Ruth Ann Jany, 21, was abducted from a First National Bank ATM in downtown Belleville, Illinois, on the night of July 7, 1978, at about 11:30 p.m. After her disappearance, attempts were made to withdraw cash from her checking account with her ATM card; $330 was successfully taken. Her body was later found in a rural area south of Belleville, fully dressed, not buried, about 20 feet from a farmer’s road, with a halter top knotted around her neck.

Investigators linked Gregory Bowman to the crime. Bowman held an account and ATM card at the same bank, was seen spending an unusual amount of cash around that time, and made admissions about the murder and the location of the body that matched evidence recovered before the body was located. A grand jury indicted Bowman on September 7, 1979, for the murders of Ruth Ann Jany and Elizabeth West. Bowman waived a jury trial, entered an Alford plea on October 24, 1979, and on November 30, 1979, was sentenced to two concurrent terms of natural-life imprisonment. A motion to withdraw the plea was denied in January 1980, and an appeal of the sentence was unsuccessful.

Did anyone in Belleville know Ruth Ann or remember seeing activity at the ATM that night?