 The police department was notified in September about Smrekar's
deteriorating condition. Detectives from the Lincoln Police
Department along with two detectives from Rolling Meadows Police
Department interviewed Smrekar in September. During those
interviews, Smrekar confessed to the murder of Ruth Martin of
Lincoln in 1976. He also confessed to the murder of Michael
Mansfield, a Rolling Meadows resident and Lincoln College student.
Smrekar admitted to burying Martin under the Interstate 55
construction taking place at that time. This was done late at night
on the day of her disappearance. Smrekar then dropped off her
vehicle at the Holiday Inn in Bloomington and proceeded back to
Joliet, where he lived at the time.
With the assistance of the Illinois Department of Corrections,
Smrekar was brought to Lincoln in early October and taken to several
places in an attempt to narrow the location of Martin's burial. Due
to the time that has elapsed since the murder and the fact that the
burial took place at night, Smrekar was unable to give detectives a
precise location of the body.
According to Lincoln Police, the family of Ruth Martin has been apprised of every step of the
investigation. Smrekar's confession with details of what happened has
brought peace to the family of Ruth Martin.
[Text from file received from Paul
Adams, Lincoln
Police Department]
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