Murder Case of ISU Sorority Girl Still Unsolved but Not Forgotten

Prime Suspect in 46-year-old Murder Case Still Alive and Free.

NORMAL, Ill.---

Retired Chicago homicide detective George Seibel has spent over a decade chasing the truth in the oldest unsolved murder case in Illinois. It’s been over 40 years, but Seibel still believes his prime suspect is the killer.

“I believe that when terrible things happen to people like that, their soul should get to rest in peace,” said Seibel.

On December 23, 1975, 21-year-old Carol Ann Rofstad was found unconscious and badly beaten in front of her sorority house. The Illinois State University student sustained injuries to her head and was possibly sexually assaulted. A large railroad tie with blood on it was found next to her and is suspected to be the murder weapon. While the victim was found on December 23, in the early afternoon, signs of hypothermia indicate that she had been outside all night.  

ISU students were on winter break at the time, but Carol had stayed behind to work another shift at her retail job before going home to Elk Grove Village for the holidays. Carol passed away on December 24, 1975 from severe head injuries sustained from blows to her head.

The Illinois State Police website lists the suspects as two white males between 18-25 years-old at the time. A sketch of one suspect is included as well as a brief description of the other male. It has been reported that the suspects were seen by an eyewitness standing outside around 10 p.m. with one suspect carrying a club.

Of all the information pertaining to this case, Seibel refuses to accept any eyewitness evidence.

“Absolutely nothing about the witness accounts makes sense to me whatsoever,” said Seibel.

“Who can see someone’s eye color at 10:00 at night?” Seibel asked.

Seibel’s involvement began in “two parts” as he explained in an interview. When he began his independent investigation, a former sorority sister of Carol’s had contacted him after reading about Seibel’s past work on cold cases. Ironically, Normal Police Department had reached out to the Chicago Police Department in the summer of 1976 when Seibel was working as a homicide detective on the West side.

Seibel and his partner were asked to check out an address in La Grange of a suspect in the Rofstad case. It wasn’t until Seibel began investigating the case solo that he realized the suspect’s name looked familiar.

Since the initial conversation with one sorority sister, other sisters have reached out to Seibel over the years. It was primarily through these interviews that Seibel became convinced this was the work of one man. As many as 25 of Seibel’s sources were convinced that the same man killed Carol.

“The vote was near unanimous,” said Seibel.

Throughout his investigation, Seibel conducted over 200 interviews and handed over 50 pages of documents to Normal Police Department back in 2008. According to Seibel, his efforts were not appreciated.  

“They told me right there they weren’t going to do anything,” Seibel said.

Upon sharing the suspect’s name with the Normal police, Seibel was told that his suspect had been eliminated based off a polygraph test that he previously passed.

Seibel requested that the suspect’s name be kept out of this story, however his name was rather prominent on ISU’s campus in 1975.

From conversations with Carol’s sorority sisters, Seibel learned a lot about Carol’s character.  

“She was a tough girl,” said Seibel. This characterization came from other things that were known about Carol as well.

In the summer of 1974, Carol was living in the sorority house with several others when an intruder broke in. A window was broken, phone lines were cut, and a prowler found Carol in her bed, covered her mouth and threatened to kill her. After she screamed, the attacker threw her against a dresser, breaking her nose. He fled the scene, and his face was never clearly seen.

Many are convinced that whoever committed this assault and battery was the same person who killed her. In the original police report, Carol’s family is also of the opinion that both attacks were related.

Seibel believes the murder suspect was responsible for the first incident too, joining the consensus among her sorority sisters that this man was out to get Carol.

“I’m much more sure that the same person committed both crimes,” Seibel said.

Currently, no one specifically is assigned to the case in McLean County. Sergeant Rob Cherry of the Normal Police Department was unaware of Seibel’s dedication to the case.

“I wasn’t around in ’08,” said Cherry.

The Normal Police Department remains hopeful despite the twists and turns that have arisen throughout the years. One being the involvement of the FBI with physical evidence in 2001.

“Throughout the years, I’ve heard there has been some issues with the evidence,” said Cherry.

The sergeant explained that the evidence must be stored and kept since it’s still an open case.

However, the evidence is not the only controversial aspect of the murder. Whether or not the victim was sexually assaulted has never been confirmed either. 

According to Normal Police Department records obtained via FOIA, the victim was found unconscious with her pantyhose and underwear pulled down around her ankles. However, a sexual assault was quickly dismissed after nurses discovered that Rofstad was menstruating at the time of the attack.

No known attempts at collecting evidence to prove whether or not a sexual assault occurred were ever administered.

While a lot remains a mystery, questions are still being asked and there’s no doubt that someone got away with murder.

Seibel doesn’t believe in coincidences. He also prides himself in remaining objective and open-minded.

When it comes to cases Seibel is investigating independently, he’s cautious about emotions.

“I’m always very reluctant to talk to the family because I don’t want to pick at scabs. They’ve been through so much and their hopes have been up and down,” he said.

Despite his years of work on the case, Seibel himself has never spoken to Carol’s family.

For purposes of this investigation efforts were made to contact Carol’s brother, but no response was ever received.

Seibel believes that the Carol Rofstad case is solvable. His suspect is still alive and living in another state.

“The truth is absolute,” said Seibel.

The truth remains known to only a few, but the memory of this cold case is not even close to forgotten. With newfound interest in the case, a recorded interview confronting Normal Police Department and mere desire to seek truth and justice, the future appears warmer in the coldest case in Illinois.

###