Lane Bryant massacre: Expert says arrest could be made in 2008 killing of five women

It was as cold-blooded as cold cases can be.

On February 2, 2008, a man posing as a delivery driver entered a Lane Bryant clothing store in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park with a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol. He forced six women he found inside into a back room, taped their hands behind their backs and fondled one of them, police said.

Finally he shot them all.

While the attacker may have believed he had killed them all, one survived, according to investigators. She was a part-time worker whose description of the suspect would hopefully lead police to an arrest. Despite thousands of clues over the last 16 years, the murderer remains at large.

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The killer is believed to be just over 6 feet tall, with a strong build and broad shoulders. He was described as a black man, between 25 and 35 years old at the time of the attack, with medium skin tone and curly hair. A braid decorated with green beads hung down his right cheek. He wore black jeans with a rhinestone “G” over the back pockets, a dark gray hat and a dark jacket.

Grainy surveillance video from across the street shows a dark SUV and a dark sedan in the parking lot at the time of the killings, The Associated Press reported at the time. However, it was unclear whether any of the vehicles were used by the attacker.

Authorities also recorded the killer’s voice in a garbled 911 call, and Tinley Park police are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

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LISTEN: Police release 911 audio that includes the voice of a man who killed five people at a women’s clothing store

“You were lucky,” the shooter can be heard saying. “I’m losing it.”

The woman’s voice pleading with police to hurry up belonged to store manager Rhoda McFarland, 42.

The identity of the sole survivor has not been released. Police identified the murder victims as McFarland, of Joliet; Jennifer Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Indiana; Sarah Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; Connie Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor; and Carrie Chiuso, 33, of Frankfurt.

“There is something in this timeline that is not right and it is up to you as an investigator to put the pieces of the puzzle together. It’s like a ladder without rungs. We have to fill these positions.”

—Joseph Giacalone, former cold case investigator

Police released a statement on her behalf a few days after the shooting.

“An unspeakable tragedy occurred and five of the bravest women I have ever met were senselessly murdered and taken from their families,” she said. “My deepest sympathy and condolences go out to their families and friends.

“Please know that throughout the unfathomable events of that day, their thoughts were focused on you and your return home. It pains me that they were unable to do this and I am cooperating with the authorities in every way possible for all victims.”

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Tinley Park Police Commander Pat McCain in the “War Room,” an office that houses all of the evidence collected in the Lane Bryant case and where full-time detectives work on leads, Jan. 25, 2013. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Tinley Park police did not respond to an interview request from Fox News Digital.

According to John Kelly, a criminal profiler who worked and developed the case through his organization System to Apprehend Lethal Killers (STALK Inc.), the unsolved case can be solved using new technology and tips from the public to create a possible profile.

“I think he lives outside the area, in a bigger city,” Kelly told Fox News Digital. “He has some experience delivering to companies by entering the back door and showing the manager the paperwork, a ruse for a delivery, to get in himself and check for cameras.”

“I think he was impulsive and desperate for money,” Kelly said. “Probably some kind of addiction. Could be connected to a group.”

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Tinley Park Police Sgt. TJ Grady speaks during a news conference on February 4, 2008 about the murders at the Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park, Illinois. A gunman killed five women in the store. (Kuni Takahashi/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Despite the planning, he was not an experienced heist artist, the profiler said.

“He was a novice at store robbery – a great lack of sophistication shows,” he told Fox News Digital. “Why try to rob a store in broad daylight around 10:30 in the morning without a mask?”

By this point, the cash from the pre-sale day had already been deposited, and few new buyers would have come to spend it.

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“The only cash is making change and potentially issuing refunds for returns,” Kelly said. “Why rob a store that is having a sale and where there might be a lot of people? Why kill five people, but he thought he killed six for a little money and jewelry?”

The sixth victim, who survived, gave police a suspect description, which has now been developed into a 3D composite.

This undated picture provided by Tinley Park police shows the suspect in a shooting that left five women dead at a Lane Bryant clothing store in Tinley Park, Illinois, on February 2, 2008. (Tinley Park Police Department via AP)

Kelly said the attack at the Lane Bryant store may not have been the suspect’s first killing, nor his last.

“He comes in without a mask, so he plans to kill there,” he said. “[It’s] Witness disposal. He thought he had killed anyone he thought could identify him. His appearance probably changed the next day.

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According to FOX 32 Chicago, local police announced last year that they had assigned two new investigators to the cold case.

Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said this is the first step toward solving an unsolved mystery.

Mourners gather near the Lane Bryant store at the Brookside Market shopping center in Tinley Park, Illinois, on February 4, 2008. A gunman killed five women in the store. (Kuni Takahashi/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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“Anything and everything is on the table at this point,” he said. “They have to go back to their lives. Just because it looks like a robbery doesn’t mean it was a robbery. It could have been staged. It could have been something else. It could have been a love.” Triangle. You have to keep an open mind.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Tinley Park police at 708-444-5394 or email [email protected].

The Associated Press contributed to this report.