IL - Marissa Koziel, 21, Murdered, Joliet, Feb 2018

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Gardener1850

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[h=1]Body Dumped In Joliet Was Murder Victim: Will Co. Sheriff[/h]
marrissa-1519509317-6021.jpg

JOLIET, IL - The body of a young woman found on Friday evening in Joliet Township's Forest Park area has been identified as 21-year-old Marissa Koziel. Will County Sheriff's Police also announced on Saturday afternoon that the former resident of Manhattan was the victim of murder. Saturday's autopsy performed by the Will County Coroner's Office determined that Koziel died from a single gunshot wound.
Later, Chief Deputy Sheriff Dan Jungles told Joliet Patch that Will County Sheriff's detectives believe that Koziel was already dead at the time her body was dumped near the roadway in the 1500 block of California Avenue in Joliet. Several teenagers walking along the street made the grim discovery around 5:15 p.m. on Friday, and they immediately called the police.


Read more: https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/woman-joliet-was-murdered-will-co-sheriff
 
[h=1]Body found near Joliet was that of Manhattan woman, 21[/h]The Will County Coroner reported the death is being investigated as a homicide. Investigators have not announced any suspects in the case yet.

“Our detectives have been pretty much working nonstop since Marissa was discovered,” Deputy Chief Dan Jungles said of the Will County Sheriff’s Office. “They’re following up on quite a few different leads.”

Koziel was reported missing by family members to the Manhattan Police Department on Feb. 14, and she was last seen by family members on Feb. 1, 2018, according to a news release. A post on the Missing Person Awareness Network Facebook page had information on Koziel missing, including that she was last seen at the Rodeway Inn at 1730 McDonough St. in Joliet. Jungles declined to comment on whether that was true, or where investigators knew her to have last been seen.

An autopsy was conducted by the Will County Coroner’s Office and preliminary reports show Koziel died of a single gunshot wound, although Jungles declined to comment on where she was shot.

http://www.nwherald.com/2018/02/24/body-found-near-joliet-was-that-of-manhattan-woman-21/agbdp6o/
 
[h=1]Lincoln-Way Woman Murdered In Joliet: Sheriff[/h]"Initially, deputies on scene were unable to determine an approximate age of the deceased individual due to the top half of her body being covered by an object," Will County Sheriff's police stated in Friday night's initial press release.
According to Jungles, the 21-year-old homicide victim had previously lived in Manhattan. On Feb. 14, her family reported her as a missing person to the Manhattan Police Department. "She was last seen by family members on Feb. 1," Will County announced on Saturday afternoon.

Jungles said it's his understanding that Marissa Koziel had been staying with friends and at motels in the Joliet and Lockport area in the days leading up to her disappearance and slaying. He said that sheriff's detectives "have been working hard" ever since police learned of the young woman's suspicious death on Friday evening.


"She definitely was not killed yesterday (evening)," Jungles told Patch.

Will County Sheriff's detectives are trying to determine where Koziel was killed. Police determined that the location on California Avenue was the dump site and her slaying took place elsewhere.
https://patch.com/illinois/newlenox/lincoln-way-woman-murdered-joliet-sheriff
 
This girl's body was found in a town close to mine and when I read about it I just couldn't forget about it. So I started digging to find out more. This area isn't crime-free, but dead bodies are not common to find near here. Most of the arrests in the weekly police blotter are related to having/selling drugs, DUI, retail theft, etc. So when there's a report about a homicide, it's out of the ordinary.

The articles say that she had been hotel hopping in Lockport & Joliet; both places have plenty of those cheap "no-tell-motels" areas, and they're usually occupied by homeless drug addicts and located near some shady neighborhoods. I'm not saying for sure that Marissa was using drugs, but there have been rumors that she used to. But it would make sense if she was using drugs based on her situation and the areas she was hanging out in.

I read through some of her comments and replies to people on her NSFW accounts, and she claimed she had been doing cam girl stuff for 2 years. I sifted thru her more recent posts to find out more about her.

She made it obvious that she had no stable place to live and was always in need of money for daily necessities. I believe in one of her tweets she mentioned her parents had kicked her out and that's why she had been hoping between motels (as mentioned in the articles about her disappearance). She was pretty open about having boyfriend and that she was monogamous with him; she even promoted her video clip sales with fragments of *advertiser censored* videos she made with him. However based on her posts its hard to tell if they were always together or on again/off again. I would assume the police would already have him on their radar since it appeared that she was with him most of the time.

She also held monthly raffles for her follwers, followers, and 1st prize was always a "non-sexual meet up in person" (if they could travel to her). There were also several times when she would tweet about needing immediate help finding a place to stay that night whenever she ran out of money. There are a few Twitter accounts that replied to her often and appear to be people who were financially supporting her, some even appear to be local to the Chicago area so it's possible that some of these guys had met up with her at some point.

I wonder if the cops have looked into who the last fan was that met up with her and when; even if they had nothing to do with her death they might be able find out more information about who she hanging out with. It doesn't seem like she had a ton of fans but she seemed to be pretty close with her more loyal followers. If she only had a single gunshot to the head and no other serious injuries, to me it seems like the murder wasn't personal and more likely someone just looking for a victim to rob and/or rape..
However she did post several times about one fan that offered her more money and a place to live, then sent her angry messages because she declined his offer and eventually blocked him. So it may be possible that she knew her murderer. Only other scenario I thought of is that she just associated with the wrong people and maybe witnessed something she shouldn't have.

I really hope her family gets they answers they need. Her lifestyle may make it even harder for cops to find who did this, but I'd hope that they could find some kind of paper trail thru her PayPal, Google wallet, etc.
 
Someone has to know where she was or who she was with during her final days..her posts make it appear that she was rarely by herself. Especially considering that she was homeless, unemployed & didn't have a vehicle. It isn't easy to get around Lockport & Joliet without a car; there aren't many daily buses and the bus stops usually require a bit of walking to get to. And she was homeless in the middle of winter; if you know anything about Illinois winter, it makes daily transportation 10x harder if you don't have access to a car or have money for an uber. To me it seems almost impossible that at least one person wasn't with her or in contact with at all times of the day.
 
pastel19 said:
Someone has to know where she was or who she was with during her final days..her posts make it appear that she was rarely by herself. Especially considering that she was homeless, unemployed & didn't have a vehicle. It isn't easy to get around Lockport & Joliet without a car; there aren't many daily buses and the bus stops usually require a bit of walking to get to. And she was homeless in the middle of winter; if you know anything about Illinois winter, it makes daily transportation 10x harder if you don't have access to a car or have money for an uber. To me it seems almost impossible that at least one person wasn't with her or in contact with at all times of the day.
Click to expand...
One of her tweets from a long while ago states that she was sexually assaulted by a maintenance worker who offered her drugs at one of the hotels she used to stay at. I personally interacted with her on Twitter many times and I hope they can catch whoever did this. She was troubled and sad and the monster who killed her likely exploited her desperation. A girl who seemed to be a good friend of hers on Facebook said she thought she was last with someone named James. I know it's not msm so hopefully I'm not breaking rules by mentioning that but... I'm doing it anyways bc I haven't heard anything new from media about it. RIP marissa you crazy beautiful soul [emoji173]️

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
Her body was found in the 1500 block of California Avenue of Joliet, this area is locally known as "the Hill". Some people describe it as not the best area but not a ghetto either. I don't think I've ever driven around there, so I wouldn't know personally.


If you look at a satellite view, the street is in the middle of a residential area; the 1500 block is about 500 ft long. Doesn't look like there's much on that block other than a small church on the corner, a few houses on one side with trees and open field across the street.


At first i thought whoever discarded the body just be local because it was in a neighborhood that looks kinda out of the way. But after reading some comments from locals after Marrissa was found, I'm starting to think it was someone who didn't know the area very well. One young woman said she lives in that neighborhood, close enough that she can see California Avenue from her house. She also said her little cousin and his friends were walking back from playing basketball when they discovered the body on the side of the road. They haven't released specifics about where her body was, but my best guess would be that they tried to hide her on the side with all the trees. Now I'm thinking whoever chose the location was either ignorant of how many people walk along that street, or they were just sloppy and quickly picked a spot they thought looked isolated enough to hide a body.


But across from those trees, the side with houses has a lot of open area so I'm wondering what time of day they discarded the body? Because it seems impossible that someone wouldn't have spotted an unusual vehicle unless they did it late at night.
 
This case is so sad. My son is 22 and fights addictions. One he$& off a beast.
Looking through her social media is just heartbreaking. I really hope they find who did this to Marissa. I pray for peace upon her family and loved ones. I've been on WS for years and lurked even longer. This case is one I won't leave. I want to see justice. I don't care what choices she made. No one had the right to take her life. Rest in peace Marissa. You are free.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Unsolved: Koziel's body was found in Joliet Township's Forest Park area. She died from a single gunshot wound. The killer dumped her body near the roadway in the 1500 block of California Avenue in Joliet. Police suspect that her body may have been at the site for several days. Her family members had reported her missing several days earlier.

Sema'J, Katie Kearns, Marissa Koziel: Will County Murder Cases
 
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