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Who Killed Kathy Lombardo?
The 24-year-old was murdered in 1984 and no one was ever caught. The family is hoping that could be set to change.
True crime writer Michelle McNamara has become renowned the world over for her posthumous bestseller I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, which documents her obsession with unmasking the man behind the ‘Golden State Killer’ moniker she herself coined.
However, Michelle touched on another case in the book that remains unsolved — and now the victim’s family hope that by bringing it further into the limelight, Kathleen Lombardo’s murderer could finally be unveiled too.
A summer walk turns deadly
It was 7:30 PM on August 1st 1984, and 24-year-old Kathleen Lombardo was about to embark on her customary walk or jog around the neighbourhood of Oak Park near Chicago, Illinois. She typically headed out via Euclid Avenue, past the Oak Park Green Line Station and then onto Pleasant Street before returning back to the home she shared with her parents and siblings.
A former honours student at Trinity High School and currently working as a retail clerk, her brother Christopher told the Chicago Tribune he remembers her as “a sweet person, quiet, a very good student, very honest”.