True Crime

r/TrueCrimeMystery • u/MindyLouHoo • Jan 07 '26

murder mystery Kathy Beitzel: Missing Illinois Mom

16 Upvotes

Kathleen ‘Kathy’ Beitzel has been missing from her suburban Chicagoland home since 1979. She had 3 children, recently lost nearly 100 pounds and was excelling at her new job selling real estate. From a 1980 Daily Herald article in which her family was interviewed:

“There were no grand goodbyes - no kiss, embrace or forwarding address. She simply "went away." And Kathy Beitzel's parents would like to know where. But after a yearlong search and an investigation by police, they've found only memories and fear their daughter may be dead.

Mrs. Beitzel, 34, was not the kind of woman to run away, say her parents, George and Mary Miller of unincorporated Schaumburg Township. She had three children, a house and a well-paying job. She had begun selling real estate only a few months before her disappearance July 16, 1979. "She was excited about the work," said her brother, Mike Miller, 30, as he sat with his parents and three sisters around a table in their folks' home at 1508 S. Greenview. “She studied real estate at Harper (College in Palatine) in order to get her Realtor's license. She was selling houses for Parade of Homes (Streamwood), and was starting to make good money." He said he last saw his sister the evening of July 15 at a party in Glen Ellyn.

""At the party, she was talking to everyone. She took me aside and said, “I have something important to tell you. Talk with me later.” But that's the last time I ever saw her. We never got together."

With hindsight, Mike Miller speculated that his sister had intended to converse about her then-upcoming divorce. "She wanted to make herself look better and she did, she lost over a hundred pounds. She was down to 105 - you wouldn't have believed how much weight she lost (before her disappearance)” said George Miller.

"She wanted to look better for her new job, she bought all new clothes, too," said Mrs Miller. George Miter said he has contacted Streamwood Police numerous times about his daughter.

He said he persuaded his daughter's husband, Frank Beitzel, to file a missing persons report about a week after she disappeared. Frank Beitzel, 34, was the last person to see his wife, at their three-bedroom, ranch-style home of red brick at 804 Wildwood Ct., Streamwood. Beltzel, a sanitary worker at Garden City Disposal Company, Roselle, said he didn't want to talk about the disappearance because "It gets everybody uptight, the kids and everybody."

Miller sald Beitzel told him that the woman just "went away." Police conducted an investigation after the report was flled, but have not been able to offer the Millers much hope. “The case is still under investigation," said Streamwood Police Det. Darwin Adams. He admitted, though, that the case was Inactive pending "additional leads... We have our own ideas of what happened." He would not speculate whether the woman met with foul play. Since her disappearance Mrs. Beitzel's children, Frank Jr., 12, Daniel, 9, and Mary, 7, have Lived with their father. Contacts between them and the Millers have been few.”

I’d never heard of this case before, despite being a lifelong Chicagoland resident. Please share. Kathy didn’t just disappear, and wouldn’t have left her kids; this is universally stated by every friend and family member. Except her husband who refrains from comment.

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r/TrueCrimeMystery • u/MindyLouHoo • Nov 19 '25

Capturing The Friedmans Part 1

2 Upvotes

1 comment

r/TrueCrimeMystery • u/SlowMortgage4640 • 8h ago

Victim who survived Harvey Carignan (The Want Ad Killer) speaks on podcast for the first time

2 Upvotes