On Saturday, August 20, 1983, 75-year-old Anna Ryan was one of four women murdered in a daytime attack at The Greenware by Merry Ceramic shop, 1405 East Cass Street, Joliet, Illinois. The other victims were the shop owner Marilyn Baers, Barbara Dunbar and Ryan’s daughter-in-law Pamela Ryan. Investigators reported a total of 43 stab wounds across the four victims; Anna Ryan was also shot in the neck. The bodies were found shortly after noon on a very hot day when the area was busy because of a nearby 7-Eleven drawing.

Authorities later identified Milton Johnson as the perpetrator. Johnson had been released from Pontiac prison in March 1983 after serving 12 years for a prior rape and torture case. He was questioned by Illinois State Police about the family pickup truck and his movements that summer and was arrested in March 1984. At trial the prosecutor described Johnson to the jury in strong terms; he was sentenced to death, a sentence later commuted to life in prison after the state abolished capital punishment.

Did anyone who lived in Joliet in August 1983 have memories or information about activity near East Cass Street or the ceramic shop that day?