Jannette Johnson, a 29-year-old mother of two, was described by her own mother, Mary Moore, as a “spicy” young woman with a fierce sense of determination, according to the Illinois Daily Journal. 

“You know it was her way or the highway. And I know where she got that. I’m still that way,” Mary told the outlet in June 2015.

Jannette Johnson was reported missing from Kankakee, Illinois, on the evening of August 3, 1985. She was last seen the prior evening, when family members saw her parking her vehicle at the rear of her house, according to a press release cited by The Daily Journal.

The following morning, Jannette’s car had been moved to the front of the house, where authorities found the car window partially rolled down and her purse inside. 

The case seemingly went cold in the decades following. It wasn’t until Jannette’s remains were recovered and identified through DNA in November 2020 that police launched a homicide investigation, the Daily Journal reported. 

The following summer, police, family members, and volunteers came together for a search of the Pembroke Township area where Jannette’s remains were found. As a result of the search, Jannette’s daughter Joretha Hampton told the Daily Journal, “One of our questions was answered — where it happened. We still need to learn the who, what, when and why.”