{"id":496437,"date":"2026-10-15T01:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T01:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/496437\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T01:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T01:44:11","slug":"illinois-tammy-j-zywicki-case-could-have-link-to-san-diego-county-nbc-7-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/496437\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois\u2019 Tammy J. Zywicki case could have link to San Diego County \u2013 NBC 7 San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authorities investigating a decades-old cold case from Chicago have recently developed new leads that point them in the direction of San Diego County. <\/p>\n

Tammy J. Zywicki was 21-years-old when she was kidnapped and murdered 34 years ago. Zywicki disappeared while traveling from Illinois to her college in Iowa, NBC Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Illinois State Police and the FBI said they are still investigating her case, with 200 pieces of evidence being examined and new leads explored. <\/p>\n

Recently, that evidence has led them to a person of interest with ties to ties to several California cities, including Oceanside, Vista, Pomona, San Bernadino and Fontana, according to NBC Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times. <\/p>\n

Here’s what to know about the decades-old case and its new link to San Diego County: <\/p>\n

What is the Tammy Zywicki case? <\/p>\n

Zywicki went missing Aug. 23, 1992, while traveling back to her college in Grinnell, Iowa, according to the FBI.<\/p>\n

She had been dropping her brother off at Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois, and was returning to her school when her car broke down. She was last seen that same day between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. in LaSalle County, police said. <\/p>\n

Her car \u2014 a 1985 White Pontiac T1000 \u2014 was found abandoned by an Illinois trooper and was towed the following day, Aug. 24. That night, Zywicki\u2019s mom reported her 21-year-old daughter missing, the FBI said.<\/p>\n

About a week later, on Sept. 1, Zywicki was found stabbed to death in a ditch on I-44 in rural southwestern Missouri, with evidence of stabbing and sexual assault.<\/p>\n

A possible suspect<\/p>\n

A semi-truck was seen near Zywicki\u2019s car around the time she disappeared, according to state police. The truck driver was described as a white man between 35 and 40 years old and over 6 feet tall with dark hair, NBC Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2020, an Iowa man charged in 1990s serial killings was being investigated for a possible connection to Zywicki’s killing. <\/p>\n

Authorities later said he \u201cdoes not appear to have been involved” <\/a>in the unsolved 1992 slaying of a college student.<\/p>\n

New person of interest<\/p>\n

Investigators are now looking into a person of interest who may have been hitchhiking with the truck driver before Zywicki\u2019s murder, NBC Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times reported<\/a>..<\/p>\n

Theresa \u201cTeri\u201d Belenske \u2014 maiden name Theresa Vega \u2014 would have been 32 years old at the time and was known to hitchhike, state police say. Belenske, who died in 2014, is not a suspect, but investigators are seeking information about Belenske from the late 1980s to mid-1990s. She had ties to several California cities, including Oceanside, Vista, Pomona, San Bernadino and Fontana.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Illinois State Police shared a 2009 photo of Belenske and an AI-generated image of what she may have looked like in 1992.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information about Belenske or Zywicki\u2019s murder can submit a tip to isptips.illinois.gov or call 1 (800) CALL-FBI. The FBI continues to offer a $50,000 reward for information that leads to the identification of who was responsible for her murder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Authorities investigating a decades-old cold case from Chicago have recently developed new leads that point them in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3282,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-496437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-oceanside","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}