushed or
shoved and got hurt real bad. And then he dumped her somewhere where no one would find her.
Also, it's possible that when she got off work, she took her red smock and placed it over the passenger's front
seat, and someone may have taken it and put it around her head and did something. And the smock was not found.
Correct. He went on with another hypothetical, saying, "Maybe I thought when she told
me on the phone that night her sister was taking her to a doctor's appointment that she was pregnant, and I drove down
there, pulled up in the alley, and she got into a van, no, a truck, and we argued.
And maybe I was afraid of what our parents would say, and I did something. I don't remember. Maybe I was the person
who picked her up, and I thought she was pregnant, and I thought she was pregnant, and I lost my mind." Yeah, but
this is after how many hours of questioning? The least amount of time that I found in the reports say 6 hours.
Yeah, so it's anywhere from 6 to I think I've seen up to 24 hours of them questioning this guy. Yes. Which
that would be a long time. I don't know how they You would think the officer would need to take some kind of break.
The officer started confessing. Uh I worked I Several times I worked over 30-hour shift. If you want somebody to
talk, put me in a room with them. We'll go at it for 2 or 3 days. Yeah, I'm ready.
Nonstop. The other big problem and issue I have with this with this information is how
it comes to us. This is not a audio tape of Jeff being interviewed by police. This is not a video tape of Jeff being
interviewed by police. This is not a transcript of that interview with questions and answers, questions and
answers. Well, it is a transcript. No, it's not. It's What it is is it's the officer's
He is telling He is reporting later Yeah, it's a transcription of his him remembering.
Well, right, but we can get into semantics if you like, but it's it's not the proper use of the
word transcript. What I'm saying is this is not even The officer didn't sit down
and write down this stuff in the interview itself. This is a couple days go by, and he's told his superiors that
Jeff said some incriminating stuff when I interviewed him for hours the other day. Oh, what did he say?
Oh, he said this and this and this. Well, could you write that down for us in some kind of report? Right. And what
I mean by that is you could you could take that any way that you want. There's a lot of nuances that are missed and
left to speculation in this situation. This officer is reporting this days later. Did Jeff say that he did this, or
did Jeff say that someone could have done this? Well, that's two very different things.
Mhm. And we have this officer writing it down days later? Also, we just we're just we have the
only this officer to report this. We don't have anybody else backing this up. We have no, again, no recording of
any of this, nobody else sitting in the room writing down the same notes. All right, but this reminds me, again,
Shaker Heights a little bit, right? West Memphis 3? Well, Shaker Heights, they recorded the
interviews, and they had multiple officers in the interview room at the same time. Right.
But again, with this case, we don't know, but I I don't like the question of, "Well, how do you think it would
have been done?" You know, or like when in West Memphis 3, when Damien goes, "Well, the
enjoyed it, or I must have felt some power or something, right?" He's speculating on something. And then
people turn that into, "Well, he must have done this, because why would he say that?" Well, cuz you're asking him to
speculate. Those are pretty common questions that are that are that are in these interviews.
Again, I believe to me, it's the nuances that are missed, because you didn't bother to You didn't transcribe the
interview. You didn't record the interview. Then now, 48 hours later, where the officer says to Jeff,
"Well, what was she going to the doctor for?" "Well, she had mono." "Could she have been pregnant?" Jeff says, "I don't
know." And then later, the report says, "Jeff said she might have gone to the doctor because she was pregnant." Those
are two completely different things using about the same words. Right. It's it's way too messy, I think, to look at
this and go, "Well, Jeff's statements are very incriminating." No, the practice in which that you obtained that
information seems to be extremely flawed. If you have thoughts on this case, go to
truecrimegarage.com, check out our blog. We're interested in hearing your thoughts. And until
tomorrow. Be good, be kind, and don't litter.

Veronica Blumhorst /// Part 1 /// 425

Part 1 of 2 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

This week we feature the case of a strange disappearance of a young woman back from 1990 in Mendota, Illinois. As of this week it will be 30 years since anyone has seen Veronica Blumhorst. For years Veronica’s little brother Todd kept the investigation organized and ongoing. Recently new information has come out that we could possibly be dealing with a cover up. Beer of the Week - True Believer by Twin Elephant Brewing Garage Grade - 4 and a quarter bottle caps

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Brief Summary

Veronica Blumehurst vanished in 1990 after work, raising suspicions about her boyfriend amid a flawed investigation.

Key points

The Mysterious Disappearance. Veronica Jill Blumehurst goes missing after a late shift at work, leaving her family in turmoil.
A Community Unites. The search for Veronica mobilizes the entire community, with hundreds joining the effort.
Veronica's Disappearance. Veronica's family believes she was taken against her will, likely by someone she knew.
Police Investigation. Initial police response to Veronica's case was slow, believing she may have left on her own.
Jeff's Emotional Plea. Jeff records a heartfelt message for Veronica, expressing his love and concern for her safety.
Jeff's Outburst. Jeff's angry outburst raises suspicions about his involvement in Veronica's disappearance.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She had magic shoes.

Describing Veronica's childhood challenges and triumphs.

5:44WatchNov 11, 2022

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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