Julie Konkol, 39, was found dead on October 23, 1997, behind an abandoned truck stop in Russell, Illinois. A construction worker discovered her body; an autopsy determined she had been strangled. At the time she had been living in a van and working at truck stops washing and waxing semi-trucks, having recently moved from Greendale, Wisconsin and frequently traveling U.S. Route 41.

Investigators preserved DNA from the scene that later tied Konkol’s murder to other killings in Ohio: a 1996 homicide in Wood County and a 1992 homicide in Mahoning County. Familial DNA testing conducted in 2018 identified Samuel William Legg III, a former truck driver, as a one-in-one-trillion match to the DNA from Konkol’s case. Legg was later arrested in Arizona, had prior charges in Ohio, and in July 2020 was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in Konkol’s death with bail set at $3 million.

Does anyone have memories of Julie from the truck-stop community or information about her movements along U.S. Route 41? Please share tips that could help complete the picture.