Almost 16 years to the day that Michelle “Shelly” Bianco of Springfield disappeared, personal items linked to her were identified Monday at an east-side home near where she was last seen alive.
The drama continued to unfold later in the day when Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell confirmed that “skeletal remains” were found at the same house in the 2100 block of South Grand Avenue East.
As of Tuesday morning, the remains have not been identified.
Here is what to know about the Bianco case.
More: Sheriff: Personal items from missing Springfield woman found in east side home
Who is Michelle Bianco?
Michelle “Shelly” Bianco would be 59 years old. She was also known as Michelle Bradley and Michelle Miles and lived in the Lincoln Place Mobile Home Park off Old Route 36.
When and where was she last seen?
Bianco was last seen on April 5, 2008, near South Grand and Wheeler avenues, though times vary, from 7:30 to 11 p.m. Bianco was with her cousin when a man driving a black Pontiac offered Bianco a ride home. The cousin said the man called Bianco by her name and that she willingly got into the car.
When was a missing persons report filed?
According to State Journal-Register articles, Bianco’s boyfriend arrived back in town and at her residence on the afternoon of April 6, but she wasn’t home. Bianco’s family contacted Springfield police later that evening.
Bianco’s physical description was aired to area police officers on April 7, and her boyfriend filed a formal missing person’s report on April 8.
‘Find her by the end of the shift’
In a 2018 SJ-R story, then-Sgt. Anthony Mayfield, who was in the sheriff’s detective bureau in 2008, remembered how he thought the bureau was “going to jump on this and find her by the end of the shift. We knew there was more to it after that first 24 to 48 hours.”
The family eventually offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to her being found, to no avail.
What’s next?
The Sangamon County Coroner’s office has called in a forensic pathologist and an anthropologist for a post-mortem examination on Tuesday.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Michelle Bianco: What to know about Illinois woman’s 2008 disappearance