Donna Doll (Unexplained Death)

21 year old Donna Doll was a Russian language student at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. At 9.59pm on October 2nd 1970 she left the campus library where she worked a part-time job and was never seen alive again. Nine days later her fully clothed body was found in a field just outside town. The manner and cause of death was unclear but the case was treated as a murder investigation.  Investigators were presented with a myriad of puzzling details, not least the fact that over 2kg of potatoes was found in Donna's stomach contents.

Sources for the episode can be found here

Transcript

Donna Doll

Donna Doll grew up in Brookfield, 13 miles, 21 km, from downtown Chicago, in Illinois with her parents Joseph and Val. Joseph was a vice president for a Chicago based abrasives and sandpaper firm. The couple had four children, Donna was the second eldest. In the autumn of 1970, when the events detailed in this podcast took place, Donna was 21 years old, both parents were 48, her elder sister 25, younger brother 17 and little sister just 10. Donna was close with her family and loved them dearly. 

As a teen Donna had numerous responsibilities around the home, including daily chores and babysitting for her younger siblings. A friend described Donna as not wild but someone who took the responsibilities given to her seriously. Donna was an exceptionally bright student, she had set up a tutoring programme when in high school. Teachers praised her academic ability, warm character and cheery disposition. In 1967 she graduated 12th (or possibly 15th depending on the report) from a class of over 400 students at Riverside-Brookfield High School.

After finishing high school Donna attended Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, located an hour’s drive west of Chicago. She studied Russian, a particularly taxing language for English speakers, and by her third year had secured three scholarships. Donna was a hardworking student with talent to match, and was a member of the National Honor Society. When she finished her degree, Donna hoped to become a Russian language teacher or interpreter. Alongside her studies Donna had a part-time job at the campus library, called the Swen Parson Library, often working there on weekday evenings and at weekends. 

In October 1970 Donna was at the start of her senior year. (American degrees typically take four years to complete full-time.)

Early on the evening of Friday October 2nd 1970, Donna was at home in her off campus apartment situated on West Lincoln Highway. She shared the accommodation with four other female students and two house parents, including  house mother Veronica, who looked after the young women and did most of the domestic duties. Donna was looking forward to the weekend; she had plans to meet a friend and on Saturday she was going to bake cookies and make curtains. Before all that Donna had a shift at the campus library scheduled for 7pm. Shortly before leaving home Donna told her housemates that she would do her washing up when she returned. She left the dirty dishes in the sink and set out on foot. The campus was a mile from her home and so the walk took just a matter of minutes.

Donna arrived safely at the library and worked her normal shift, issuing books and dealing with inquiries from students. Three hours later at 9.59pm Donna finished her shift and exited the library. Colleagues said she left in a good mood. 

According to a Northern Star article from January 1989, following her shift at the library Donna had plans to meet up for a coffee with her best friend, also called Donna. I will refer to the friend as Donna C. The pair had been close since 8th grade but had not seen each other since the summer when Donna C had gotten married and Donna had been bridesmaid at the wedding. Since then Donna C had been settling into married life. Likewise Donna had also been busy. She had attended a Russian language summer school out of state to gain extra credit toward a Masters degree. She had also attended the summer school the previous summer in 1969.

The institution running the summer school was Middlebury College, which as far as I can see is in Vermont. However a lot of contemporary reports cite Pennsylvania as the location.  It may be that Middlebury college was running summer schools at various locations at this time.  As you will see, this detail does have some relevance to events. 

Donna C drove her 1959 Ford Galaxy to the Swen Parson Library and arrived just after 10pm to pick up her friend. She waited for about twenty minutes but there was no sign of Donna. Donna C was not worried about Donna’s no show and assumed something must have come up. Obviously this was decades before mobile phones so Donna C went home expecting she would catch up with Donna sometime over the weekend.

It took a couple of days before friends and family realised something was amiss. On Sunday October 4th Donna's friends realised that no one had seen her since Friday evening and that she had failed to turn up for two shifts at work. This was highly unusual as Donna was very conscientious. 

Donna's house parents had not been worried by Donna's absence as they knew she had met a new boyfriend during her time at summer school. The man lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and they presumed Donna had gone to visit him. 

According to Donna C, Donna's mum and dad were quite strict and she thought the new boyfriend in Pennsylvania may be recently separated or even married. In her mind this explained Donna’s sudden vanishing: she must be trying to keep this new relationship quiet.

Donna had not dated a lot in the past, though she previously had at least one boyfriend. In their October 9th article the Chicago Tribune quoted friends and family as saying Donna had dated two students at the university but was not serious about either. 

When Donna still hadn’t shown up late on Sunday night, action was taken. At 11.30pm the DeKalb police were called and Donna was reported missing. The Chicago Tribune reported on October 9th that this was done by her house mother Veronica. Joseph and Val Doll were not made aware of their daughter's disappearance until the following day. I have read in modern day reports that Donna was due to return to Brookfield that Sunday for her little sister's birthday party but contemporary articles state the party was the following weekend of October 10th/11th.

At first police were not overly concerned and assumed Donna had run away. When they found out she had a new boyfriend in Pennsylvania it provided them with a probable explanation for the disappearance. After all there was no evidence of an abduction and nothing appeared untoward. Friends and family were not so sure and went looking for Donna themselves.

Friends including Donna C went through Donna’s room looking for anything that might explain her absence. They found Donna's student I.D., cheque book, a payroll slip from the university library and her contact lens solution. They found her allergy medication which she took to prevent a runny nose and streaming eyes. (I’m uncertain about exactly what allergies Donna suffered from.) Donna had not taken any extra clothes and her suitcase was still in a closet. It was clear to her friends that Donna had not left intentionally. 

By Friday October 9th law enforcement themselves agreed and stated they now suspected foul play. 

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A detailed description of Donna and what she was last wearing was distributed far and wide. This was largely based on information given by house mother Veronica who had a good memory and was able to recall what clothes Donna had on when she left for work on Friday evening. 

Donna was 5 ft 7 or 170cm, 115 lbs, 52 kg, with light shoulder length hair. She was wearing a black cotton trench coat, tan sweater, white peasant style blouse, brown and white checked shirt, dark plaid slacks, light tan shoes and a beige handbag. Her friends also said they thought she would be wearing a 1967 Riverside-Brookfield class ring, which was a gold band with a blue stone. On the inside was engraved Donna's initials DSD (her middle name was Susan). She also wore a wrist watch.

One the Thursday following Donna going missing the Doll residence received a telephone call which was picked up by Val. The caller said nothing and, after a period of unnerving silence, Val hung up the receiver. Several other similar phone calls were reported by the family over the next few days, 6 or 7 in total. Sometimes a voice would menacingly say “I know where your daughter is”. It is not known if these calls were connected to Donna’s disappearance or a sick prank.

Friends and family organised searching parties to go out into the surrounding countryside. Nine days after Donna went missing On Sunday October 11th, fellow students from the language department, joined by a mathematics graduate student who had previously dated Donna, walked along the Chicago and North Illinois rail tracks west of DeKalb near to Nelson Road. They found nothing, but just a few hours later three unsuspecting teenagers came across a macabre scene.

At around 8.30pm that night three young people, two girls and a boy, were travelling in a Pontiac station wagon on the way to a party. They were driving down Nelson Road 1 ½ miles, 2.4 km, from Deklab, when they pulled over. The spot was just 400 metres from where the students had finished their search hours before. The spot was about 90 metres south of the Alternate 30, a route

which traveled from Sterling through Chicago to Lynwood, Illinois, near the Indiana state line.

At the time it was reported the teens stopped the car because the boy needed the toilet. Another story is that the group had stashed beer at the location at an earlier time and went to collect it for the party.  

The boy got out of the car, crossed a ditch parallel to the road and headed to a tree in an adjacent cornfield. The two girls followed behind. The grass was long and as he waded though it he looked up and got the shock of his life. Fully clothed and reclining against the tree he could see the outline of the body of a young woman. He told the girls not to come any further and to return to the car. They did so and did not see the body. All three quickly jumped into the station wagon and made their way to the DeKalb police department. 

At 4am the following morning, the body of the young woman was identified as 21 year old Donna Doll. The identification was made by a male NIU student who the DeKalb Daily Chronicle said had been dating Donna. It was the same man who had taken part in the search party on Sunday afternoon.

The location where the body was discovered was 1.5 miles, 2.5 km, from Donna’s home on West Lincoln Highway. It was a popular place for NIU students to meet to park up and drink. Until recently much of the student accommodation was not coed so dating couples would go to this spot to spend time together. The site was cordoned off by the DeKalb fire department and a generator was brought in so searchlights could be set up. Forensic teams went over the site looking for clues that might explain what had happened.

An investigation was started, with DeKalb County Sheriff’'s Chief Deputy Wilbur “Scotty” Scott taking the lead. Second in command was DeKalb City Detective Sergeant Ron Mosbach. They were more than a little perplexed as a cursory examination of the body showed no visible signs of foul play. County Coroner Paul Van Natta called a Coroner's Jury and a County Pathologist was called on at Ronan-Moore mortuary. 

A three hour autopsy was carried out but the cause of death could not be determined. There were no bruises, bullet holes or marks on the body. It did not look like Donna had been strangled and there was no evidence of drug use. Tissue samples were sent for further analysis in a lab. There was no indication of sexual assault.

Despite the lack of answers from the initial pathology report, Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Scott said it did appear Donna had been murdered. At the scene there was evidence a crime had been committed. At this early stage Scott would not elaborate further on this point but did later say that the position of the body looked like it had been placed there by another person. There was evidence that the body had been dragged into the field.

The body showed signs of decomposition and it was first estimated Donna had been dead for 5-9 days, so that could be from the night she went missing. Most of her clothing could be accounted for but her shoes, wrist watch and purse or handbag were not found with the body. These items have never been located. Strangely Donna was found wearing a blue coat, and the black trench coat that she was supposedly wearing when she left the house was missing. Again the trench coat has never been found.

Donna’s family were left heartbroken in the wake of their daughter's death. Donna’s mother Val had to be given sedatives and was placed under the care of a doctor. Her husband Joseph spoke to Chicago-based reporters from his own living room, choking back tears as he eulogised his daughter. He praised her honest and hardworking character and warm and outgoing personality. Like the police, despite the lack of clear evidence from the autopsy Joseph said he believed his daughter had been murdered. 

Friends and family remembered Donna and all that she had done with her young life at a funeral and thanksgiving service held on the afternoon of October 14th at Prairie Avenue Funeral Home. The maths graduate student who Donna had dated was one of the pall bearers and she was buried wearing a pair of earrings he had gifted her. Donna was laid to rest at Woodlawn Cemetery, Forest Park, Cook County.

Early on in the investigation a couple of leads were looked into. One included a stolen car which was found the Wednesday before Donna’s body and a mile south of the location. Ultimately, Police concluded there was no connection. Another involved a DeKalb teacher who went missing the weekend Donna had disappeared. He turned up a few days later and was questioned, but investigators deemed the man to have nothing to do with Donna’s death. 

Since the beginning of the semester there had been several reports of men attempting to lure female students into cars, some even involved violence. At least 8 separate incidents occurred, many after Donna's body was found.  

One such incident happened on the night of Monday October 12th when a man dressed in green overalls and driving a 1962 or 65 blue car, possibly a Chevrolet, attacked a woman after offering her a lift. The man picked up the woman near to the Swen Parson Library where Donna had been working shortly before she went missing. The man drove the woman to the west end of the university campus and pulled a knife on her. The woman fought back and managed to escape with bruises. This man was aged 30-40 and was short in stature with a stocky build. This fitted the description of a man who had been seen on campus by other young women. On one occasion, on October 5th, he forced a female student to the ground. After the student screamed, the man fled. 

Furthermore, there were numerous incidents of disturbing phone calls being made to female students, similar to the ones received by the Doll family. One freshman received an anonymous call from a man who referred to her by her nickname “Rusty”. In hushed tones he told her “Donna was first; you are next”. The young woman believed it was likely a crank call but even so these incidents did little to dispel the atmosphere of fear around campus. 

A detective was placed on special duty to watch over the female students, but despite this there was a commonly held view amongst the student body that the police weren’t doing enough and had been sloppy so far in the investigation. One student was quoted in the Dixon Evening Telegraph as saying they believed the authorities knew more than they were letting on. Lots of rumours began circulating the campus that Donna had been raped before being murdered. 

While there was some discontent towards the efforts of law enforcement the investigative team was continuing to work hard. Less than five days after Donna's body was found, Sheriff's Chief Deputy Scott announced two lines of inquiry. The first was that they were seeking a fellow student and classmate of Donna who had also disappeared on the same day (Friday October 2nd). The second was that members of the investigative team were traveling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to talk with the man Donna had dated while attending the Russian language summer school. Chief Deputy Scott made the point that these were two separate individuals. 

A day or so later the police announced that the classmate who had disappeared the same day had been released from questioning and they were convinced that he had nothing to do with Donna’s death. Additionally they had been questioning  another man who was seen changing the oil in his car just 3 metres from where the body was later found. He too was released and deemed not to be involved. 

Some details from tests carried out on tissue samples taken at the autopsy were released. A toxicology report from the Illinois department of Public health showed two mysterious substances found in the body could not be identified. Further tests were carried out but with no result. These substances remain unidentified.  The report was able to confidently state that arsenic poisoning was ruled out. It was also determined that Donna had eaten a full meal around two hours before her death. This was indeed curious as Donna had been working in the library for three hours before she went missing and obviously had not eaten a full meal there. 

In 2010 The Chicago Tribune published an article about the case which stated authorities said 5-6lbs (around 2.5kg) of potatoes was found in Donna’s stomach contents. That’s at least 12 medium-sized potatoes, which is a heck of alot. This fact has never been satisfactorily explained. 

More details concerning the ongoing forensic testing were then leaked to the media. On October 17th 1970 an anonymous source close to the medical team provided information to the Chicago Tribune. According to the source Donna had died as a result of violence. 

The evidence pointed to suffocation by a pillow or a plastic bag being held against the face. This opinion had been reached after vomit was found inside the lungs. When oxygen cannot get into the lungs the stomach contracts and vomit finds its way into the lungs. What's more it was reported the evidence pointed to Donna having been alive for 48 hours after she was last seen on the night of Friday 2nd October. Where had she been for those two days? And with whom?

This leaked information was not confirmed by the Department of Public Health or Coroner Paul Van Natta at this time. The doctor in charge of the toxicology lab would only say he had yet to make a conclusion.

The case took a dramatic turn when County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Scott announced on October 19th that the investigation had narrowed on a prime suspect. The name of this person was not released as investigators feared it could be detrimental to the case. The person in question was not currently under arrest but had undergone a polygraph examination. The case against them was still being put together. 

On the same day this news came out, police said that a man in Pennsylvania, believed to be someone who Donna had met and dated during her time at summer school, had been cleared following questioning. He was not the prime suspect.

Even though a prime suspect was being focused on, investigators said they continued to keep an open mind. Indeed by this stage 150 people had been questioned and several potential suspects had done polygraph tests. Investigators were still keen to hear from people who may have seen Donna between 10pm on Friday October 2nd and 3am on Saturday the 3rd.

24 hours after the shock announcement regarding the prime suspect, Sheriff's Chief Deputy Scott refused to comment when quizzed by reporters regarding an apparent suicide attempt by a male mathematics graduate student described as Donna’s campus boyfriend. This was the same man who had identified Donna’s body and who was a pallbearer at the funeral. He was admitted to NIU health center on Sunday October 18th with superficial cuts to his wrist. He was released at 4am the following morning, but before this he acquired the services of a local attorney. After leaving hospital the man went to live with his parents in Chicago. The attorney told the press that he had advised him and his family of their rights.

The following day the attorney told the media that his client had been quite emotionally disturbed over Donna’s death and he had been extremely cooperative with police. He had volunteered to do a polygraph test.

Despite the news that there was a prime suspect in the case no arrest followed. There was much public speculation and it was hoped the long awaited inquest would provide some answers.  It would be at the inquest that a coroner's jury would have to decide if foul play was involved in Donna’s death. If the evidence didn't allow this they could return a verdict of death by unknown causes and recommend the inquest be left open in the hope further evidence would turn up. 

The inquest finally took place at 5pm on December 17th 1970 at the DeKalb municipal building. A coroner's jury of 6 people was finally able to see the full pathology and toxicology reports.

The evidence concerning vomit being found in Donna's lungs was confirmed, though it was unclear if this happened before or after death. No fibres were found in the lungs, which would normally be the case if someone has been smothered by a pillow or bag. 

The toxicology report showed no evidence of drugs and examinations showed minimal evidence of violence. This last point somewhat contradicts the information that was leaked some months prior that suggested the death had been a result of violence. By way of explanation I read an article in the DeKalb Daily Chronicle from November 23rd 1980 that said there was conflict between two pathologists involved in the case. 

What the inquest did find was that there were some small abrasions on the body and a wound on the back just below the rib cage which may have been caused by contact with a blunt object. Donna’s clothes were intact and it was surmised they were put on by the wearer. In other words she had not been stripped and redressed. It was firmly established Donna had not been sexually assaulted and she was not pregnant. It was confirmed that Donna had been dead for 5-7 days, so not for the full amount of time she had been missing. 

The jury concluded that Donna died from suffocation but they could not tell if the death had been natural, suicidal, homicidal or accidental. 

The inquest heard that one suspect remained in the crosshairs of investigators but no charges had been made. The investigation would continue in joint effort between the Sheriff Department, DeKalb Police and the Illinois Bureau of Investigation. 

A short while after the inquest findings Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Scott announced that he had presented evidence concerning one suspect to the State Attorney's Office but they had decided not to prosecute, citing a lack of evidence. Scott indicated that the investigation concerning this individual would continue. While one person remained the focus of inquiries it was admitted that over 300 people had been questioned regarding Donna's death, some from as far afield as Mississippi. In total seven possible suspects had been looked into.

In May 1971 Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Scott spoke further on the matter to the DeKalb Daily Chronicle. Scott's frustration was clear but there simply wasn’t enough evidence to move forward. Certain details could not be introduced as evidence because of Supreme Court rulings concerning an individual's protection from self-incrimination. In this regard Scott references a polygraph test.

Scott said that he believed they had enough to obtain a grand jury indictment for the prime suspect but doubted a conviction would be possible at this time. Scott and the rest of the investigative team were going to bide their time and hope the missing piece to the puzzle would materialise. 

A decade later and nothing much had changed. In November 1980 a DeKalb County Detective actually went as far as saying the case was solved, yet unsolved. The evidence needed to move forward was just not there.

At this point in time investigators were not entirely sure where the suspect was living. They had moved out of the area and the investigation had lost track of their precise location. 

Fast forward 19 years and, in 1989, the Northern Star, a newspaper covering northern Illinois, wrote an interesting piece on the murder. In this article, for the first and only time in my research, members of law enforcement publicly mention that a former boyfriend of Donna was a suspect in the early days of the case. 

Donna’s best friend Donna C was interviewed in the aforementioned article, which shed light on why investigators had eyed this man as a suspect.

Donna C claimed that over the summer of 1970 she received letters from Donna at summer school saying she had plans to break off her relationship with a man who Donna C calls Donna's “first boyfriend”. I will refer to this man as “Chris”, though it is not his real name. Donna was interested in a man from Pennsylvania she had met at the summer language school. He had made plans to come and visit Donna at Halloween. It seems when Donna returned to DeKalb she did indeed end the relationship with her first boyfriend, “Chris”. 

Naturally, law enforcement got wind of this early in the investigation and they immediately thought it provided a motive. Added to this, in the aforementioned article, Donna C describes “Chris” as possessive in his relationship with Donna and says he was not in any way her intellectual equal.

“Chris” was questioned but never confessed. He denied having anything to do with Donna’s death. He was shocked that investigators could even consider him a suspect. There was only circumstantial evidence against “Chris”, such as the fact he lived alone on an estate close to where Donna’s body was found. He was never charged in connection with Donna’s death.

In 1989 journalists from the Northern Star reached out to “Chris” so he could give his side of events. He declined to comment, as he is entitled to do.

Since then there has been little in the way of developments in the case. There are occasional articles from Chicago newspapers, and some of Donna’s siblings have publicly shared their frustration over never having closure, and their hope that maybe one day something might happen. 

There are many details about this case that have left me scratching my head. The anonymous phone calls that plagued the Doll family and other students, the spate of attacks on female students on or near the university campus and the details concerning the pathology report. The unidentifiable substances found in the body, and the large quantity of potatoes in the stomach contents are very strange facts. Then there is the small bruise on Donna's back. I speculate here, but could it have been made by the barrel of a pistol as Donna was held at gunpoint? Many questions without answers. 

A memorial fund was set up to honor Donna’s love of reading, and a significant amount of money was raised to purchase books and educational material for schools and libraries. Donna Doll achieved a lot in her young life. Her character and intellect left a legacy to be proud of.

If you have any information about the death of Donna Doll you can contact the DeKalb Sheriff's Department on 815 895 2155 or alternatively Crimestoppers anonymously on 1 800 222 8477.