Seventeen-year-old Brian Carrick vanished from Johnsburg, Illinois, on the evening of December 20, 2002. He left his family home between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. to walk across the street to his job at Val’s Foods to ask about switching hours. Brian cashed a $150 paycheck, bought a pizza, and spoke about renting movies; family members saw him enter the store and he was never seen again.

The next day employees found a large pool of watery blood in the store’s produce cooler. After Brian was reported missing, investigators recovered blood from mopped areas, produce boxes, and a trash-compactor box; DNA testing matched Brian. That evidence shifted the case to a presumed homicide. A coworker was charged and later convicted in a second trial, but an appellate court unanimously overturned the conviction and barred retrial. Brian’s body has never been found and no one is currently held responsible.

Anyone who knew Brian, worked at Val’s Foods in 2002, or has information about that night is asked to come forward.