Credit: Madison County Sheriff’s Office
On July 20, 1990, a female’s body was discovered by a farmer in a field located near the intersection of Lebanon Rd. and Troy Ofallon Rd, Troy, IL. Madison County Sheriff’s Office detectives responded to the scene, where it was processed as a homicide.
The initial investigation concluded the decedent was there for around a week prior to being found. Hundreds of manhours were spent and numerous leads were exhausted, but the case went unsolved. The female was unidentified for over three decades.
As with all cold cases, the case was reviewed by numerous investigators over the years. In the latter part of 2024, evidence was reexamined and developments in science made it possible to investigate the case further.
Detectives worked with the Illinois State Police Crime Lab and Othram in an effort to further examine and process forensic evidence. Additional interviews were conducted and the female was identified as Wynona Nadine Michel (DOB: 8/23/59). The Madison County Coroner’s Office assisted in obtaining a death certificate through the state of Illinois.
Michel was 30 years old when her life was taken in the summer of 1990; she would have been 65 years old today. Michel left behind two children, one of whom is still alive.
Upon speaking with Michel’s family, investigators were able to develop a timeline for her life. She was born in Los Angeles on Aug. 23, 1959. Her parents moved her and her four siblings to Tennessee when she was a toddler. Around her 16th birthday, Michel moved to the area of Vero Beach, Florida, where she stayed until she moved to the area of Anderson and Shasta, California in 1983 or 1984. She remained on the west coast for a few years before she and her children traveled by bus back to Nashville, Tennessee in April 1990. She was last seen by family when she visited the Washington D.C. area around May of the same year.
We want to bring some closure to Michel’s family, but we also request that anyone reach out to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office to assist with finding her killer. We urge you to contact our office with any information.
Republished courtesy of Madison County Sheriff’s Office