Brenda Sue Black:1980, New Lenox, Illinois

    

   Brenda Sue Black was born around 1955. I wasn’t able to find her date of birth or family information. 

   I became acquainted with her case because a dear family member got me a true crime calendar and Brenda’s case was featured on January first. As you know, I am very curious and I always want to know more. 

  I did find that Brenda graduated from Butler High School in Vandalia, Ohio in 1972. Vandalia is located just north of Dayton, Ohio on I-75. 

  After high school she supposedly headed toward California. But she must have traveled back to Ohio because she was last seen in Vandalia, Ohio. on January 1st, 1980. Perhaps she had gone home for Christmas and New Year’s and then headed out again. 

   Brenda was found along I-80 in Illinois on April 19th, 1981. She had been dead for about a year. Plants had grown up around her and mostly concealed her skeletal remains. A person who was collecting aluminum cans near I-80 and Hwy. 30 near New Lenox, Illinois for extra money found her skeletal remains. That information came from a 2022 article about her identification. I did not find an article about her discovery in 1981. There were many other women’s bodies and skeletal remains found in Illinois in 1981. But, I did not find an article about remains found in New Lenox near I-80 and Highway 30. 

   Brenda remained unidentified until 2022. Her DNA was extracted and genetic genealogy techniques were used to identify possible family members. A member of her family provided a DNA sample and a match was made. Brenda Sue Black had her name back. 

   But, what happened here? Who killed Brenda Sue Black. 

   In 1981 there were many serial killers out there. One who operated along I-75 was Jerry Leon Johns. If Brenda was hitchhiking out of Vandalia, Ohio then she might have encountered Johns. We know from his other confirmed crimes that he traveled throughout the Midwest states like Michigan, Ohio and Indiana and into Tennessee as well. 

   Jerry Leon Johns was a truck driver who grew up in Flat Rock, Michigan near Detroit. In late 1984 he murdered Tina Marie McKenney Farmer after offering her a ride from Indiana to the Southeastern United States. He sexually assaulted and strangled her and dumped her body off the side of I-75 near Jellico, Tennessee. She was discovered on January 1st, 1985. DNA has definitively connected Jerry Leon Johns with this murder. 

   Another body was found there too. Tracy Sue Walker disappeared from Lafayette, Indiana in 1978. She was found near Jellico, Tennessee in 1985. She was known as Elk Valley Jane Doe for decades until she was identified. 

   That spot along I-75 is not an easy place to pull over. It’s high up overlooking Elk Valley. I’ve driven through there a few times and the view is spectacular but the drop off next to the road made me nervous. I think both victims were left there by the same killer. I think he dumped Tina Marie McKenney Farmer there because he had also dumped Tracy Sue Walker there. 

   I think he was driving from Indiana and Michigan down I-75 quite often in 1984 and 1985.  We do know that he was in Knoxville in March of 1985. He strangled a woman named Linda Schacke in Knoxville and left her in a storm drain on March 5th,1985 but she did not die. She bravely testified against him and he was convicted. 

   Linda Schacke was having a late dinner on March 5th, 1985 with two men that she had met at the Katch One Club in Knoxville. Jerry Leon Johns approached her in the parking lot and said he was a narcotics officer. He showed her a gun. She was doubtful that he was really a police officer and kept walking to her car. He then grabbed her and overpowered her and took her away in her own car. He tore strips of cloth from her shirt and tied her up with them. He drove around for hours before taking her to a storm drain and tying strips of cloth tightly around her neck. She pretended to be dead. He kicked her to attempt to be sure and she bravely and smartly suppressed any noise or movement.  Linda Schacke went to the police with her story and a description. Johns was arrested, tried and convicted and died in jail on December 7th, 2015. 

  There are several other Ohio murders along I-75 that Jerry Leon Johns may be responsible for. 

  13 year old Jane Louise Allan was taken from Michigan near Detroit. Friends said she planned to get a ride home along I-75. She was found in the river not far off I-75 in Miamisburg, Ohio in 1976. She had been strangled and bound with strips of cloth torn from her shirt. 

   Marcia Sossaman King was known as Buckskin Jane Doe for decades after she was found in Troy, Ohio near I-75. She had been strangled and beaten. Her liver was lacerated, possibly from being kicked. She was found on April 24th, 1981 and had not been dead for long. She was finally identified in 2018.

   I wasn’t able to find any information about Brenda Sue Black’s final resting place. I imagine she is still in Illinois. Her name has finally been restored to her and hopefully her case will be solved as well. 

   Her case fits with Jerry Leon John’s pattern of murders. He did not keep victims for long. He dumped their remains along interstates along his route. 

   If there was any clothing found with Brenda, or if her fingernails were still intact and material was collected that may have retained some DNA; I suggest that Illinois investigators talk to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.  

   Brenda was a young woman with so much living left to do when she was stolen from this world. Her friends and family were left wondering for decades. 

   Rest in peace Brenda.