Janelle Jaros is reminded of someone else she loves when she looks at her kid.
Sometimes when you stare at her, Shana appears. Dateline was informed by Janelle.
Janelle’s older sister, Shana Jaros, was only a few years older than Janelle. In their dreams, they would grow old together and watch each other have kids, like Janelle does now.
At one point, my daughter declared she was going to solve this, which is why she wanted to become an investigator, Janelle added.
Although Janelle’s kid was never able to meet her aunt, she is aware of the tales her mother has told her. The nice ones, as well as the November 1, 1995 incident.
The Jaros family was permanently damaged on that day.
Shana Jaros, then eighteen, was killed on that day.
Raised in Nokomis, Illinois, Shana was the oldest of four siblings. Janelle said, “Small town, U.S.A.” She laughed as she remarked, “They closed our only Kroger’s store, but now we have two Dollar Generals.”
Janelle described Shana as being just kind, generous, and considerate. My big sister was someone I admired.
Shana began high school in 1991. She was joined by Janelle two years later. I was her companion. Together, we accomplished everything, Janelle recalled. I would force my parents to take me if she didn’t want me to.
She has pleasant memories of those days. We spent the afternoons traveling around Nokomis in Shana’s black Camaro. According to Janelle, Alanis Morissette was played at an ear-splitting volume. It was rather pleasant.
The father of the siblings is Duane Jaros. Shana is a vibrant spirit, according to him. He claimed that she was about six feet tall. Even though she didn’t always receive kindness from others, she never returned the favor. She didn’t take it personally.
According to her family, Shana began working as a licensed nurse’s assistant in a nursing home at the age of sixteen, and by the fall of 1995, she had completed high school. According to Janelle, she would eventually become a registered nurse.
She claimed that because they were so similar, she either wanted to work with children or the elderly, according to Duane. Her work ethic was excellent.
Duane brought Shana’s 9-year-old brother to see her on October 31, 1995. She was living with a roommate in Nokomis at the time, not far from the family’s house. Duane said she wanted to invite him over for a game of trick-or-treat.
Duane watched as his kid approached the apartment and Shana opened the door for him. His son left with his treats a little while later. Shana has some friends over, his son informed him. He remembered her looking out at the car while wearing a blue housecoat. Normally, I would wave and turn on the light, but I didn’t. Even now, it still bothers me.
Duane received a call from the sheriff’s office the following afternoon. He had just left his job. “Is this Duane Jaros?” they asked. “Yeah,” I replied.
According to Duane, he thought they were phoning for Shana’s Camaro, which had been destroyed only a few weeks prior. “I believe we have everything covered,” I said.
However, the Camaro was not the reason for the call. According to Duane, the officer informed him that someone will be visiting the residence with additional details.
He recalled that when I got up after hearing a knock on the door, a man was standing there. “Your daughter Shana has been murdered,” he continued.
It is an unforgettable time for Duane. He said, “I went and sat on the chair and was kind of trying to get my breath.” “I need to call my wife,” I said.
Janelle, who was fifteen at the time, also recalls that day. When her father received the news, she was at home. She said that I was sleeping upstairs because I was home sick from school that day. From the foot of the stairs, my dad shouted, “Janelle!” at me. They killed her, Janelle. Your sister was killed by them.
Janelle says she plays that day back in her head like a movie. “I will always remember that,” she remarked.
At the time, Debbie, Duane’s wife, was at work. She ran home. She got to the front yard and she started walking towards the door and she collapsed, he recalled. All kinds of people were coming over and it was just crazy after that.
The Nokomis Police Department was the first to arrive at Shana s apartment complex. They are investigating the case alongside the Illinois State Police and the Montgomery County Sheriff s Office.
Illinois State Police Sergeant Melissa Albert-Lopez told Dateline in an email that in order to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation they are unable to publicly share any additional information, other than what is provided on their website.
According to a post on theISP s website, Shana was discovered just before 7 a.m. on November 1, 1995, in her apartment at 527 South Maple, Nokomis, Illinois.
The post says a neighbor reported she heard a scuffle in Jaros s apartment at approximately 4:46 a.m., and they did not see anyone leaving the apartment afterwards. It goes on to say that Shana was stabbed more than 50 times from just above her breasts to her neck and her death resulted from massive blood loss.
Duane say the family doesn t know why anyone would have wanted to kill Shana. She was a happy-go-lucky child. Always smiling and always giggling the last person you d think anyone would ever want to murder.
Duane had to lay his happy-go-lucky child to rest. Janelle had to say goodbye to her built-in best friend.
I went to school with the coroner, and he called me up and said he didn t think he was going to be able to show her, Duane recalled. I said, Please, I want people to see her one more time.
According to the family, the coroner did the best he could. He covered Shana with makeup and put a turtleneck on her to cover the slit in her throat. It was so terrible you could even see it with the turtleneck, Janelle said.
The family says everyone around Shana was interviewed by police, especially those in her new circle of friends.
Janelle says that after graduating, Shana started hanging around with people she didn t think were good influences. In high school, she wasn t really included, so she got in with a group of people that she wouldn t normally have hung out with, she said. Then this is what happened.
The family says that was the group Shana was hanging out with at her apartment that Halloween night. Many of those friends have since died, according to Janelle, who says no suspects have ever been named in Shana s case.
Shana also had a boyfriend, though the two hadn t been dating long. I didn t have the best feeling about them, Janelle said.
As the years have passed, the family s hope for resolution has dwindled. The family says they ve heard from the Illinois State Police over the years, but there have been no updates.
Life has gone on for the Jaros family, but at a cost. I had four pieces of my heart and they just took one piece away from it, Duane said of whoever took his daughter s life. And the pain of losing Shana eventually led to Duane and Debbie s divorce. My wife was never the same person after that, he said.
None of them were. Whoever did this to Shana actually did it to our entire family, Janelle said. They killed a piece of all of us.
The siblings are all grown up now. Janelle and her younger brothers, Jeffery and Stefan, are all in their 40s. Their big sister Shana would have been 47 this year. She d be a mom, she d be a nurse, and she d be a great auntie to her two nieces that she never got to meet, Janelle said.
Although her girls never got to meet their auntie, Janelle says they know a lot about her. We re not afraid to talk about her. We keep her alive, she said. In fact, Janelle named one of her daughters Jahna — a combination of both her and Shana s names. She is the daughter who once said she hoped to solve her aunt s case.
A hope that remains alive in the Jaros family.
I just want people to know that she was a real person, and she had a family that cared about her and we still care about her, Duane Jaros said. She had a big heart. And when you love somebody unconditionally, that never goes away.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact the Illinois State Police, Zone 6 Investigations at (618) 346-3990, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-352-0136.
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