I couldn't reach the detective and am having some problems with my voice mail right now and no caller id so sent off the following information regarding what we discovered regarding Richard Otto Macek.
Wanted to let you all know. Here is a copy of the email sent.
Hello Detective <Name>,
My name is XXXXX XXXXX, I left you a few messages and rather than play phone tag I am sending some information a small group of us discussing and researching Debbie Fijans cold case at
websleuths.com have discovered. Her brother Jack found and joined our discussion at Websleuths as well, which led to his contacting you regarding his sisters case.
While going through old newspaper articles we came across information on the murder of Sally Kandel from Carol Stream. Sally was murdered near her home at Kuhn and Lies Rds on September 13 1972. Her body was found the following day on Lies Road.
The intial person convicted of her murder was later released when it was found the crime was commited by another man, Richard Otto Macek. Macek had a long criminal history starting in grade school and hung himself while in prison in 1987. He was approximately 18 when Debbie Fijan was murdered.
There are several similiarities between Debbie Fijans case and Sally Kandels case which follow:
-Sally was abducted around 5-6pm, similiar to the time Debbie was abducted.
-Sally was found on Lies Rd near Kuhn. Debbie was found on Lies approximately 2 miles west of the location Sally was found.
-When Sally was murdered in September 1972, Macek was driving a white 1964 Chevy Impala. Witnesses saw Debbie talking to a man in a white car shortly before she was abducted 6 years earlier.
-Macek reportedly slit Sally's eyelids. It was reported Debbie had stab wounds to her eyes.
-Macek was known to use a pen knife to stab/slit his victims eyelids and had done so to two other victims in addition to Sally. It was reported a pen knife was likely the murder weapon in Debbie's case.
Some additional history regarding Macek, found in a book written by a forensic psychiatrist who interviewed him for hundreds of hours before his death and other old newspaper articles:
-Macek had began getting in trouble for either stealing or attempting to steal girls panties while still in grade school. He had also been in trouble for using a telescope or something similiar to view into girls/womens bedrooms and/or homes.
-His larger troubles began when his father died in 1966. (we've been unable to locate a date in 1966 when his father died).
-About the time of Sally's murder it was reported Macek had done 3 years in the Joliet penitentiary for the 1968 stabbing of an Elmwood Park woman.
-Maceks victims ranged from age three through adulthood.
While much of the information regarding Debbies case discusses Loren F. Schofield as the primary suspect, there are too many similiarities between Debbie's case and Sally's case to not have further compared and investigated the two and the possibility Macek murdered Debbie.
Research into Sally's case included media articles comparing her case to other similiar crimes and crime victims in the area. None of those media articles ever mentioned Debbie's unsolved case being compared to or having been compared to Sally's case letting us know Macek may have been looked at and ruled out as Debbies murderer. Unsure if these two cases were compared, I wanted to make sure you had this information.
If Macek was ever ruled out as Debbies murderer could you please let myself, or Debbies brother Jack know of such?
We are praying for Justice for Debbie and her family, along with praying for those of you currently re-investigating her case to find the whatever evidence is needed to finally solve this cold case after all these years.
Thank you very much for your time.
<Name>
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