S2E4: Missing In Kane County (1976) – Part 1

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This podcast is based on information sourced primarily from police
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and media reports, but certain names and other identifying details
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may have been changed or altered for privacy and security reasons.
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While the events in cases discussed are based on real investigations,
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some aspects may be simplified for time and for narrative purposes.
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Voice actors have been used to read from statements or documents.
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All information presented is intended solely to inform and raise awareness.
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Hosts may discuss theories regarding the cases examined in this podcast,
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but such discussions are not intended to and should not
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be considered by the listener to be legal conclusions. All
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persons discussed are considered innocent until proven guilty in a
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court of law. Listener discretion is advised.
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This is Chief Anna Lally. Welcome to Somebody Knows Something,
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a podcast from the Elgin Police Department's Cold Case Unit.
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In this podcast, we will shed new light on cold
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cases in the city of Elgin by sharing untold details
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and by encouraging anyone with information to come forward. You
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will come along with real cold case detectives as they
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investigate active cold cases in real time and seek justice
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for the victims and closure for their families. We believe
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that the Elgin Police Department and our community can work
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together to bring closure to cold cases because we know
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that in these cases, somebody knows something.
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Hello and welcome to the Elgin Police Department Cold Case Podcast,
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Somebody Knows Something. My name is Detective Andrew Houghton and
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I'm Detective Chris Hall. For this episode, we are moving
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forward in time, just two short months after Lorie Bulger's
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murder to discuss the disappearance of fourteen year old barbac
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Luke on August twenty first, nineteen seventy six. Originally, we
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planned to spend one episode in Barbara's case, but as
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we met with the investigators, family, and several other people
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related to her case, we decided it was best that
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we need to split Barbara's case into two separate episodes.
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So this episode was part one of Missing and Kane
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County nineteen seventy six, The Disappearance of Barbara Gluckert. If
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you've listened to season one of this podcast, you know
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that our first season followed along as Sergeant Matt Maartenian
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and I investigated the disappearance of twenty three year old
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Karen Sheepers from April sixteenth, nineteen eighty three. As we
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worked through Karen's case, we investigated six different theories about
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what could have happened to her, and one of our
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theories was that Karen made at home and something happened
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at her house. What we never really got to explain
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to our listeners is that we had some really good
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reasons to consider that theory as a viable option.
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During the season, Matt Andrew discovered that Brian Dugan, an
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area of serial killer at the time, had followed women
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home and approach them, even reportedly abducting and sexually assaulting
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victims in that manner. They also learned that the downstairs
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tenant in her building, a man named James, had a
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criminal history for indecent exposure, had lived at a nudist camp,
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and was involved in both pornography and drugs.
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On top of that, James was friends with a man
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named Thomas Erlacker. Even let Erlacker rent the upstairs apartment
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of three to eleven Level Street, the exact same apartment
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that Karen later rented, and Thomas Erlacker well, He was
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and remains the sole suspect in the disappearance of Barbara Luker.
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For part one, we want to spend some time talking
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about who Barbera was and how our disappearance impacted not
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only her family, but an entire community. We feel that
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it's very important for people to understand the victims in
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these cases, and we also feel that it is equally
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important that we both honor their memory and respect their families.
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For our first three episodes, families asked that we not
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use their voices in this podcast. Every family is at
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a different point in this grieving process, and we respect that.
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We want to thank each and every person who has
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met with us to talk about the victims in our cases,
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whether they've appeared in an episode or not. The information
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we get from friends and family is valuable and helps
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us honor these victims and really describe who they were
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in life and not just in death.
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In this episode, for the first time this season, you
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will hear actual interviews with one of Barbara's brothers and
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her niece as we seek to give her a voice
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in this case. But before we hear from the family,
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we want to talk a little bit about Thomas Erlacker
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and Barbara's case to give our listeners a structure of
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this investigation. Then in part two you will hear from
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retired detective who worked on her case, as well as
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people who knew or had interactions with Thomas Arlacker. Hopefully,
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by releasing this information and remembering Barbara, we can generate
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new tips in her case and honor her memory.
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Okay, Andrews, So let's talk a little bit about how
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we got here in the first place. And while we're
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talking about Barbara's case, because technically it's not an Elgin case. Yeah, okay,
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I know that for season one, you and Matt visited
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Karen's apartment and her childhood home, spent countless hours going
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through real belongings, including letters, personal papers, yearbooks, utility bills,
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and addresser. You guys also interviewed people regarding her apartment,
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but we never aired any of that information or those
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interviews in any episodes.
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Yeah, that's right.
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You also learned that Karen moved into her apartment in
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August or September of nineteen seventy eight, and that shortly
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before that, Thomas Herlacker moved out, reportedly keeping his key
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to the apartment.
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Yeah, we did, and so we started digging into Thomas
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Hurlacker in his background Obviously, we learned about Barbara's case,
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but we also learned that Barbara was not the only
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victim associate with Thomas Arlacker. He had an extensive criminal
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history that included a kidnapping conviction as well as some
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sexual assault cases and weapons offenses in the early nineteen seventies.
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Plus when he moved out of Karen's apartment in nineteen
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seventy eight and moved to Oregon, two things happened almost immediately.
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He was arrested for the sexual assault of an eighteen
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year old woman in July nineteen seventy eight, and he
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also became the suspect in a double murder after two
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bodies of women eighteen and nineteen years old were found
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in a wooded area by a group out looking for
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Christmas trees in December of nineteen seventy eight. Police later
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determined that those women were likely killed in the spring
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and possibly before he arrived in the area, and Erlaker
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was basically removed as a suspect. As for his rape case,
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he was acquitted at trial and moved again from Oregon
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to Colorado, where he was arrested fourteen more times between
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nineteen eighty three and two thousand and one for a
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number of different offenses.
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Based on his background and his association with not only
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the other tenants in Karen's building, but also her actual apartment. Obviously,
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you considered that Irlaker could have been involved in Karen's case,
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So you man obtained numerous records for his movements in
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the nineteen eighties in Colorado, which he was living at
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the time.
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Yeah, and some of those records we gathered included some
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arrest records and court records, including an arrest in Larimer County, Colorado,
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on January eleventh, nineteen eighty three, almost exactly three months
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before Karen disappeared. While we were able to determine that
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Erlacker was originally set to appear for a trial on
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that case on April eighteenth, nineteen eighty three, coincidentally, the
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same day that Karen was reported missing, that case was
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continued into the summer. While we couldn't conclusively say if
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Erlacker was inn Illinois or not in April, it appeared
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unlikely because he had these ongoing legal issues out in Colorado. Nevertheless,
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that lead was something we were looking at until we
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found Karen's car on the Fox River here in Elgin
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in March of twenty twenty five and effectively eliminated him
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as a suspect in her case.
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Even though we ruled out Erlacker as being involved in
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Karence case. The goal of the podcast has always been
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to gather information and generate tips and community eNTRI in
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our cold cases. So because we had already done a
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ton of work looking into Erleaker, we decided that we
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could potentially highlight Barbera's case in an effort to put
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it back in the spotlight. Plus, the suspect in our
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case lived in Elgin, had a criminal history in Elgin,
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and it remains are more than likely somewhere in Kane County.
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With that in mind, this summer, we reached out to
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the Mount Prospect Police Department who handled her case, and
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to Barbara's family to ask if they would allow us
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to cover this case, and they agreed. So we're using
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this podcast to discuss Barbara and her case, to remember her,
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to honor her, and to hopefully generate new leads in
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her case.
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Barbara Glukert was born on September seventh, nineteen sixty one,
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to Robert and Gail Glucert. She had two brothers Mark
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and Bob, and was living in the six hundred block
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of Russell Street in Mount Prospect. In the summer of
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nineteen seventy six, Barbara and her family attended Mass at
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Saint Raymonds Catholic t and she was about to start
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her freshman year at Prospect High School, a school that
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she would sadly never attend.
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On August twenty first, nineteen seventy six, Barbara met a
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man later identified as Thomas Urlacker. She and her friend
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agreed to go with him to an outdoor concert in Huntley, Illinois,
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and after that concert, Barbara was never seen again. It's
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been nearly fifty years since her disappearance, but Barbara has
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never been found, and she remains missing here in Kane County.
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Barbara was five foot four inches tall, She weighed about
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one hundred and twenty pounds, and had long, dark brown
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hair and brown eyes. When she disappeared on August twenty
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first of nineteen seventy six, she was last seen wearing
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a green T shirt, blue corduroy jeans, a rope belt
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with a large metal buckle, tan earth shoes, and a
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leather necklace with some beads. Several pictures courtesy of the
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Glucrit family are included with this episode, and you can
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find out more information about Barbara and her case on
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places online like the Charlie Project and NamUs. But Barbara
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was so much more than just a photograph and some statistics.
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Here is Barbara's older brother, Bob, who was just fifteen
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years old when she disappeared, talking about his little sister.
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It was nineteen seventy six, you know, so in the
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early seventies, you know, everything was blooming in every direction,
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and Barbara, certainly as a young woman, was blooming. You know.
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She went from kind of being the you know, a
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little bit of a I don't want to say ugly duckling,
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but kind of is a little bit of an outcast.
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She suddenly bloomed out of the blue into this like amazing,
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beautiful looking woman, you know. And along with that bloom
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came her confidence. You know, she was when she was young,
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she was a stamp collector. And what's it there putting
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her stamps in, you know, and you know her, you
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know who was the one that's saying I'm so sorry,
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uncle Albert Nicole. That was one of her favorite songs
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or Wildfire, those were the songs that were playing back then.
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But yeah, always going to neighbour's house is always sleeping over.
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You know. She had just registered for her freshman year
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at Prospect High School. She had done that just a
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week or two before she disappeared, and I ended up
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carrying those books back, Chris.
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I know, after talking to Bob, we both went back
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and listened to some of the music that he mentioned,
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just to get an idea of what Barbara enjoyed. Uncle
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Albert is a song by Paul and Linda McCartney that
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came out a few years before Barbara disappeared, back in
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nineteen seventy one. And Wildfire that's a nineteen seventy five
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song by Michael Martin Murphy. Ironically, Wildfire is about a
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girl who disappears while she's out searching for her runaway
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pony that she named Wildfire. Both songs have that quintessential
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seventy sound of them, and knowing that she liked these
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kind of songs really puts you in a place where
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you can absolutely imagine her sitting on the floor listening
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to some Vinyl records. In the summer of nineteen seventy six.
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Bob went out to tell us that because she took
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her yearbook photo shortly before her disappearance, Barbara's photo actually
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appeared in the Prospect High School yearbook in nineteen seventy seven.
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I can't even imagine how difficult they must have been
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for the family and the friends to see that photograph
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from just days before her disappearance, knowing full well that
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she was gone. Never actually attended her freshman year.
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For her part, Bob's daughter Nicole never got to meet
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her aunt Barbara. But pictures like that yearbook photo and
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other family photos from the seventies paint a vivid picture
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of the young girl that Barbara was. Even now, nearly
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fifty years later.
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All the pictures we have of her, she's like looks
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exactly like you would think of like aricature of the seventies,
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like a flower child. Like she had, like the vests
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and the necklaces and the bell bottoms and the long
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straight hair. She just like embodied that time. It was
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really kind of cool. It's cool to see like her style.
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She also collected Nancy Drew books, and I have the
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whole point because I have the whole collection now, and
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it was funny. She used to ironically She found four
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leaf clovers all the time. And I have a poetry book,
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and then Nancy drew books and they every once in
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a while when I opened one of them, like she
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used to press the four leaf clovers in the pages
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so they'll like pour.
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Out, which is kind of cool, but cool.
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She just she was smart, I think from from from
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the stories that we've heard, and it's just bright.
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So Bob agreed that Barbara was very bright.
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Bob also described his relationship with her and her really
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close relationship with the younger brother Mark.
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We were only a year apart. My birthday is the
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third of September. Hers was the seventh. So we celebrated
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every birthday together. Obviously they holiday did the other. I
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have a brother that's six years younger than I am.
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She was very close with him, you know, constantly playing
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you know, teacher and student and you know, and he
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loved that and she loved that. You know, it was
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the big brother against the two others all the time.
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You know, she was always protecting Mark. She always protected Marked.
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Bob went on to describe family trips to a cabin
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in the Wisconsin Dells and a family that sounds like
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was living your average suburban life. They attended church, the
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kids played sports, and they had hobbies, and by all accounts,
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they were the quintessential Catholic family living in the Chicago
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suburbs of the nineteen seventies. But Barbara's disappearance in the
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summer of nineteen seventy six changed everything.
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You probably hear this all the time, but you know,
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in prospect, in the seventies, I don't remember our locking
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our back door when we went to bed at night.
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It was when we started locking the doors. But there
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were lots of seems like there were lots of stories
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that were happening, or maybe we were more in tune
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to listening to them. But all of a sudden, these
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these kind of tragic stories, just every time I turned around,
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there was a there was another, you know, there was
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00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:03.399
another one that you would hear about.
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There certainly were a number of cases now that you
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00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:10.360
look back, and I'm sure for someone like Bob suddenly
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you're in tune with that. Laurie Bulger was murdered two
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months before Barbara, and there were a number of other
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cases in the Chicagoland area in the nineteen seventies. It's
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something that I would imagine as a fifteen year old kid,
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you probably don't pay much attention to until it happens
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to you and your family. Then you see the world
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in a totally different way.
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Yeah, it's really just the earth shattering event. I know
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you described Barbara and what she was wearing before she disappeared,
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But for Bob, that description isn't just some words on
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a missing person website. It's his sister. Her long dark
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00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:46.000
hair ran down past her shoulders, and as he said,
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she was growing up, she was involved in basketball and
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other social circles, and she attended to mask their family
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00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:55.399
and her friends, and she was starting to spend time
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with those friends like any other teenage girl. That Saturday
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night was no different, and Bob still remembers that night
291
00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:04.799
when he was fifteen years old and saw his sister
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one last time.
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00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:10.159
I could still see her walking out. That night. My
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00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:12.759
dad was out of town. He was in California in business.
295
00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:15.360
My mom and I and my brother were at the house.
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Our hot water heater had cracked a leak in the
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basement and I was helping the neighbor's husband turn around
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and replace our hot water heater. Used to do that
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kind of stuff back then. You know, and he's helping us.
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And I remember it was at the end of the day.
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It was a mess, clean up the basement, and you know,
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she and her girlfriend heading out the front door, and
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00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:37.879
my mom saying, now, you're going to be back by midnight, right,
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no later, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, And and you know,
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00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:47.639
and they and they never came back, you know, And
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they never came back. And life changed forever that night.
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As Bob had said, life changed forever for the Blue
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Cret family that satnight. Barbara's disappearance took a toll on Bob,
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00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:07.720
his brother, and his parents. After losing his daughter, Barbara's
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00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:10.519
father wanted to protect his wife, his two sons, and
311
00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:13.119
the entire family from having to talk about Barbara's case
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and relive it. And he worked tirelessly to try to
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do just that. But it else took.
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A toll on him. My dad was building his business.
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00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:25.759
He was very busy. You know. If it wasn't for
316
00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:29.400
the help of a partner that he had during that
317
00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:31.799
time frame, my dad would have gone bankrupt. Trying to
318
00:17:31.799 --> 00:17:34.519
turn around with all of his assets, trying to find
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some type of a solution to all this. He was
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00:17:37.480 --> 00:17:39.759
he believed in the United States. He believed in the
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00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:42.359
court systems, he believed in all that stuff, and he
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believed in God. You know. He was bound and determined
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to see that there was justice done here, and it
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00:17:49.960 --> 00:17:53.680
just it never it was his his partner, only a
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00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:56.599
business partner that ultimately turned around and you know, and
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00:17:56.799 --> 00:18:01.599
and helped this thing float float through. My dad would
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00:18:02.119 --> 00:18:05.519
my dad at sat we attended church at Saint Raymonds
328
00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:08.799
every Sunday. My dad would write a little prayer card
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00:18:08.839 --> 00:18:10.880
on a little index card and he'd set it into
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a little box that they'd carry up to the altar
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every morning along with everybody else's prayer card. He never
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00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:22.160
stopped trying. He never stopped, you know. But then as
333
00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:26.240
he got sick and older, he was weak and he
334
00:18:26.680 --> 00:18:30.200
just he didn't have the physical strength to turn around
335
00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:35.079
and fight that cause anymore, you know. And when it
336
00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:38.240
reopened twenty years ago, he was if that's how long
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00:18:38.279 --> 00:18:42.720
it was now, he was adamant that we not participated
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00:18:42.759 --> 00:18:46.599
anything because he felt, as the patriarch, that he was
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the one that needed to stand up and speak, and
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that he was too sick and ill to do it,
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and he didn't want. You know, my mom, who was
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00:18:52.680 --> 00:18:55.000
sick trying to do it, and he was also trying
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to protect me, my brother, and down the road. He
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00:18:59.240 --> 00:19:03.799
would have probably not wanted to have had Nicole sitting
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00:19:03.799 --> 00:19:06.880
in a meeting here about this. You know, two generations later,
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00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:13.559
you know he was protecting his family. He tried everything
347
00:19:13.640 --> 00:19:14.640
humanly possible.
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There are lots of old newspaper articles from the seventies
349
00:19:18.599 --> 00:19:21.279
that include photographs of Robert Gluckert at different sites when
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00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:24.920
detectives did searches. He would make coffee, help search, and
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00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:26.720
do anything he could to try to find his daughter.
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Robert C.
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Glucker was a Navy veteran who proudly served his country
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during World War Two aboard the USS Antietam. He built
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a business and a family in Mount Prospect, Illinois, and
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00:19:37.640 --> 00:19:40.640
on August twenty first, nineteen seventy six, he lost his
357
00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:45.960
only daughter. Sadly, Robert passed away on November sixteenth, twenty fourteen,
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never getting a true answer in his daughter's case.
359
00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:55.079
Obviously, Barbara's disappearance also deeply impacted her mother, Gail. That
360
00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:58.680
impact really hit home with Bob. One decades after Barbara's disappearance,
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00:19:59.240 --> 00:20:01.240
his mother was invited to attend what would have been
362
00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:05.319
a reunion for Barbara's class at Saint Raymond's. Bob attended
363
00:20:05.319 --> 00:20:07.680
that reunion with his mother and told us this about
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00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:08.440
that experience.
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00:20:09.319 --> 00:20:11.799
She went to Saint Raymonds, as I did in mom prospect,
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and we were invited to probably her twentieth or her
367
00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:20.359
twenty fifth reunion from Saint Raymonds. And my mom was
368
00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:24.079
sick at the time. She she died at sixty eight
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of obarian, but she was. We had received the invitation
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and my mom wanted to go, and so I took her.
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We went to this mass, and the two of us,
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and she was pretty old, and the two of us
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were standing there so quiet, and you know, we're looking
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around the church and we're looking at these girls and
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we're recognizing who they were. And I leaned to her
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00:20:44.200 --> 00:20:46.359
and I said, do you notice what I noticed? And
377
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she said, she said, they've all grown up.
378
00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:53.160
Bob went on to talk about how difficult it was
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00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:55.880
to see that these other classmates of Barbara had grown
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old while his sister never got that opportunity. Talked about
381
00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:02.559
what it was like to stand in Barbara's school and
382
00:21:02.599 --> 00:21:05.720
see all of her friends years later. It really helped
383
00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:08.799
him realize that all those classmates still remembered Barbara, and
384
00:21:08.839 --> 00:21:11.039
it made him see how much her disappearance affected them
385
00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:12.440
as well.
386
00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:16.720
For us, my mom was always worried about whether or
387
00:21:16.759 --> 00:21:22.119
not anybody would remember that she existed. And you know,
388
00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:24.279
we all saw all these girls were in and out
389
00:21:24.279 --> 00:21:27.440
of our houses for years. Barbara was popular. She played
390
00:21:27.480 --> 00:21:31.119
on the basketball team at Saint Raymond. She you know,
391
00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:36.400
she was, you know, kind of a flower that all
392
00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:39.119
of a sudden just bloomed and went crazy. You know,
393
00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:42.240
she was popular not only with the Saint Raymond's kids,
394
00:21:42.279 --> 00:21:46.279
but also with the public school kids. She knew everybody.
395
00:21:46.359 --> 00:21:49.119
She was going you know, I was the conservative, geeky one,
396
00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:52.079
and she was the one that was so into everything
397
00:21:52.279 --> 00:21:54.759
that was that was going on, you know, friends, like
398
00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:57.079
there was no tomorrow. You know, we were always bringing
399
00:21:57.079 --> 00:22:00.440
someone different up to a summer cabin that my parents
400
00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:04.319
had up in the dells. You know, those girls were
401
00:22:04.359 --> 00:22:07.039
just in and out of there constantly. But my point
402
00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:08.759
is is that my mom and I stood there in
403
00:22:08.759 --> 00:22:14.599
that thing and we realized that our relationships are memories
404
00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:16.720
of all these girls froze at that same time in
405
00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:20.880
nineteen seventy six, and suddenly we're sitting there in this room,
406
00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:27.119
and these women are full grown with families. And what
407
00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:32.039
was even more significant about it was that all of
408
00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:34.319
them remembered. I guess that's really what I'm trying to
409
00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:37.200
tell you. One by one, these girls came up to
410
00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:43.119
us and introduced themselves again or reintroduced themselves, and then
411
00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:46.039
told us how their lives were affected as a result
412
00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:50.440
of losing one of their best friends. How they would
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00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:59.000
turn around and tell their sorry breath, you're good, it's okay.
414
00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:01.440
It would tell their own children as they were growing up,
415
00:23:01.480 --> 00:23:04.799
their own girls. That's something as stupid as kind of
416
00:23:04.839 --> 00:23:06.759
saying a little white lie, saying we're going to go
417
00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:08.519
off and do this, and they have plans to do
418
00:23:08.599 --> 00:23:12.640
something like this could backfire in a really bad way.
419
00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:15.240
And we had a girl I had a best friend
420
00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:16.680
that happened.
421
00:23:16.359 --> 00:23:20.839
To a few years after that reunion. Gail Glucrit passed
422
00:23:20.839 --> 00:23:23.960
away on June sixteenth, two thousand and seven, and she,
423
00:23:24.279 --> 00:23:26.319
just like her husband, never got an answer in her
424
00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:29.640
only daughter's case. But the impact on the Glucrit family
425
00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:33.039
doesn't stop there. Even family members that never met Barbara
426
00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:37.119
are impacted by her disappearance. Her niece Nicole had this
427
00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:39.400
to say, about her life growing up in the shadow
428
00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:40.359
of a case like this.
429
00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:45.480
As soon as I got to that age, like fourteen, fifteen, sixteen,
430
00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:47.599
and I started wanting to leave the neighborhood or like
431
00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:51.519
do other things. I think that's when Barbara's disappearance impacted
432
00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:54.079
our lives as a family. I think more so just
433
00:23:54.119 --> 00:23:58.039
because my dad and my mom were both very, very concerned.
434
00:23:58.079 --> 00:23:59.640
They want to know where I was going, who I
435
00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:01.599
was meeting up with, how I was getting home. Those
436
00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:05.160
were very constant concerns, and a lot of times I
437
00:24:05.160 --> 00:24:07.559
would just I just get so mad at my dad,
438
00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:10.319
but I wasn't allowed to go, like he just didn't
439
00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:12.160
know enough about the parents, or didn't know how I
440
00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:14.319
was going to get back or whatever, and I would
441
00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:16.920
just be I to get so mad. But now that
442
00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:20.519
I'm in my late thirties, I get it. I understand
443
00:24:20.599 --> 00:24:23.279
why why we were that way.
444
00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:26.279
Now, Andrew, I know we both have kids, and it
445
00:24:26.359 --> 00:24:28.839
certainly makes sense that Bob would be that much more
446
00:24:28.839 --> 00:24:32.240
protective of his daughter after living through that experience. I
447
00:24:32.279 --> 00:24:35.799
can't even imagine how however react yeah either. And you
448
00:24:35.799 --> 00:24:38.119
know another group that has impacted in these cases that
449
00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:41.839
people often forget about are the officers and detectives involved,
450
00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:44.759
and according to Bob, this case had a huge effect
451
00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:47.519
on those Mount Prospect detectives who work Barber's case.
452
00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:50.640
I also would like to turn around and you know,
453
00:24:51.079 --> 00:24:53.519
you're so much positive or negative for the police force.
454
00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:55.960
And here where we were sitting next to two there
455
00:24:55.960 --> 00:25:00.599
were some amazing original detectives that were on that, on
456
00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:04.519
that and they all had young children at this the
457
00:25:04.599 --> 00:25:09.599
same age that Barbara was. Even years later, while my
458
00:25:09.640 --> 00:25:11.799
mom and dad were still living out at the Lake Nicole,
459
00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:15.119
you know and Lake Villa, you know, those men would
460
00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:17.599
periodically come out there, you know. I remember one time
461
00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:23.079
they brought some a ring and some clothes that they
462
00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:25.960
had used as part of the investigation, and they you know,
463
00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:27.640
they felt they wanted to make sure they made it
464
00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:30.680
back to them, to my mom and dad, you know,
465
00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:36.359
and they talked about how impacted their own lives were
466
00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:40.039
as as men, as fathers of kids that were exactly
467
00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:43.160
the same age. You know. It was a it was
468
00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:46.640
a it was a tough one. It was a tough
469
00:25:46.680 --> 00:25:47.279
one for sure.
470
00:25:48.599 --> 00:25:50.559
Bob and his family also have a ton of respect
471
00:25:50.680 --> 00:25:54.359
for retired Mount Prospect detective Mike Nelson. Mike grew up
472
00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:56.759
with Barbara and later worked on her case as a detective.
473
00:25:57.480 --> 00:25:59.279
Our listeners are going to hear from him in part two.
474
00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:02.400
But Bob has known Mike for years. He even knew
475
00:26:02.440 --> 00:26:03.599
him before Barbara went missing.
476
00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:06.880
Mike grew up on the We were on the six
477
00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:08.759
hundred block of Russell and Mike was on the four
478
00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:10.799
hundred or five hundred block of Russell. It was a
479
00:26:10.839 --> 00:26:16.359
block away and they were schoolmates together, and Mike dedicated
480
00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:20.119
his entire career to turning around and carrying that torch
481
00:26:20.200 --> 00:26:21.480
and trying to resolve it.
482
00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:26.440
People like Mike are dedicated public servants. They work these
483
00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:28.759
cases and they bring them home with them, and they
484
00:26:28.759 --> 00:26:32.720
carry them with them throughout life. These cases affect detectives
485
00:26:32.759 --> 00:26:35.400
who care that much more about the families and the victims.
486
00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:38.480
Mike is one of those detectives that truly cares, and
487
00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:42.400
so Barbara's case has certainly impacted him. Bob attended Mike's
488
00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:45.319
retirement ceremony, and he told us this about Mike's dedication
489
00:26:45.480 --> 00:26:46.279
to Barber's case.
490
00:26:47.640 --> 00:26:51.839
My mom grabbed watching, grab Mike by the shoulders and say,
491
00:26:52.359 --> 00:26:54.799
you know this is We appreciate all you have to do,
492
00:26:54.880 --> 00:26:57.039
but I want to make sure that your life isn't
493
00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:00.279
destroyed like ours has been affected as a result of
494
00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:04.240
all that's going on. So gosh, forward twenty years later,
495
00:27:04.359 --> 00:27:07.400
they're not around anymore and I'm at this retirement thing
496
00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:10.119
and I I really the only thing that I said
497
00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:11.720
was I walked up to Mike, I gave him a hug,
498
00:27:11.799 --> 00:27:13.680
and I whispered it is he's telling me that he's
499
00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:16.119
going to continue this fight, and he's going to continue
500
00:27:16.200 --> 00:27:18.480
to make sure that the next generation is going this
501
00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:21.119
And truthfully, I whispered it as here it's time to
502
00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:24.559
let it go. You know, I got this amazing I
503
00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:26.279
don't know if you gentlemen are married or not. I
504
00:27:26.279 --> 00:27:31.640
got this amazed letter from his wife that basically said,
505
00:27:31.720 --> 00:27:35.799
thank you, you gave us, you gave my son. You know,
506
00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:45.240
you let him go, like send him free from it.
507
00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:48.359
Yeah, you know, Chris, I know we both talked to
508
00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:50.480
Mike a number of times as we look through the case,
509
00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:52.759
and he's always quick to send a text or take
510
00:27:52.759 --> 00:27:55.119
a call or do really anything you can for this case.
511
00:27:55.839 --> 00:27:57.839
I think our hope with this podcast is that the
512
00:27:57.880 --> 00:28:01.240
current generation of active detectives, whether it's a Mount Prospect
513
00:28:01.319 --> 00:28:03.279
or here in Elgin or anywhere else around the area
514
00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:05.599
can be that new group that pick up the torch
515
00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:08.200
that he carried for so long, and hopefully our listeners
516
00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:10.640
out there can help us carry Barbara's case forward to
517
00:28:10.640 --> 00:28:12.119
to show that she is not forgotten.
518
00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:23.960
As we review this case over these two episodes, we
519
00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:26.039
also want to be cognizant of the fact that every
520
00:28:26.039 --> 00:28:29.039
time we go over case like this, the family is
521
00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:33.160
essentially revictimized. So we hope as we talk about Barbara
522
00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:35.759
and her family and the impact she had in life
523
00:28:35.799 --> 00:28:38.440
as well as in death, makes for listeners understand that
524
00:28:38.519 --> 00:28:42.279
these families relive these tragedies over and over. Bob had
525
00:28:42.279 --> 00:28:44.960
this to say about the constant media attention to cases
526
00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:45.599
like Barbara's.
527
00:28:46.839 --> 00:28:49.519
We talk about closure with families. Sometimes it gets me
528
00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:52.240
mad when out of the blue, then an article pops
529
00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:54.480
up on a Friday, as I've got a group of
530
00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:56.079
people here who are about ready to take off for
531
00:28:56.160 --> 00:29:00.759
a weekend somewhere, and then it's just like it's just
532
00:29:00.839 --> 00:29:02.759
like taking a sucker punch where you didn't know it
533
00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:04.920
was coming at you. You know, if you have a
534
00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:07.039
little bit of it, and I know this podcast is
535
00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:09.680
coming and I'll be prepared for it and whatever the
536
00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:13.839
results are, but it is hard when you know, sometimes
537
00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:17.839
journalisms steps in there and they kind of throw this out.
538
00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:20.880
You know, next year will be fifty years. You know,
539
00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:24.079
hopefully you'll be successful and it's forty nine years and resolved.
540
00:29:24.119 --> 00:29:26.319
But if it's not at the fifty year anniversary, am
541
00:29:26.359 --> 00:29:27.960
I going to be back on the front page or
542
00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:29.440
is she going to be back on the front page
543
00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:32.839
of the Herald because it sells newspapers. It's very, very
544
00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:36.440
very hard as a family as you're trying to juggle
545
00:29:36.519 --> 00:29:40.880
this feeling internally, this loss, this miss and then all
546
00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:42.240
of a sudden, you know.
547
00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:46.599
Nicole echoes something similar. When she was in high school,
548
00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:48.640
Barbara's case was reopened and there was a lot of
549
00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:51.880
media buzz around it. Even though she wasn't even alive
550
00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:54.559
when the case happened, she still felt the ripple effects
551
00:29:54.559 --> 00:29:57.759
of that media attention, and this case still impacts her
552
00:29:58.000 --> 00:29:59.880
and the younger generation of the Glucer family.
553
00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:05.200
It's been interesting experiencing it. I obviously wasn't there, but
554
00:30:05.359 --> 00:30:10.279
experiencing it generationally and seeing how that one thing that
555
00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:13.960
happened that one night in nineteen seventy six has impacted
556
00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:18.119
now the future for us. I mean, it impacted my life,
557
00:30:18.200 --> 00:30:20.720
and especially when they reopened the case in two thousand
558
00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:24.240
and eight. I was We lived in Gurnee so growing up,
559
00:30:24.279 --> 00:30:27.079
and I went to Warren High School, and even in
560
00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:30.880
a school that big, our last name is not common,
561
00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:33.200
it's Gluckrid is one that you hear and like your
562
00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:36.200
teachers who read the paper. When that case got reopened,
563
00:30:36.200 --> 00:30:39.960
it was like headlines in Korea too, And I remember
564
00:30:40.039 --> 00:30:42.680
like being in school and teachers pulling me aside and
565
00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:45.000
being like, here are you related to this? Is this
566
00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:49.119
your family? And I was like yeah, Like it's just
567
00:30:49.200 --> 00:30:51.480
it's crazy that it rippled down for so long and
568
00:30:51.559 --> 00:30:54.880
so far out each time it reopened, and that kind
569
00:30:54.920 --> 00:30:57.000
of thing. So I think if I were to say
570
00:30:57.000 --> 00:30:59.799
anything to anybody who knew something or or had him
571
00:30:59.799 --> 00:31:05.000
from in my mind, I think it's worth reminding that
572
00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:08.279
this has clearly had a generational ripple effect. Right, It's
573
00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:12.160
not just about my grandparents, although obviously that's a huge component.
574
00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:14.279
We're a spiritual family, so we very much believe in
575
00:31:14.359 --> 00:31:16.799
spirits and that kind of thing, and I think we
576
00:31:16.839 --> 00:31:19.519
would like to bring that honor enclosure to them, even
577
00:31:19.559 --> 00:31:22.720
though they've passed, but I think more tangibly in today's
578
00:31:22.759 --> 00:31:25.559
day and age. This affects me and my brother and
579
00:31:25.640 --> 00:31:29.079
my younger cousins who are around as well, and then
580
00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:30.920
my aunt and uncle and my father.
581
00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:31.480
I think it.
582
00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:36.079
Passes further beyond and all of her friends, and I'm
583
00:31:36.119 --> 00:31:39.039
sure her childhood friends have kids of their own who
584
00:31:39.079 --> 00:31:40.880
they may also be going through the same thing as
585
00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:42.559
those kids want to spread their wings and get their
586
00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:47.359
driver's licenses and stuff. It's you worry that that effect
587
00:31:47.400 --> 00:31:50.119
has just gone so far, and I think that having
588
00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:54.039
some closure would maybe put an end to a little
589
00:31:54.039 --> 00:31:56.559
bit of that ongoing ripple that continues to kind of
590
00:31:56.559 --> 00:31:59.000
make its way, because it's those questions we have that
591
00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:01.880
make it so much scarier. You know, they have what
592
00:32:02.039 --> 00:32:03.519
happened and that kind of thing.
593
00:32:03.640 --> 00:32:09.480
So Nicole said it best. These cases have generational ripple effects.
594
00:32:09.720 --> 00:32:11.240
And I know we've said it before, but as we
595
00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:13.680
reopen these cases, we want to try to be really
596
00:32:13.759 --> 00:32:16.559
cautious and respectful to the families and of these cases.
597
00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:18.680
It's really hard for them to listen to us and
598
00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:22.079
talk about it. It's really a balancing act. We have
599
00:32:22.119 --> 00:32:24.680
to balance our obligation to the victim and our obligations
600
00:32:24.680 --> 00:32:26.960
to the family and their friends. But I think we
601
00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:29.119
can do that while still respecting the families in these
602
00:32:29.160 --> 00:32:31.599
cases and do our best not to revictimize them as
603
00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:32.599
we go through this process.
604
00:32:33.400 --> 00:32:36.039
For Bob, the fact that Barbara is gone and that
605
00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:37.839
she went off to a party with her friend and
606
00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:41.119
Thomas Surlacker is something that is still very raw. He
607
00:32:41.160 --> 00:32:43.519
feels robbed of his sister, and he wants people to
608
00:32:43.559 --> 00:32:45.640
know that he does not blame the two young teenage
609
00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:48.400
girls for sneaking off to go to a concert. It's
610
00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:51.400
something that young kids have done for generations. Bob was
611
00:32:51.519 --> 00:32:53.720
very clear that he also wants Barbara's friend from that
612
00:32:53.880 --> 00:32:56.359
night to remember that this is not her fault and
613
00:32:56.359 --> 00:32:59.920
his thoughts and sympathies lie with her as well.
614
00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:03.240
What got stolen from me was the opportunity to become
615
00:33:03.759 --> 00:33:06.440
to have that sister and have that best friend. You know,
616
00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:10.119
we never worked through all of that childhood stuff that
617
00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:12.319
you guys may have experienced with your own siblings. I
618
00:33:12.359 --> 00:33:14.119
don't know how close they were or weren't with you,
619
00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:18.480
but it took a lot of years to turn around
620
00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:21.759
and kind of put that one to bed and silently
621
00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:24.599
in my in my head, turn around and say that
622
00:33:24.680 --> 00:33:27.640
I love you, you know, I forgive you. You know,
623
00:33:28.039 --> 00:33:31.839
it wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault. I blamed
624
00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:34.839
her for years, you know, for making a stupid mistake
625
00:33:34.920 --> 00:33:39.640
that turned everybody's lives upside down. You know, what I
626
00:33:40.519 --> 00:33:42.799
do know is that I don't hate anyone. I'm not
627
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:45.720
angry at these girls, you know, or the you know
628
00:33:45.799 --> 00:33:48.440
that her friend that went out. You know, I just
629
00:33:48.519 --> 00:33:51.480
have compassion and love for that. She got caught in
630
00:33:51.480 --> 00:33:54.599
a really bad situation too, and maybe her life was affected,
631
00:33:54.599 --> 00:33:56.920
and I wish it never had been.
632
00:34:05.880 --> 00:34:08.519
Anytime we listen to a family member recount stories of
633
00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:11.440
their lost loved ones, it reminds you that they're still grieving,
634
00:34:11.880 --> 00:34:15.119
even nearly fifty years later. Barbara was only fourteen years
635
00:34:15.119 --> 00:34:18.199
old when she disappeared on Saturday, August twenty first, nineteen
636
00:34:18.239 --> 00:34:22.599
seventy six, and her disappearance left an empty space. She
637
00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:24.639
wasn't there at the bedside when either of her parents
638
00:34:24.679 --> 00:34:27.320
passed away, and she wasn't there for her brother's wedding
639
00:34:27.880 --> 00:34:30.639
or the birth of their children. The younger members of
640
00:34:30.679 --> 00:34:33.119
the Glucrat family, like Nicole, will never be able to
641
00:34:33.159 --> 00:34:35.559
meet that cool aunt who loved Vinyl records, and Nancy
642
00:34:35.639 --> 00:34:38.159
drew and pressed four leaf clovers between the pages of
643
00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:42.280
her books. Barbara never came home on August twenty first,
644
00:34:42.760 --> 00:34:46.280
and even today she still is in hope. Our hope
645
00:34:46.400 --> 00:34:48.400
is that with this podcast and with your help, we
646
00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:49.039
can change that.
647
00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:03.199
The final thing we asked Bob was what message she
648
00:35:03.239 --> 00:35:05.519
wanted to give to our listeners and anyone out there
649
00:35:05.519 --> 00:35:08.920
who might have information about Barbara in her case. This
650
00:35:09.039 --> 00:35:11.880
is what Bob had to say.
651
00:35:12.719 --> 00:35:14.519
All I can say to what you ask me is
652
00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:16.679
that I you know, a personal request. If there is
653
00:35:16.760 --> 00:35:22.199
anybody that does know anything out there that can help
654
00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:29.239
my mom and dad bring one of their bring one
655
00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:31.480
of their final wishes, which is to put their daughter
656
00:35:31.639 --> 00:35:34.559
to rest once and for all, bring her home. That's
657
00:35:34.559 --> 00:35:35.440
what my mom said.
658
00:35:49.559 --> 00:35:52.280
Hearing about who Barbara was helps us remember her and
659
00:35:52.360 --> 00:35:55.559
hopefully makes people think that much more about providing information
660
00:35:55.639 --> 00:35:59.079
if they have any Barbara could be your daughter, your sister,
661
00:35:59.599 --> 00:36:02.320
or even a friend. So if you have any information
662
00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:14.079
that might bring her home, please contact us. Our next
663
00:36:14.119 --> 00:36:18.199
episode is part two of Barbara's story. You will hear
664
00:36:18.239 --> 00:36:22.119
about Barber's case directly from retired Mount Prospect detective Mike Nelson,
665
00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:24.519
who spent years working to try to bring her home,
666
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:27.079
and you will hear interviews with people who knew Thomas
667
00:36:27.199 --> 00:36:30.079
ur Lacker, including one woman who was nearly another victim
668
00:36:30.119 --> 00:36:32.360
of him in Elgin in their early nineteen seventies.
669
00:36:34.719 --> 00:36:37.320
If you, or anyone you know has information about this
670
00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:40.920
case or any other cold case in Elgin, please contact
671
00:36:40.920 --> 00:36:45.000
the Elgin Police Department Cold Case email at cold Case
672
00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:49.440
tips at elginil dot gov or the cold case tip
673
00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:53.239
line at eight four seven two eight nine cold. You
674
00:36:53.239 --> 00:36:56.119
can also review cold case information on the Elgin Police
675
00:36:56.119 --> 00:37:00.920
Department's Transparency Hub by going to elginil dot com and
676
00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:04.800
navigating to the Elgin Police Department's Transparency Hub, where every
677
00:37:04.880 --> 00:37:08.119
cold case, homicide, and missing person's case is listed with
678
00:37:08.199 --> 00:37:10.760
photographs and information about each case.