More than three decades after Tammy Zywicki vanished from Interstate 80 in Illinois, investigators have identified a new person of interest in her unsolved kidnapping and murder — a California woman who died in 2014 and who police believe may have once traveled with an unknown truck driver connected to the investigation. Zywicki, who grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, was 21 years old when she disappeared on August 23, 1992, while driving back to Grinnell College in Iowa.
Illinois State Police and the FBI announced the development this week, naming Theresa “Teri” Belenske, a onetime hitchhiker with ties to several Southern California cities, as the newly identified person of interest. Officials were careful to clarify that Belenske, who died in 2014 at age 54, is not a suspect in the crime, according to FOX Carolina News. Investigators believe she may have traveled with the unknown suspect before Zywicki’s death, and they are asking anyone with memories of her from the 1980s through the mid-1990s to come forward.
Belenske had documented ties to San Bernardino, Vista, Oceanside, Fontana, and Pomona, California, and was known to hitchhike during that era. Illinois State Police special agents are seeking information about a person connected to the unknown truck driver, and investigators released a 2009 photo of Belenske as well as an AI-generated image depicting her possible appearance in 1992 to help jog memories.
What Happened on Interstate 80
Zywicki had left Evanston, Illinois, for Grinnell, Iowa, when her white Pontiac T1000 broke down on I-80 at mile marker 83 in LaSalle County. She was last seen between 3:10 p.m. and 4 p.m. that day, expected to arrive at college that evening. Her car was later found abandoned on the same stretch of highway and towed by Illinois State Police the following day, after her mother contacted authorities when Tammy failed to arrive at school…