After 35 years, the body of a woman who was killed and left in a farmer’s field in rural Troy, Illinois, has been positively identified, Madison County Sheriff Jeff Connor revealed Tuesday.
Detectives know some things, but they still need help to find the killer.
Today is July 20, 1990. That’s when a farmer found Wendy Nadine Michel’s body in a field near Lebanon Road and Troy O’Fallon Road. She had been missing since the summer of 1990. Police think the body had been there for around a week.
Previous news stories said she was killed by being severely stabbed. At the time, police thought she had been killed somewhere else and then taken to the field.
At a news meeting on Tuesday afternoon, pictures of Michel were shown along with items that were found next to her, such as a ring, shoes, and a shirt.
Connor said that Michel’s body was already seriously decomposing, and it was already hard to get an ID in 1990 because she wasn’t from the area.
Connor said that more than 30 years ago, the coroner’s office saved a lot of things to make sure they could find the body later.
“Evidence was re-examined and developments in science made it possible to investigate the case further,” he said.
Connor said Michel was born in Los Angeles and then lived in Tennessee and Florida for a while before moving back to California. One of her two kids is still alive.
The sheriff’s office said that Michel, whose full name was Wynona Nadine Michel, had left her children in Nashville, Tennessee, with family in April 1990. After a month, she met her kids in Washington, D.C., for a short visit and wasn’t seen again.
The sheriff’s office said she was with a truck driver while she was in Washington.
Connor said, “She lived by riding around with truck drivers.”
The information has helped her brother Frank Barnard understand better. He was in the crowd watching the news conference.
Barnard told 5 On Your Side that he knew about the story for a long time.
“It’s pretty devastating she was brutally murdered like that,” he said. “Sadness, anger, because somebody does her like this, no one deserves that.”
Among other things, he said that his sister was kind, funny, and loved animals.
The year she died was the last time he saw her.
“She dropped her children off with my brother, we didn’t think she’d come to any harm,” he said. My sister took a lot of trips, and there were times when you had no idea where she was for months on end. It became strange over time because it was so long between hearing from or about her.
5 On Your Side asked what he wanted to say to the killer.
“I hope they lock you up for life. I didn’t even want the death penalty for them; I just want them to spend the rest of their life in jail.” They did something bad, and he knew it. It made no sense, Barnard said.
Connor said that anyone with information can leave a tip by calling 618-296-3000. Call 618-692-4433 for the Madison County Sheriff’s Office or 866-371-TIPS for CrimeStoppers.
Connor said, “We want to give Wynona’s family some peace of mind.” “But we also ask that anyone who knows who killed her get in touch with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.”
