Years ago, if you drove out of town on South Market road, you would have crossed a steel framework bridge where Crab Orchard Creek crosses the road just on the south outskirts of town. Early on Sunday morning , June 3rd, 1979, two Chicago area fishermen were looking for a place to fish so they stopped to peruse the creek as a possible fishing hole.
The men discovered the body of 19 year old Regina (Oliver) Costellia of Herrin. Her belongings were found to have been dumped just north of the bridge and the body had attempted to be dumped in the creek but appeared to have gotten lodged in the steel framework of the bridge which left the body dangling by one arm.
Regina was the mother of a two year old son and had been estranged from her husband the previous year. She had been seen in Herrin only about 30 minutes before her suspected time of death. Over time, no real hard evidence ever surfaced to place blame on any given suspect. Although suspicion fell upon a local Marion man, nothing could ever be proved and the case remains an open unsolved cold case to this day. The following is a series of articles that appeared in the Marion Daily as the case unfolded.
Murdered young mother found on Marion bridge
Williamson County authorities today sought to trace the steps of 19 year old Mrs. Regina Costellia of Herrin from the time she left her two year old son at the home of her parents early Saturday evening until her body was found caught in the ironwork of a bridge across Crab Orchard Creek at the south edge of Marion early Sunday morning.
The body was found at 7:40 a.m. by two fishermen, Leroy Fabic of Lombard and Gerald Bujalksi of Villa Park.
The two men were looking for a place to fish when they stopped the car near the creek and saw the body hanging from one arm which had caught between a bridge girder and the bridge floor.
They went to the home of Ben Travelstead nearby and he telephoned Marion police.
From the contents of a purse found beside the road near a culvert north of the Crab Orchard bridge, police learned the girl’s identity.
The sheriff’s office and the county detectives were notified and began an investigation. Coroner James R. Wilson was called and had the body removed to Herrin for an autopsy.
Officers said a pathologist who examined the body reported tentatively that the girl had died about midnight Saturday night, and death was apparently due to strangulation.
There were marks on the throat that indicated the young woman had been strangled with an instrument of some kind rather than manually choked, but no cord or article of clothing was found near the body.
A statement released by Sheriff Jerald Kobler said the investigation was being carried on by his office and the county detective unit in cooperation with local police departments.
Identification of the girl led to discovery that she lived at 102 South Park Ave., Herrin, and was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Oliver, Herrin Rt. 1, former residents of Spillertown. She was married to Terry Costellia, the sheriff said, but she and her husband had been separated since December. He was reported out of the state.
Officers said she is the mother of a young son whom she left with her parents Saturday night. She arrived at the parents’ home in an automobile which waited for her in front of the house while she delivered the youngster to the Olivers on the patio at the rear of the house and the parents were unable to provide officers with the name of the automobile driver.
Investigating officers learned that she had attended a birthday party, but the identity of the person for whom the party was given or the location was not revealed.
The sheriff appealed to anyone having information about the whereabouts of the young woman between the time she left her parents’ home and the time of her death to telephone the Williamson County Detective Unit.
From their preliminary investigation the officials concluded that Mrs. Costellia was pushed from an automobile on the bridge after she had been strangled to death and her clothing and purse thrown from the car several yards north of the creek.
The body was taken to Johnson Funeral Home at Herrin for funeral arrangements.
(Marion Daily Republican, Monday June 4, 1979)
Trace murder victim to Herrin street corner
Investigators continued to run down clues today in the strangulation murder of Mrs. Regina Costillia, 19, Herrin, after tracing her movements Saturday night to a street corner in Herrin where acquaintances left her about 11:30 p.m. A medical examiner had estimated from the condition of the body found hanging by one arm from the ironwork of a Crab Orchard Creek bridge at the south edge of Marion that she died sometime around midnight.
The body was discovered at 7:30 a.m. Sunday by two Chicago area men who stopped at the bridge looking for a place to fish.
Michael Wiseman, director of the county detective unit working with Sheriff Jerald Kobler, said Merle Dillow of Carbondale told officers Monday that he gave the young mother of a two year old boy a ride in his car from Herrin to Carterville. He said he and some friends took Mrs. Castillia to Herrin from the Carterville Dairy Queen where she had gone from a birthday party at the home of David Hampton of Carterville. He said he let her out of his car at the corner of Cherry and South 16th Streets.
Wiseman said that officers learned that Mrs. Costellia had gone to the party at Carterville with Molly Forquer, a girl friend who lives at Carterville. Miss Forquer had taken her by the home of Mrs. Costellia’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Oliver, Herrin, Rt. 1 earlier to leave Mrs. Costellia’s young son with them for the evening.
Wiseman said the investigation was making progress and expressed confidence the killer would be found.
Sheriff Kobler on Monday appealed to the public for assistance in solving the murder by telephoning his office or the detective unity to report any knowledge of the girl’s whereabouts up to the time of her death.
(Marion Daily Republican, June 5, 1979)
75 interviewed in murder investigation
Investigation of the strangulation murder of 19 year old Regina Oliver Costellia of Herrin, whose body was found hanging by one arm from the steel structure of a Crab Orchard Creek bridge at the south edge of Marion Sunday, was in its fourth day today. County officials in charge of the investigation reported no suspect.
Sheriff Jerald Kobler reported no specific overnight development in the investigation. Michael Wiseman, director of the county detective unit said approximately 75 persons have been interviewed since the body of the young mother of a small son was discovered by two fishermen at 7:30 a.m. Sunday. No additional information has been revealed as to the girl’s whereabouts between 11:30 p.m. Saturday, when she alighted from an automobile at a downtown Herrin street corner, and the time her body was found.
Officers said Dr. A.S. Thompson, Herrin pathologist, who performed an autopsy, had reported that there was no indication of sexual assault.
Wiseman said that more than half of the 40 or more persons who attended a birthday party for David Hampton at Carterville which the murder victim left before 11 p.m. have been interviewed. Others interviewed included persons in an automobile with whom she rode from Carterville to the street corner in Herrin.
The detective said 12 officers are committed to the investigation full time. They include a state investigator and assigned members of the sheriff’s staff and the detective unit in addition to part time assistance by Herrin, Carterville, and Marion police in running down clues and interviewing acquaintances of the murdered girl.
The officer praised the cooperation of the public in furnishing information.
Early in the investigation, Sheriff Kobler appealed to the public to volunteer any information that might aid in solving the case. The response has been surprising, the officers said. Wiseman displayed a batch of notes obtained from volunteers and other persons interviewed. They are to be compared and analyzed in conferences of investigating officers.
Wiseman said that the majority of the persons interviewed have been cooperative. Some who were hesitant to give information about having seen the victim the night she was murdered opened up and talked with investigators the second time around being confronted with information volunteered by the other persons questioned.
Wiseman said that an additional state investigator may join the investigation today.
Meanwhile a Williamson County Circuit Court and jury went into session this morning.
State’s Attorney Robert H. Howerton said that the grand jury was called mainly for an investigation of another case entirely unrelated to the murder of Mrs. Costellia. He said the jurors who were summoned prior to the murder were in session to investigate charges in connection with the Karr-Barnfield automobile agency in Marion which closed in 1978 after the filing of charges of theft by deception against Paul Barnfield, a partner in the firm.
The jury is a new panel committed to remain on call for service during the current 12 months. The term of the previous grand jury ended in March, and the present session is the first for the new panel of 23 persons selected by the county jury commission. The state’s attorney indicated it could stay in session for weeks on the Barnfield investigation.
(Marion Daily Republican, June 6, 1979)
Lie detector used in probe of girl’s death
Polygraph examination of at least two person previously questioned in the investigation of the murder of Mrs. Regina Costellia, 19, Herrin, whose body was found Sunday hanging by one arm from a Crab Orchard Creek bridge at Marion was being scheduled today.
The lie detector tests were arranged to check out details of information previously supplied by the subjects about the movements of the young woman prior to her death which is believed to have occurred around midnight Saturday. The persons questioned agreed to submit to the polygraph tests by a state operator.
Michael Wiseman, director of the county detective unit that is working with Sheriff Jerald Kobler on solution of the case, said persons are still being interviewed in an effort to trace the girl from the downtown Herrin business district street corner where she is reported to have left the automobile in which she had ridden from Carterville with acquaintances. Approximately 75 persons had been interviewed up to Wednesday, Wiseman said. Some have been interviewed more than once in the officers’ check of information being received by bits in an effort to trace the girl from the street corner.
(Marion Daily Republican, June 7, 1979)
No clues in murder
County law enforcement authorities continued today to check out clues in the investigation of the Saturday night murder of 19 year old Regina Oliver Costellia who was found dead on a Crab Orchard Creek bridge at Marion Sunday morning.
Sheriff Jerald Kobler said today there were no new developments in the case. Officers have determined that the young woman entered Berra’s Tavern within a block of the street corner at South 16th Street and West Cherry in downtown Herrin where she was reported to have left the automobile of acquaintances who had given her a ride from Carterville. But the sheriff said that none of the taverns who said they saw her in the tavern said they saw her leave.
Lie detector tests given two person who had made statements about seeing the girl prior to her disappearance only verified information they had previously given officers, Kobler said, and while they were valuable in checking out the chain of evidence obtained, they did not otherwise advance the solution of the murder.
(Marion Daily Republican, June 8, 1979)
Girl’s death still a mystery
In the second week of investigation of the murder of 19 year old Regina Oliver Costellia of Herrin, county authorities conceded today that solution of the mystery of the girl’s death remains unsolved.
Despite eight days of intensive investigation that began when two Chicago area fishermen reported sighting the girl’s body in the steel framework of a Crab Orchard Creek bridge at the south edge of Marion, no evidence of the indentity of her slayer sufficient to make an arrest has been uncovered.
Questioning of nearly 100 persons, some of whom came forward voluntarily, has traced the girl from her home in Herrin to the home of her parents on Herrin rural route 1 to a birthday party in Carterville and then the Carterville Dairy Queen from which she hitched a ride to Herrin. Getting out of the car at a downtown street corner she was later seen at Berra’s Tavern about a block away. And there the trail ends, so far as officers have been able to learn.
That was midnight, June 2.
Examination of the body found at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, June 3, indicated to the medical examiner that death due to strangulation occurred after midnight perhaps about 12:30 a.m. just 30 minutes and ten miles from the time and place she is last known to have been alive.
(Marion Daily Republican, June 11, 1979)
Murder victim’s husband is given custody of son
While authorities continued to search for the murderer of 19 year old Regina Oliver Costellia, of Herrin, the estranged husband and the parents reached an agreement in Williamson County Circuit Court Monday afternoon as to the future custody of her two year old son, Anthony.
While the fair haired little boy played about the court room unaware of his mother’s death, and oblivious of the conversation about his own future, the father, Terry Costellia of Gilbertsville, Ky., and the family of the dead girl agreed that the child will live with her father, but the mother’s family will have frequent rights of visitation.
A schedule was worked out and approved by Judge William A. Lewis under which the grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. William Oliver of Herrin, Rt. 1, and the murder victim’s sister, Mrs. Mary McKane, shall have custody of the little boy on each of the next four weekends and on two weekends each month thereafter.
The plan was devised to permit the boy to continue his present relationship with his grandparents while getting acquainted with his father and thereby lessen the shock of going away to live with the parent who was described by family as a stranger to him.
Costellia and the boy’s mother have been separated since July 17, 1978, but were not divorced at the time she was murdered and her body was abandoned on a bridge over a creek just outside Marion on the South Market Street road the night of June 2.
The little boy who had been left with his grandparents near Herrin when the mother went to a birthday party at Carterville that Saturday night has just been told of his mother’s death. His aunt, Mrs. McKane, explained to the court that he had been told only that his mother was away. She spelled out the word “d-e-a-d” in talking to the judge because the child was present during the court room discussion.
Monday’s court proceeding was brought about by Costellia’s filing of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus requiring the Olivers and Mrs. McKane to appear in court with the little boy.
The petition asserted that Costellia and the boy’s mother were married at Murphysboro June 1, 1976, and the boy was born March 25, 1977.
In conversation with Judge Lewis in open court the child’s grandfather said that Costellia had not contributed to the child’s support during the separation of the parents. He said Costellia had explained that he was unable to see the child or send money for his support because he didn’t know where the mother was living, but the grandfather said the father could have sent money to the Oliver home where the child would have received the benefit of any support contributed by the father. As it was, he said, the child had been maintained mostly by the grandparents and the Illinois Aid to Dependent Children.
After the conference in the court room from which Judge Lewis withdrew temporarily, Mrs. McKane quoted the terms of the custody agreement to which the Olivers and Costellia agreed.
She quoted the agreement as providing for visitation by the grandparents as “reasonable” intervals after the first four weekends but Judge Lewis insisted that the understanding be more specific. Mrs. McKane then spelled out the later visitation periods as two weekends each succeeding month to be regarded as standing dates for the grandparents to go to Gilbertsville to bet the child unless Costellia is advised differently by them a week in advance.
Costellia is a carpenter, according to officials who interviewed him at the time of the death of his estranged wife was reported.
(Marion Daily Republican, June 12, 1979)
Unidentified man telephones again
An anonymous telephone caller identifying himself as the same person who had called the sheriff’s office with information that officers hope can be enlarged into a clue in the investigation of the murder of Mrs. Regina Costellia, 19, of Herrin June 3 called again Wednesday night.
The second call was received by a dispatcher in the sheriff’s office, but the man hung up before Sheriff Jerald Kobler had an opportunity to talk with him. The sheriff was on his way to his office when the call was received and arrived there just as the caller terminated the conversation.
Kobler said the man may have been afraid that his call was being traced. The sheriff said that was not the case and that officers are concerned with obtaining the man’s information rather than his identity. He expressed the hope the man will call again.
(Marion Daily Republican, June 14, 1979)
Set inquest into girl’s death
Coroner James R. Wilson today set Wednesday at 7 p.m. for an inquest into the death of Mrs. Regina Costellia, 19, Herrin, found strangled to death and left on a bridge over Crab Orchard Creek near Marion June 3.
The inquest will be held at the court house in Marion. It will be primarily held to officially determine the cause of death, and a report of a pathologist who performed the autopsy is expected to be presented to the jury.
So far, officers have not disclosed discovery of any evidence that might be presented to a coroner’s jury to identify the killer of the girl who left a Herrin tavern shortly after midnight of June 2. But investigators have expressed optimism that the investigation which was begun immediately after her body was found by two fishermen from the Chicago area will eventually yield a solid clue.
Immediately following the inquest Wednesday at 7 p.m., Coroner Wilson has set an inquest into the death of Mrs. Grace Kelley, an apparent suicide victim, at Herrin.
(Marion Daily Republican, June 16, 1979)
Inquest into girl’s death
A county detective testified at a coroner’s inquest Wednesday night that “several” persons are under investigation in the death of 19 year old Regina Costellia of Herrin who was found murdered the morning of June 3 and her body entangled in the under structure of a bridge across Crab Orchard Creek on the South Market Street road at the south edge of Marion.
Detective Ron Lee, one of three different officers who testified at the inquest held at the court house in Marion by Coroner James R. Wilson, said in answer to a question that several persons were considered as “suspects” in the investigation although sufficient evidence has not been gathered to prompt an arrest.
Other officers testifying were Marion policeman Les Snyder and Roger Rich who were called to the bridge where the body was found by two Chicago area fishermen.
Members of the coroner’s jury were Ora Collard, Cathy Fike, Diane Campbell, Judy Hatley, Harvey Smith and Edward J. Helleny, foreman.
They reported death was due to strangulation.
The same jurors returned a verdict of suicide in the June 13 death of Mrs. Grace Kelley, 55, Carterville Rt. 1. Witnesses were Raymond D. Switzer, brother of the deceased who found the body in Mrs. Kelley’s automobile in the garage at her home, and Detective Lee who was summoned to the home. The jurors said in their verdict that death was due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
(Marion Daily Republican, June 21, 1979)