Old-time Chicagoans, at least those who were here in 1980s, may recall the fatal shooting of political powerhouse Jay Given (Northwest Indiana Journal) at the Jockey Club in East Chicago, Indiana. He was shot in the back of the head as he headed outside for a cigarette.
Retired Indiana State Police detective Ray Vukas, who worked on the murder case with Chicago Police, described the case (Northwest Indiana Journal) as a mess from the start.
First, let's go back to the evening of May 15, 1981.
Given was one of several hundred attendees at a fundraiser for up-and-coming politician N. Aterson Spann. He simply went outside for a smoke at roughly 10:30 p.m., witnesses heard the crack of a gun and then saw his body on the ground next to his lighter and an unsmoked cigarette.
The gunshot caused a panic, sending employees and attendees out the front door, trampling over Given's body and disturbing the crime scene in the process. Finding credible witnesses was virtually impossible and each new name would yield three or so more names, none of which revealed pertinent information, said a former Lake County deputy prosecutor quoted in the article.
In retrospect, East Chicago Police Chief Gus Flores regrets not having interviewed the woman who initially called police about the shooting, he told reporters:
"She had to see something, hear something. They didn't think about what she saw. We just dropped the ball there. That was our fault."
But even those who may have been able to provide meaningful information were too afraid to talk, including Jockey Club employee Odessa Gamble, who spent 10 days in jail for contempt of court when she refused to cooperate with investigators. Police who worked the case have some other regrets but mostly remember the frustration of trying to solve a murder with a trampled crime scene and few witnesses.
But then they had a breakthrough. The bullet and casing found at the scene matched that of a rare gun they claim could have belonged only to East Chicago Deputy Police Chief John Cardona. Someone tampered with the evidence but investigators still were able to link it to Cardona's rare handgun. He even failed a polygraph test but was not charged with the murder.
Did Cardona do it? That's not for us to decide and so far no one has been charged with the crime.
- Chicago Cold Cases (Chicago Police Dept.)
- Unsolved Mysteries: Jay Given (Unsolved Mysteries)
- DNA and Cold Cases: Indicting John Doe (FindLaw)
- Need a Chicago Criminal Attorney? (FindLaw)
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