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One year later, no safety wall where family's van went in river

 A year ago today Wayne Bockhol waited in his home for word while divers less than half a mile away searched the dark waters of the Des Plaines River for his family.

  Well after nightfall the family's white van was found. A cable snaking off a flatbed hauled it up onto land and then everybody knew where Wayne Bockhol's family had been the last four days.

  The last time they had been seen alive, Wayne's mother, Karen, sister, Tracy, and brother, Thomas, were on their way out of the house to deliver the Sunday paper. They left home a couple of hours after midnight, Feb. 24, 2001, and expected to return before 8 a.m.

  The family had delivered The Herald News for 23 years, their route covering homes from Western Avenue to Ruby Street, Wilcox down to Bluff. They were familiar with the area and lived within its boundaries, in a house on Stone Street.

  Wayne was at home waiting for them. He did not work the route with the rest of his family because of a severe neck injury he suffered at his last job. So he had stayed behind the morning of Feb. 25 and waited on his family's return. He waited, but they never came back.

  The disappearance set off an intensive search by city police and prompted a deluge of telephone tips from a public convinced they had spotted the Bockhols' white minivan in spots around the city and as far away as Indiana.

  On the fourth day police caught a break when police Lt. James Stewart and Sgt. Robert Brenczewski spotted a small trace of white paint on a tree at the river's edge at the foot of Lime Street.

  Divers went into the water and hours later they came up with the van. Karen, Tracy and Thomas were inside and they were dead.

  Police determined the brakes failed on the Bockhols' minivan and a coroner's jury ruled the deaths accidental.

  After the discovery of the Bockhols' bodies in their van at the bottom of the river, Mayor Art Schultz spoke of the need to erect a wall at the foot of Lime Street where it dead-ends into the river.

  Councilman Warren Dorris, whose district includes the end of Lime Street, also voiced support for building some type of safety barrier at the river. But a year later the only thing different about the end of Lime Street are the flowers and candles left on the bank in memory of the Bockhols.

  "We want some action on this as soon as possible," said Schultz, who on Wednesday visited the site where the Bockhols went into the water.

  The mayor said he is planning a meeting with state Sen. Larry Walsh and City Manager John Mezera to discuss how to get a barrier built.

  "I thought something would be done," he said. "I was really surprised."

  But determining ownership of the small piece of property might throw a monkey wrench in the works and prevent the city from installing a wall, Dorris said.

  "I really expected we'd do something immediately," he said. "But as we looked into it, there were jurisdiction issues."

  Dorris believes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers owns the land. But Daniel Kennedy, an attorney representing Wayne Bockhol, produced paperwork showing the city took possession of the property on Aug. 31, 1848.

  Lime Street then was known as Second Street, according to the documents Kennedy found through a title search.

  Also, Kennedy said, the city turned over a nearby piece of land it owned to the state for the construction of a building more than 40 years ago.

  "If they vacated (the adjacent land) in 1960, they must have had some idea that they owned it, or they wouldn't have vacated it," Kennedy said.

  Kennedy is representing Wayne Bockhol in a lawsuit filed against the city of Joliet in September.

  The suit blames the city for the accident and seeks in excess of $50,000 for each of three counts corresponding to the deaths of Karen, Tracy and Thomas.

  The lawsuit also claims the city passed an ordinance to improve Bluff Street between Bridge and Ruby streets as well as other adjoining areas, including the end of Lime, but "failed to make any improvements or install any safeguards or warning signs to Lime Street between Bluff Street and the Des Plaines River ... "

  Five months later, the lawsuit has yet to be settled or even make significant progress through the court system.

  City Attorney Jeff Plyman, while expressing his condolences for the Bockhol family, said the city was not at fault for their deaths.

  "It was a terrible accident, and we feel very badly for the family, of course," Plyman said, adding, "Under the law, we don't feel we're responsible."

  Wayne Bockhol, left alone in the world a year ago, moved from Stone Street and in with close friends of his family. He has regained his ability to work and is pursuing a psychology degree from Joliet Junior College.

  He and his mother's friend Bonnie Avila have scheduled a 10 a.m. Saturday memorial Mass for his family at St. Mary Nativity, the church where the triple funeral was held a year ago.

  Wayne doesn't say much of the horror he lived through and the year that followed. He says he's doing "pretty good," and that he's grateful to those who helped him when things were at their worst, particularly the Avilas.

  "They're just like family," he said.

  Contact Joe Hosey at (815) 729-6054 or via e-mail at jhosey@scn1.com.