Madison County Sheriff also shares new details about Troy cold-case victim

by Randy Pierce • Madison County Sheriff Jeff Connor has shared additional details concerning the circumstances surrounding the body of a deceased female which was discovered by a farmer in a soybean field in rural Troy over 25 years ago.

In addressing the Madison County Board at its most recent meeting, Connor stated investigators have determined that the victim, Wynona “Wendy” Nadine Michel, was accompanied by a male “truck driver” in Washington D.C. earlier in 1990 before her body was found in April of that year in an area near where Lebanon and Troy-O’Fallon roads come together, south of Troy.

The extensive and thorough process of tracing where Michel had been prior to her death led to the findings, Connor explained, that she was last seen visiting her two children at a shopping mall in the nation’s capital.

“Because of her lifestyle,” Connor went on without clarifying the specifics in that regard, “they wanted to stay in a public area” at the time of that meeting.

“They let her meet with her children, and she walked away with the truck driver in May of 1990,” he said further. “And the next time she was seen was in a field in Madison County. For the next 35 years, no one saw or heard from ‘Wendy.’”

Born in Los Angeles, California on August 23, 1959, according to Connor, Michel had lived also in Florida and, most recently prior to her death, Tennessee while having family in many locations in the United States.

During the 35 years since she was found, the sheriff continued, investigators spent thousands of hours pouring through and looking further into numerous bits of information coming to their attention, much of it unproductive, using the nationwide Law Enforcement Agencies Data System which maintains records of people reported to be missing.

In 2007, as Connor explained, the victim’s skull was sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, leading to a clay rendering of what she may look like so that illustration was disseminated throughout the nation, but no viable leads resulted.

Then in late 2023, scrutiny of existing evidence that had been reexamined, coupled with modern advances in forensic science made it possible for additional investigation, prompting Connor to say during his presentation of this information at the county board meeting, “This is where it gets interesting.”

Detectives with the Illinois State Police Forensic Science Laboratory, or “crime lab,” located in Belleville, working with a similar group from Othram Inc., which is based in The Woodlands, Texas, and using cutting edge DNA technology, were able to process evidence to help lead them through interviews, by telephone, electronic communication or in person, in Washington state, Tennessee and Florida along with the District of Columbia.

“When it was all said and done,” Connor said, “we were able to gain some more DNA from possible family members, and we were able to get a positive identity.”

“I bring this to you today,” Connor told the county board, “number one, to highlight this case. We’ve been getting some leads to come in. It’s hard to follow up on these. Nothing substantial but we’re getting people who we’ve contacted and said, ‘Have you thought about this?’”

“But I want to thank the board for your willingness to let us spend our budget,” which he described as very complex and consisting of “unique expenditures that actually can bring answers to families.”

“Sometimes you see things that make no sense and it makes no sense to me at times too, I’ll be honest with you,” Connor added. “We just appreciate you giving us the latitude to be able to spend the money for expert testimony, expert analysis of these types of things because this is not cheap, but it pays off.”

In early July, family members of the victim were present in Madison County and her brother had attended a press conference where the basic information about the identification was initially announced, Connor said.

“He really appreciated us bringing closure to this part and now we are anxious to get that next step, that next closure,” Connor noted before saying he had recently addressed a regional group of sheriffs who were “amazed at the cooperation that we have here in Madison County. A lot of them don’t have that cooperation and it goes beyond our board” to the state’s attorney’s staff and other offices in the county.