Murder is tragic, but even more so when the crime remains unsolved. This week’s blog post presents the case of Jaclyn Dowaliby, who was kidnapped and murdered in 1988. The case officially remains unsolved.
Jaclyn Dowaliby
Jaclyn Dowaliby was just seven years old in the fall of 1988. Her parents separated shortly before her birth, and Cynthia Guess, Jaclyn’s mother, obtained custody of her after a protracted struggle. By 1988, Cynthia had remarried. Jaclyn’s stepfather, David Dowaliby, adopted the little girl in 1983, six months after marrying her mother. The following year, Jaclyn’s half-brother, David Jr., was born.
The Dowalibys lived in Midlothian, Illinois, a suburb southwest of Chicago. The family appeared to be loving and close-king, and Jaclyn bonded tightly with her little brother.
Jaclyn Dowaliby Abducted
On September 9, 1988, Cynthia Dowaliby took her children to a Kentucky Fried Chicken store for dinner. David Dowaliby went to a bowling alley in nearby Blue Island with friends, returning home at about 9:20 p.m. Cynthia and the children were home, entertaining two visiting family members. The visitors soon left.
Around 10:30, Jaclyn kissed her mother goodnight and climbed into her bed with a Sears Catalog. David Sr. went to bed at about the same time.
Cynthia checked on Jaclyn at about 11:00 p.m. Finding the girl sound asleep, she turned off the lights and went to bed herself, leaving the doors to both children’s bedrooms slightly open.
David Dowaliby rose at 8:00 a.m. the following morning. He was surprised Jaclyn wasn’t already watching cartoons (it was Saturday). Upon checking, he saw that Jaclyn was not in her bedroom. He assumed she was outside playing with friends and settled in to watch cartoons with his son.
Cynthia became alarmed when she awoke. A search of the house and yard revealed that the girl was missing. The parents then called the Midlothian police.
What Happened to Jaclyn Dowaliby?
Investigators initially suspected that James Guess, Jaclyn’s biological father, may have been responsible for her disappearance. Guess tried at least once to break into the Dowaliby home to kidnap his daughter after losing the custody fight with Cynthia. However, authorities soon discarded Guess as a suspect when they learned he had been in a Florida prison since May 23.
Police subjected the Dowalibys to intense scrutiny and questioning in the days following Jaclyn’s disappearance. David willingly went to Chicago to submit to a polygraph examination. According to David, the FBI examiner told him he passed the exam.
Four days after her disappearance, one Michael Chatman discovered Jaclyn’s body near a garbage container. The container served a small apartment complex, the Islander Apartments, in Blue Island, Illinois, about 6 miles from Jaclyn’s home.
An autopsy revealed that someone had strangled Jaclyn with a two-foot section of twine, which was found still wrapped around her neck. She wore the purple nightgown she had worn to bed the night before, although her underwear had been removed and dumped nearby. Decomposition prevented the medical examiner, Dr. Robert Stein, from determining whether she had suffered a sexual assault before death.
Jaclyn’s Parents as Suspects
Detectives located an eyewitness named Everett Mann. Mann claimed to have seen a dark-colored Chevrolet Malibu at approximately 2:00 a.m. Although he could not be sure of the Malibu’s color, he later identified a photograph of David Dowaliby from a police photo array.
On September 19, police again searched the home, confiscating the family car (a light blue Malibu) and several household items. The Dowalibys then retained two attorneys, who advised them to stop speaking to investigators.
On November 22, 1988, police arrested David Dowaliby as he drove to work. Cynthia was arrested at the Dowaliby home. A grand jury indicted the couple the following day for the first-degree murder of their daughter. It took a month, but family members were able to raise the bond fees to allow David and Cynthia to be released on bail.
Cynthia gave birth to a second daughter, who she named Carli. Authorities placed the infant in the guardianship of Cynthia’s parents with Cynthia’s consent.
Trial for the Murder of Jaclyn Dowaliby
David’s and Cynthia’s joint trial for murder began on April 5, 1990. Despite confident opening statements from the prosecution, both defense attorneys stressed the lack of evidence. And indeed, there was little to connect either parent to the murder except for Mann’s eyewitness account.
Over forty witnesses testified at the trial, and lawyers introduced almost two hundred exhibits into evidence. Presiding judge Richard E. Neville conferred with prosecutors and defense attorneys shortly before the trial ended and said there was insufficient evidence against Cynthia. She was formally acquitted on May 2. However, the case against David continued.
The jury deliberated for three days before convicting David of murder on May 3, 1990. He was sentenced to forty years for murder and another ten years for concealing a homicide. He would serve the two sentences consecutively.
In October 1991, an appeals court overturned David Dowaliby’s conviction. The court found that the evidence against him was as insufficient to secure a conviction as the evidence against Cynthia. Cook County State’s Attorney Jack O’Malley appealed this decision to the Illinois Supreme Court, but that court found for David Dowaliby.
Epilogue
One year after her acquittal, Cynthia Dowaliby regained custody of David Jr. and Carli.
After his release from prison, David Dowaliby returned to live with his family. The couple later changed their names and refuse to cooperate with media requests for interviews.
Although the case remains open, it sees little activity these days. No one else has been arrested or tried for Jaclyn’s murder.
You can read more about the Jaclyn Dowaliby abduction and murder in David Protess’s and Rob Warden’s 1994 book, Gone in the Night.
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If you followed the story when this was happening, evidence was found at the site where Jaclyn was found. A single hair of the caucasian origin was found in her underwear and a single hair of the negroid origin was found on the twine that was around her neck. Plus, there was blood found under her fingernails. Why is this evidence not put through DNA testing? I have seen several episodes of Forensic Files and have seen after years of cases going cold that they were able to solve the case due to DNA testing. This case maybe able to be solved from the evidence that was collected.
Mandi, Can you tell us where you found this information about the forensic evidence?
Thanks
I saw this evidence mentioned on Wikipedia.
It also mentioned that her biological uncle, Timothy Guest, who was mentally ill, was also considered a suspect.
Another suspect was a man named Perry Hernandez, who had a history of sexual abuse against other little girls, which closely resembled the case of Jaclyn Dowaliby. He actually had lived in the apartments where Jaclyn’s body was found.
He had kidnapped and assaulted another seven-year-old girl. He broke in through a window and carried her about a mile before attacking her beneath a bridge. However, he was cleared because there was no DNA match between him & the evidence found in Jaclyn’s underwear.
I tend to believe her uncle may have been the murderer. His alibi didn’t hold up; he was able to describe the interior of the Dowaliby’s home although he’d never been there; he stated the closet light in Jaclyn’s room was on, but that information was never released to the public. There’s an article with more detail about him at mysterydelver dot com.