NEW LENOX, Ill. (WBBM Newsradio) – Fifty years after a Downers Grove teenager was killed, Will County investigators are renewing their appeal for information, saying even details previously shared with authorities could help solve the case.
Jennifer “Jenny” Lynn Springman, 17, was last seen around 12:30 a.m. Oct. 3, 1976, at a small gathering in an off-campus apartment. She had recently graduated from high school and begun her freshman year at George Williams College in Downers Grove.
Her body was discovered that afternoon near the bank of Hickory Creek beneath an Interstate 80 bridge near Route 30 in New Lenox Township. An autopsy determined she had suffered blunt-force injuries to her head and died of manual strangulation, according to the Will County Sheriff’s Office.
Springman was less than two weeks from her 18th birthday.
In early 1977, investigators received information from an unidentified woman who said she witnessed a violent encounter between a man and a woman near a lone vehicle that morning. The witness said she was passing through Route 30 beneath the Interstate 80 overpass.
Her descriptions of the man and vehicle were consistent with information investigators had developed about a person of interest and an associated vehicle, the sheriff’s office said. An unrelated witness interviewed in 1977 corroborated parts of her account.
The killing remains unsolved.
“Will County investigators recognize that memories from 50 years ago may be incomplete or have faded over time,” the sheriff’s office said. “Information that may have seemed insignificant at the time, however, could have renewed relevance today.”
Detectives are asking anyone with information to come forward, regardless of when they learned it or whether they previously reported it to law enforcement.
Anyone with information can contact Detective Sgt. Mike Earnest at 815-727-8574, ext. 4943, or mearnest@willcosheriff.org.
Anonymous tips can be submitted through the Will County Sheriff’s Office website or mobile app. Tipsters can also contact Will County Crime Stoppers at 800-323-6734.
