Helen Melchi was a loving mother and community do-gooder who was murdered in her Champaign home in 2003. Even though two suspects were charged in the case, those charges were eventually dropped. Today, the family and authorities continue to…

It’s been 33 years since Kimberly Ann Thompson disappeared from Champaign without a trace. 'If we found out that she was alive that would be fantastic,' her sister, Debra, tells Carol Vorel in Episode 14 of her award-winning podcast,…

21-year-old Deonta Rozier was shot in the chest and died in a soggy field north of Urbana in January 2017. In Carol Vorel's 13th "Cold Cases" project, the veteran newswoman talks with family and detectives about the case. 'He…

Classie May Ragland, a young mother with an easygoing personality, was stabbed to death at her Urbana home. Nearly 45 years later, law enforcement still is chasing leads. 'People talk. Somebody told somebody something. And my guess is that the…

It's been more than 13 years since the body of Emanuel Boyd Jr. was found in his home on Champaign’s north side. The 66-year-old man, police said, was killed by a blow to the head. 'I just have one question…

05-17-19 Brian Barnhart with Carol Vorel to preciew her Cold Case that Runs Sunday.

It's known as the Burning Body case, a grisly murder of a young man from Sidney whose body was discovered smoldering on the side of the rural Champaign County road. Three-plus decades later, investigators remain stumped about who killed Robert…

Her body was found in a grassy patch just off U.S. 6 near Seneca in Grundy County in 1976. Unable to identify her, authorities gave her the name Jane Seneca Doe. More than 40 years later, little has changed. The…

Just three days after his 35th birthday, Paris Thompson was gunned down inside his Urbana apartment. Police have a sketch of a suspect - and an idea why Thompson was murdered - but remained stumped 11 years later. Meanwhile, his…

This entry consists of snippets of several reports in Carol Vorel's cold case series, a group of special reports that focus on unsolved crimes in East Central Illinois. Each report includes comments from the detective on the case, family of…