Account
Mar 04, 2009
Nov 08, 2022
Stephanie
Lyng
85
39
68 inches
140 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
In the fall of 1977, Stephanie Ann Lyng, a 39-year-old mother of four, was navigating a tumultuous period in her life in Palatine, Illinois. Her marriage to Edward Lyng, a prosperous owner of a vending company, was fraught with conflict. Stephanie had confided in friends that her husband was physically abusive, and his heavy drinking and violent temper were known to those close to the family. The situation had escalated to the point where Stephanie feared for her life, having told people that she was afraid her husband would murder her. In the midst of this turmoil, she had filed for divorce and was engaged in a contentious dispute with Edward over their finances. This was the backdrop to the events of October 25, 1977, the last day Stephanie was ever seen. That morning, she left a neighbor's house at 9:15 a.m. to meet carpet installers at her home for a 10:00 a.m. appointment, driving her blue 1975 station wagon. The carpet installers arrived as scheduled, but Stephanie never did. Later that day, her fifteen-year-old daughter reported her missing. The initial days of the investigation yielded a significant but grim discovery. Four days after she vanished, Stephanie's station wagon was found in a remote parking lot at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The car, however, offered no signs of a woman who had willingly left on a trip. Instead, investigators found a few spots of blood inside that matched Stephanie's blood type. Also present in the vehicle were plant buds and seeds, which a plant taxonomist later determined came from a wet, marshy area, suggesting a location far different from an airport parking lot. When Stephanie's husband, Edward, was informed of his wife's disappearance upon his return home at 10:00 p.m. on the day she went missing, he appeared unconcerned and suggested she would likely return soon. He subsequently forbade his children from ever mentioning their mother's name again. Years passed without any resolution in Stephanie Lyng's case, though grand juries were convened in 1977 and 1982. It wasn't until 1992 that a breakthrough occurred, leading to the arrest of Edward Lyng for his wife's murder. The prosecution's case was built around a narrative of a meticulously planned crime. A key witness was Edward's former secretary and girlfriend, who had initially provided him with an alibi but later recanted her statement, claiming she had lied out of fear. She testified that she heard Edward confess to killing Stephanie in their garage, beating and stabbing her to prevent her from taking their assets and children in the divorce. The girlfriend also admitted to helping him move Stephanie's car to the airport. According to her testimony, Edward had buried Stephanie's body in a damp area near a culvert, only to later return to the grave to remove her teeth to hinder identification. In 1994, Edward Lyng was convicted of murder and sentenced to 14 to 50 years in prison. He received an additional 50-year sentence after being convicted of soliciting the murder of his former girlfriend and her new boyfriend from jail. Despite the convictions, Stephanie Lyng's body has never been found, and her remains are believed to be somewhere in Lake County, Illinois, leaving her family without the closure of a final resting place.
Oct 25, 1977
Palatine
Illinois
Cook County
30680
Palatine Police Department
Palatine
Illinois
Cook County
60067
595 North Hicks Road, Illinois
8473599000
Local
Law Enforcement
M94C7184
Palatine Police Department
6759
Brown
Green
Green
No
05/07/2026
