On April 19, 1972, 19-year-old Doreen Marie Burchie, a sophomore at Illinois State University from Morrisonville, left a university-owned house in Normal after working on papers with fellow students and was last seen about 12:10 a.m. as she headed toward Watterson Towers. When she did not return, a search followed and her body was found about 36 hours later in a shallow grave near a rural road east of Maroa in Macon County. She had been strangled.

The investigation involved university police, local departments and state authorities and included interviews with more than 50 people but produced no substantial leads for over a year. A break came in July 1973 when Jesse Donald Sumner, 36, then in custody on other charges, gave information that led to burial sites and was charged in multiple murders, including Burchie’s. Sumner had a prior manslaughter conviction and was later convicted and sentenced in connection with these cases.

Are there readers who knew Doreen at Illinois State University or who remember the area east of Maroa in April 1972 and can share information?