Marilyn Baers, 45, was murdered on August 20, 1983, inside her Joliet ceramic shop, The Greenware by Merry, on Cass Street. On that day Baers and three customers—Barbara Dunbar, 38; Anna Ryan, 75; and Pamela Ryan, 29—were tied up and slain. The victims suffered a combined total of 43 stab wounds; Anna Ryan was also shot in the neck. The scene was reported as horrific, with a large pool of blood in the back kiln area of the shop.

These killings were the last in a string of violent murders that terrorized Joliet in the summer of 1983 and heightened fears of a possible serial offender. Investigators later questioned Milton Johnson, a man released earlier that year after a 12-year prison term for a violent crime, about his whereabouts and any connection to the Joliet crime wave.

Did anyone who shopped at or worked near Cass Street in 1983 notice anything unusual around The Greenware by Merry?