IL IL - Amelia 'Molly' Zelko, 47, Joliet, 25 Sept 1957

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Amelia J. Zelko, 47, Missing since September 25, 1957 from Joliet, IL


Missing for 55 years...


Amelia J. Zelko
Missing since September 25, 1957 from Joliet, Will County, Illinois.
Classification: Missing

Vital Statistics


Age at Time of Disappearance: 47 years old
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female.
Clothing/Jewelry: Possibly a diamond bracelet and a 17 1/2 carat diamond ring. The ring was worth an estimated $38,000 in 1957 and would be worth over $250,000 today.
Dentals: Available
AKA: Molly

Photo at link below.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Zelko disappeared from Illinois in 1957. She was a newspaperwoman, running a weekly paper in Joliet.

She had blasted mobsters and political corruption on the front page of her weekly newspaper, The Spectator. On the Spectator's pages, Molly had also actively crusaded against gambling. It is unknown if any of this was related to her disappearance.
Zelko left her newspaper's Cass Street office just before 23:30.

A bartender later said she'd stopped in for a drink and used a pay phone on her way home. Zelko then parked in front of 413 Buell Avenue, where she lived in a second-floor apartment.
On the same day that Zelko disappeared, a witness claimed that she saw some men bury the body of a woman near her home, but Zelko was never recovered.

All that was found of Zelko were her two shoes. When she was in danger, she had told friends she would kick off her shoes and run.

At first police believed she had been kidnapped but no ransom note arrived. Searches were done but no trace of Zelko was found.

Zelko was declared legally dead in 1964.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Illinois State Police
District 5

Source Information:

Suburban Chicago News
Suburban Chicago News
The Doe Network: Case File 1253DFIL

LINK:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1253dfil.html
 
Coming up on another anniversary (56) in a week.

I remember reading somewhere that Miss Zelko had a "close relationship" with her partner in the paper, William McCabe. It seemed to me that perhaps they were suggesting a romantic connection although not necessarily. She also was said to wear a ring that had been given to her by a man who was later killed in an accident. I would assume that this was something that may have been an engagement ring or something like what would be called a pre-engagement band in a later time - some speculation on my part but not unwarranted I don't believe. None of this is likely to have any connection to her murder.

Charleyproject's entry says that the bartender didn't tell his story until 1978.

Do we know what she was wearing that evening besides shoes and a hat?
 
In a few rare instances, a mobster's wife or girlfriend will be killed as collateral damage when the guy is being rubbed out but the mob killing a single unconnected woman is virtually unheard of.
 
The murder of Estelle Carey in 1943 is sometimes cited as a mob hit on a woman but there are several theories that posit that it was not a mob killing at all. Even if it was a mob hit, it was a sort of rubout by proxy of her mobster boyfriend Nick Circella who was in prison at the time - totally unlike the Zelko Case.
 
I know this thread doesn't have much traffic, but I thought I'd mention a few things I found in the course of researching another case. First off, I believe the hit was ordered by Willie Potatoes (via the real Chicago boss, Hyman Larner), who has long been linked to the attempted murder of Molly's boss.

Severin John Boubede is one of the Keddie murderers, and his de facto dads were his uncle Alvin (d. 2 Feb 1959), and none other than Jimmy V Rini, who had RFK digging holes in a Joliet farm field, looking for Molly's grave. Rini laughed about that for decades, probably all the harder because he was actually involved in her kidnapping and murder. The connections of these mob scum have been researched and pieced together to a great extent here and here, and there is a gallery dedicated to photos and news clippings concerning the mafia angles of Boubede, Rini, et al., located here. Several clippings are about Molly, of course.

Long story short: Willie Potatoes was the Outfit's lead street enforcer (for 'tribute', etc). The main Chicago guy running the slots/juke action Molly was making too much noise about went by the name of Red Waterfall. In reality, Red was Hyman Larner, and Rini and Alex Ross were Hy's main slots enforcers, conducting anything from threats and acid attacks to all-out hits on those 'in the way' of mob progress.

One guy they were after was Willard Bates. Rini, Ross, and their long-time third gun, Frank Mustari, tried to kill him on June 29, 1957. Mustari waited in the back seat of Bates' car, but Bates got the draw and blew Mustari's head off. There was a new third man on the team when they did Molly three months later and, barely a month after Molly, the Rini/Ross team succeeded in their second attempt on Bates.

If anyone's interested, I have a ton more details.
 
I wonder if anyone has looked for her in Ed Gein's collection.

At any rate, past 60 years now. R.I.P. Molly.
 
Molly Zelko: My Thoughts On Joliet's True-Crime Podcast (2020)
JOLIET, IL — Have you had the chance to listen to all eight episodes of the Molly Zelko true-crime podcast yet? If not, you should. You really should.

Joliet Area Historical Museum executive director Greg Peerbolte, along with former Joliet Herald-News reporter Lonny Cain, deserve major props for doing a fantastic job of bringing Joliet's most enduring mystery back to life.

They spent three years producing and fine-tuning this podcast and the quality shows.
...

 
Last edited:
Where in the World Is Molly Zelko? (Chicago Reader 03.11.93)
She was a Joliet journalist who had enemies in the local mob and more furs and jewelry than she could evidently afford. She disappeared 35 years ago. Some think she's still alive.
..
Thirty-five years ago [it has now been 62 years], on September 26, 1957, a man walking down Buell Avenue in Joliet found a woman's shoe. It was just after midnight, and it is possible that at that moment the inner sole was still warm. The man put the shoe, a stylish black patent-leather pump, on the trunk of a 1955 Chrysler and continued on his way. The following morning, the shoe's partner was found on a nearby lawn by two printers from the Spectator, a thriving Joliet weekly. They were looking for a 47-year-old journalist named Molly Zelko, the woman who had been wearing those high heels the night before....
...
 
amelia-molly-zelko_2_en_ci-png.270341

Zelko, age unknown

Amelia J. Zelko
Missing since September 25, 1957 from Joliet, Will County, Illinois.
Classification: Missing

Vital Statistics
    • Age at Time of Disappearance: 47 years old
    • Distinguishing Characteristics: White female.
    • Clothing/Jewelry: Possibly a diamond bracelet and a 17 1/2 carat diamond ring. The ring was worth an estimated $38,000 in 1957 and would be worth over $250,000 today.
    • Dentals: Available
    • AKA: Molly
Circumstances of Disappearance

Zelko disappeared from Illinois in 1957. She was a newspaperwoman, running a weekly paper in Joliet.

She had blasted mobsters and political corruption on the front page of her weekly newspaper, The Spectator. On the Spectator's pages, Molly had also actively crusaded against gambling. It is unknown if any of this was related to her disappearance.

Zelko left her newspaper's Cass Street office just before 23:30.
A bartender later said she'd stopped in for a drink and used a pay phone on her way home. Zelko then parked in front of 413 Buell Avenue, where she lived in a second-floor apartment.

On the same day that Zelko disappeared, a witness claimed that she saw some men bury the body of a woman near her home, but Zelko was never recovered.
All that was found of Zelko were her two shoes. When she was in danger, she had told friends she would kick off her shoes and run.

At first police believed she had been kidnapped but no ransom note arrived. Searches were done but no trace of Zelko was found.

Zelko was declared legally dead in 1964.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Illinois State Police
District 5

Source Information:
Suburban Chicago News
Suburban Chicago News
The Doe Network: Case File 1253DFIL
 
Amelia Jo Zelko



  • Missing Since 09/25/1957
  • Missing From Joliet, Illinois
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Female
  • Race White
  • Age 47 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'4 - 5'6, 118 pounds
  • Clothing/Jewelry Description A small hat on the back of her head, and a bracelet valued at $5,000.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Dark brown hair, brown eyes. Zelko's nickname is Molly. Some accounts give her age in 1957 as 42.
Details of Disappearance

Zelko was last seen in Joliet, Illinois on September 25, 1957. She was a reporter for the Joliet Spectator, a weekly newspaper, at the time of her disappearance and was also the paper's longtime secretary/treasurer, business manager, and co-owner.

Zelko left the newspaper office at approximately 11:30 p.m., having worked late for the next day's publication. Her co-workers say she was in good spirits when she left, and carrying an envelope-type purse. Her home was a three-minute drive from the newspaper office. When she failed to arrive at work the next morning, her managing editor called the police.

A local bartender says he saw Zelko shortly after she left work. She stopped in his bar, had a drink, and made two long-distance telephone calls at a phone booth. He did not report this information until 1978, twenty-one years later.

Zelko lived on Buell Avenue, and her car was later found parked in front of her residence with the keys under the front seat where she usually put them. Her neighbors reported hearing screams and a car driving away at high speed between midnight and 12:15 a.m.

The only trace of her that was found were her shoes, one on the trunk of her car and one on the ground nearby; Zelko had previously told friends that if she were attacked she would take off her shoes and run away. None of her other belongings, such as hat or her purse and its contents, were found at the scene, and there were no indications that she had spent the night in her home. Her car keys were found under the vehicle's front seat, where she usually put them.

Zelko frequently wrote articles about mobsters, political corruption, and gambling. It is believed that she may have been abducted and murdered as the result of her writings. The paper's publisher had been beaten nearly to death by two unidentified men nine years before and his office was ransacked; although no charges were filed against anyone in connection with the incident, he and Zelko alleged it was retaliation for paper's anti-gambling stance.

The publisher never fully recovered physically from the attack and died less than a year after Zelko went missing. Investigators examined the financial records of the Spectator after Zelko's disappearance, hoping to find a possible motive, but discovered nothing amiss. The Spectator folded in 1965, after 39 years of publication.

A witness claimed to have seen four men with a black car bury a woman's body near the bottom of an open storm sewer ditch near Zelko's home the same day Zelko vanished. This account was not reported until 1978 and has not been confirmed.

Zelko's case remains unsolved. A voluntary disappearance is considered unlikely, as she was very close to her family who all lived in the area. She was declared legally dead in 1964, seven years after her disappearance.

LINK:
Amelia Jo Zelko – The Charley Project
 
NOV 27, 2020
17 Missing In Will County: One Joliet Case Dates To 1957 | Joliet, IL Patch
[...]

The editor of The Joliet Spectator, the city's weekly newspaper, Zelko vanished from her driveway on Buell Avenue on September 25, 1957. Besides being a reporter, Zelko was also the paper's longtime secretary/treasurer, business manager and co-owner. NamUs indicates that she wore a hat she when she disappeared, however, she was most likely wearing no shoes because her shoes were found by her car. Molly Zelko also wore a diamond ring and a bracelet valued at $5,000. She stood about 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 120 lbs.

MollyZelko.jpg

Molly Zelko, the 47-year-old bull-headed editor of The Spectator, Joliet's weekly print newspaper, disappeared from her driveway. image via Joliet Area Historical Museum

[...]
 
“Thirty-five years ago, on September 26, 1957, a man walking down Buell Avenue in Joliet found a woman's shoe. It was just after midnight, and it is possible that at that moment the inner sole was still warm. The man put the shoe, a stylish black patent-leather pump, on the trunk of a 1955 Chrysler and continued on his way. The following morning, the shoe's partner was found on a nearby lawn by two printers from the Spectator, a thriving Joliet weekly. They were looking for a 47-year-old journalist named Molly Zelko, the woman who had been wearing those high heels the night before...”

Where in the World Is Molly Zelko?

Oldie but goodie article about Molly. I just learned of her story! Still hoping she can be found. She sounded like an incredible woman. Bumping for Molly.
 
MissAmanduh13 said:
The Doe Network: Case File 1253DFIL

Link to Molly's DOE page


Hello everyone!
I am new here, so I hope I am posting this correctly.

This is my great aunt Amelia (Molly) Zelko, I never had the chance of meeting her, but I have heard so many stories about her through my family. She ran a newspaper here in Joliet. One evening (in front of my grandmothers home) she was kidnapped and never seen again. All that was left was her shoes, which was an indicator that something was wrong. They never really had any leads. They interviewed my family and a few witnesses that say they saw something, but every lead was a dead end.

They believe it is mob related, because Molly and the newspaper had an anti-gambling stance. I think through-out the years they have tried digging up various areas around here and came up with nothing. We have heard rumors of her going into witness protection and leaving for Flordia. We have gotten calls throughout the years with people offering information if we pay them x amount of dollars. They have even tried searching under sidewalks and in our downtown area hoping to located her remains, but nothing was ever found.

I am just interested to hear everyones take on this. You guys are awesome at showing different perspectives on things. I have always wondered about what has happend to her. My family never really talks about it. There used to be a writer in town that would write a story on the anniversary of her dissapperence every year, but he recently passed away, so there really has not been any updates and the story is dying down. I would just like to hear a different take on this case, because all along everyone has believed that it has to be mob related, but can't be for sure.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Click to expand...
She was my great uncle's sister in law.
 
I wonder how the male friend explained having her ring? Also, was the construction site ever dug up? Was the sewer burial site the same as the construction site?
 
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