Deborah Kozlarek and Carolyn Van Der Molen : Chicago, September 1972

 Chicago:September 22nd,1972

   Carolyn Van Der Molen and Deborah Kozlarek were friends and neighbors. They lived in a Chicago neighborhood sometimes called “Back of the Yards”. They had a lot in common. Both came from typical working class families. 

   Deborah was 17 and worked as a waitress.  Her boss said he thought she was older because she was all business and the best waitress they had. When she wasn’t at work she and Carolyn would hang out.  Carolyn was 13 and an 8th grade student at St. Augustine’s. Sister Mary Jerome said she was an average student and a bit of a loner.  

   Carolyn was the daughter of Wilbur and Sally Van Der Molen. They had four children altogether so it was a very busy household. 

   Deborah was the daughter of Edward and Lottie Kozlarek. Theirs was also a busy house with Deborah being one of four children. 

   On September 22nd the two were hanging out together after Deborah finished a day shift at 5 p.m. and ended up off the bridle path at Washington Park near the South Cottage Grove side of the park in Chicago. There was a full moon and the weather was nice. It was a nice night for a walk. The park is located between 51st and 59th streets in Chicago.

   The two might have gotten a ride there from someone they knew or from a stranger. Friends of the girls said they sometimes hitched rides. 

   They were found there at the park on September 23rd 1972 in Washington Park.  Both had been shot in the back of the head with a .32 caliber gun.  Why? 

   Early newspaper reports seemed to insinuate that the two girls were trouble makers or up to no good. They played up the hitchhiking and reported that the girl’s bought cigarettes.  They made much of the fact that Deborah Kozlarek had dropped out of high school. But all of these things were very common in the 1970’s.  

   According to a newspaper article dated September 28th 1972, a toxicology report showed no drugs or alcohol present in either girl. These girls weren’t into anything bad.  The newspaper reports were prime examples of victim blaming. 

  No one wants to believe that random violence is random.  No one wants to believe that anyone they know could be a victim at any time.  We want to believe that we will be smarter, tougher, better able to avoid violent crime. But no victim is ever to blame for their own death. Only the killer is to blame. 

   Their parents had to identify them at the morgue. What an awful thing. The trauma of that just leaves me speechless. 

   Who would do this and why?  There’s no mention in the paper of sexual assault or whether the bodies were fully clothed or unclothed.  There’s no mention of the location and position of the bodies.  Were the girls together? Was one trying to flee? Were they forced at gunpoint to a different location? 

   There is so much that is unknown. Perhaps more information can be found in the police files. 

   Are these murders related to any of the other murders of young women in the Chicago/Gary area in 1972-1973? 

   I do know that one serial killer lived a short train ride away in Hammond, Indiana in 1972. 

   Danny Rouse was an O.P. Morton high school student in 1972. He graduated in 1974. 

   In 1974, after graduation, he had moved south and was living near Winamac Indiana. He shot Nellie Mikesells that September. She was an older lady sitting in her home by a window when Rouse shot her sniper style through the window. The following year he shot Lela Hildebrandt sniper style from the bushes on the side of the road while she drove past on a dark night. Rouse was definitely into killing just for the sake of killing. He got away with those two murders until 2006. He was caught and incarcerated for a couple of decades in Kansas. He killed a five year old boy, Jason Learst and nearly killed the boys mother. He cut Jason’s throat and stabbed his mother in Wichita in 1979. Kansas decided he was a good guy in 2006 and paroled him to Indiana. He then strangled and stabbed his co-worker, Stephanie Wagner in October of 2006.  To avoid the death penalty he confessed to the Nellie Mikesells and Lela Hildebrandt Cold Cases. He killed in 1974, 1975, 1979, and 2006. Did he kill any other people before 1974? Who else did he kill? 

   The murders of Deborah and Carolyn are still unsolved. 

   Rest in peace Deborah Kozlarek and Carolyn Van Der Molen.

   If you have information that could help solve this case please call the Chicago Police Department at (312) 746-6000.