Episode 1: Cold Saturday

Ashley Flowers (0:00)

Hi, I'm Ashley Flowers, creator and host of the number one true crime podcast, Crime Junkie. Every Monday, me and my best friend, Britt, break down a new case, but not in the way you've heard before, and not the cases you've heard before. You'll hear stories on Crime Junkie that haven't been told anywhere else. I'll tell you what you can do to help victims and their families get justice.

Join us for new episodes of Crime Junkie every Monday, already waiting for you by searching for Crime Junkie wherever you listen to podcasts.

Delia D'Ambra (0:30)

This is episode 1, Cold Saturday. A quick note, if while listening to this season, you recognize any of the names or locations that are being discussed and have information you'd like to share, send me an email at counterclock at audiochuck.com.

It's just after 10 o'clock in the morning on a Saturday in early November 2025 I've just walked into a TJ Maxx retail store in Tinley Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago about 45 minutes southwest of downtown. It's freezing outside with a fresh layer of snow on the ground, the first snowfall of the winter. Lucky me. I wiggle my stiff fingers out of my gloves and snake my way between mountains of holiday inventory and other shoppers.

SPEAKER_3 (1:27)

Sorry. Excuse me.

Delia D'Ambra (1:28)

You're okay. Until I'm in the far back right corner of the store.

I pause, glance at the worn floor a few feet in either direction, and then lean against a couple of throw pillows that have been squeezed into a shelf behind me.

I watch a mom push past me with a kid in her car, a group of young women crowded around the cosmetics, and then employees sneaking off to check their phone. No one knows I'm not here to shop. Quite frankly, no one knows why I'm here, except me. Nearly 18 years earlier, on February 2nd, 2008, the very ground I'm standing on was a crime scene, a horrific crime scene. It's the former site of one of the worst unsolved mass slayings in modern American history.

SPEAKER_6 (2:16)

A deadly shooting rampage at upscale Lane Bryant ladies' clothing store, six women gunned down execution style.

SPEAKER_3 (2:24)

It started out as just another day in a popular clothing store, but it ended in a bloody massacre.

SPEAKER_7 (2:32)

The search continues for the gunman who tried to rob the store before opening fire, shooting six women.

Delia D'Ambra (2:39)

The February 2008 Lane Bryant massacre is a true crime incident that's been publicized for nearly two decades. Sleuths of all kinds have broached it in one form or another, including a good friend of mine.

Ashley Flowers (2:54)

All right, guys, I want to talk to you about the Lane Bryant murders, and I actually am going to need your help.

Delia D'Ambra (2:58)

When Ashley Flowers posted a TikTok about the case, saying she wanted to cover it on her podcast Crime Junkie, she recapped the high-level details in the way TikTok's algorithm blesses, short and sweet.

Ashley Flowers (3:11)

He didn't just bring a weapon, he also brought his own duct tape for holding up this store.

Delia D'Ambra (3:16)

The post was intended to specifically summon people who were in the know.

Ashley Flowers (3:20)

We're trying to get in touch with as many people as possible. So if you have any connection to this case, if you know anything, if you are local and you've heard anything, please get in touch. You can DM me, you can email tips at Audiochuck, but this is where I need you guys. Do your TikTok thing.

Delia D'Ambra (3:37)

The tips and information flooded in after that. But what Ashley and the team didn't anticipate was how much information they'd get. How many things in this case had never been explored in depth. So they kicked it over to me with an email subject line, next season of CC?

And here we are, more than a year later. This is CounterClock Season 8, an investigation into the notorious Lane Bryant murders. I'm your host, Delia D'Ambra.

Saturday morning, February 2nd, 2008, was an ordinary start to work for a woman named Marie.

Marie (4:30)

I worked at the retail location right next to the Lane Bryant. We opened kind of at the same time, and there was no one else in the plaza. It's a very quiet side of Brookside Marketplace, where I think only us and Lane Bryant were open.

Delia D'Ambra (4:46)

Marie's store, a Sally's Beauty Supply, was in a section of connected storefronts across from and next to several large parking lots, as well as a handful of big box stores. Saturday mornings were usually hopping, so Marie and her manager got right to it.