36 Years Ago, A Neighbor Found This Young Veterinary Student Stabbed In The Hall Of Her Apartment Building
Maria Caleel’s early life appeared perfect from the outside. She grew up in the Chicago suburbs with a plastic surgeon father and a former model mother on a five-acre estate.
Her affluent parents appeared in the local society pages, traveled to exotic locations, and enjoyed horses. Her father played polo; meanwhile, her mother participated in dressage events.
So, Maria fell in love with horses and started riding at just 6-years-old. She was known as a modest and amiable young woman, too, even though her family was wealthy.
“She got into horses at a very young age. Maria loved large animals, and she knew she wanted to be a vet,” her mother, Annette Caleel, recalled.
She went on to study pre-med at Brown University by age 16. Then, in 1987, she started studying at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in Champaign-Urbana to fulfill her dream of becoming an equine veterinarian.
But while Maria was at the top of her class and excelling in Illinois, her life came to a screeching halt in March 1988 when she was murdered.
The Day Of Maria’s Murder
March 5 started off like any other day for 21-year-old Maria, who worked at her school’s veterinary clinic and cared for a premature foal. Then, at 10:00 p.m. that evening, she and some friends hung out in the Campus Town area.
They listened to music and grabbed pizza. Afterward, at about 1:30 a.m. on March 6, a friend brought Maria back to her third-floor apartment, which was located at 205 N. Lincoln in Urbana, just a few blocks north of campus.
Facebook – pictured above is Maria
Maria lived with two roommates in her veterinary program, but both of them were away for the weekend, meaning she was home alone. And in the middle of the night, around 3:10 a.m., tragedy struck.
A scream and strange rumbling sounds were heard from Maria’s apartments by neighbors on the second floor. About 15 minutes of silence followed, and then odd noises returned. The neighbors supposedly attempted to contact the police, yet the line was busy.
They weren’t able to reach authorities until 3:28 a.m. Minutes later, a different neighbor on the third floor also dialed 911 at 3:30 a.m. after stumbling upon Maria, who was bleeding and crawling down the hallway.
Once the police arrived on the scene, Maria was only able to utter her name and one other curious statement: “I can’t believe he did this to me.” Her mother, Annette, claimed the responding officer had asked Maria who attacked her, and Maria stated that she didn’t want to talk about it.
She ultimately lost consciousness thereafter and was transported to Carle Hospital.
Maria went into surgery one hour later and died at 5:22 a.m. while on the operating table. The most puzzling part was her cause of death, which was determined to be shock from internal bleeding caused by one stab wound to her abdominal aorta.
Maria’s family believed doctors didn’t operate on her quickly enough to stop the internal bleeding and later sued the hospital for negligence. The hospital settled for $1 million.
At the same time as Maria’s surgery, investigators began analyzing her apartment for clues and came up short.
Each apartment had a bolt lock, and no signs of forced entry were found. According to one of Maria’s friends, she liked to keep the door locked as well.
The apartment reportedly appeared “pristine,” and Maria’s bed seemed to have been slept in. She was wearing pajamas when she was killed.
Nothing was missing from the apartment, either, and without much evidence, such as the murder weapon or witnesses, investigators had few leads to follow. DNA testing also wasn’t widely used back then.
Maria’s Case Puzzles The Police
Given the lack of suspects and a clear motive, the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (VICAP) was used. This program matched data from different crimes to build potential suspect profiles.
In 1988, The Chicago Sun-Times reported, “Agents in the FBI’s Springfield office said any VICAP profile of Caleel’s killer likely would be that of a young male, unemployed and a loner. Yet he would have to be persuasive enough to have talked Caleel into opening her door late at night, agents said.”
Authorities went on to conduct 200 interviews within the first month of their investigation, including all 76 students in Maria’s class, as well as her friends and family. Police looked into an ex-boyfriend from when Maria was in high school, as well as a classmate named Cathy Mance. Nothing came of these potential leads.
Maria’s death was particularly confounding since experts stated it was a “remote” possibility that someone would die from a single stab wound. On the contrary, most stabbing deaths are caused by multiple inflictions.
That’s why some theorize that Maria’s attacker might not have actually meant to kill her. Instead, they think it might’ve been an accident, especially because Maria did not identify the attacker.
This theory has not been confirmed, though, and Maria’s case has remained quite stagnant. Her family offered a $3,000 reward for information that rose to $50,000 by 1999.
A Potential Break In The Case
In 2001, Maria’s father convinced authorities to send her case to the Vidocq Society, which consisted of retired forensic professionals and law enforcement officers who worked to solve murders.
“Forensic psychologist Richard Walter, the group’s co-founder who is credited as one of the creators of modern criminal profiling, said he took a particular interest in the case. Of the 40 suspects in the police file, Walter said he eliminated all but one: a student who Walter opined resented the bright, beautiful Caleel,” the Chicago Tribune reported.
That same year, Det. Sgt. Dan Morgan, who was newly leading the investigation, also received a letter on his desk, typed anonymously. The correspondence implicated a new suspect who wasn’t part of the investigation.
This possible lead caused her case to be reopened, and evidence was retested using more advanced DNA methods. The efforts culminated in an unknown male genetic profile.
Police began trying to get DNA samples from potential suspects. Some voluntarily provided their DNA, while others were secretly obtained by authorities.
The Vidocq Society created a profile of Maria’s killer, and the analysis suggested they were someone who was angry with her and may have felt betrayed. They also might not have meant to kill her and were possibly waiting in her apartment with the intent to cause “great bodily harm.”
The profile further claimed that Maria’s murderer wouldn’t have agreed to cooperate with the police and would even threaten legal action if asked to cooperate with an investigation.
Sgt. Sylvia Griffet of the Urbana Police Department, who was assigned to Maria’s case in 1997, said that the profile “directed” the police investigation.
Still, Maria’s Case Goes Unsolved
In 2012 and 2015, evidence from Maria’s murder was resubmitted to the crime lab. Authorities hoped ever-advancing technology would help yield better results.
More recently, in 2016, two new officers were assigned to her case and found items with DNA that hadn’t been tested.
Over 36 years later, though, no one has been named a suspect in Maria’s case or charged with her murder.
“I just wish we had the answers to the puzzles that remain,” her mother, Annette, stated in 2002.
A Facebook page entitled “Remembering Maria Caleel” has been created to remember her and continue seeking justice.
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