Amy E. Alden was a 15-year-old girl from the north suburbs of Chicago who died in September 1972; memorial and genealogy records give her birth as November 13, 1956, and list her death that month in Skokie, Illinois. Her remains were discovered in heavy brush near the edge of Memorial Park Cemetery by Old Orchard Road in Skokie, in a liminal strip where manicured grounds gave way to thickets and gravel paths.

Reports from the time and later accounts describe a belt wrapped several times around her neck and clothing pushed up toward the throat, details that suggested foul play even though the initial coroner’s jury did not classify the death as a homicide. Detectives in Skokie and neighboring agencies looked into possible links to other crimes against young women on the North Shore. Ralph Raymond Andrews, a drifter and handyman later convicted in an unrelated Chicago murder, was repeatedly named as a prime suspect in Alden’s death, but no charges were filed against him in this case; he later died in prison.

If anyone knew Amy, saw her in Skokie in the late summer of 1972, or has information about the area near Memorial Park Cemetery, please share what is known.