Clues sought in slaying

Channahon shooting: Police release sketches of man, car seen in area

Authorities are looking for help in finding information about the shooting death of a 48-year-old Chicago man Sunday on the Illinois and Michigan Canal towpath just west of Interstate 55.

Michael R. Sarniak of the 10900 block of Fairfield Avenue in Chicago was found face down on the towpath around 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

An autopsy conducted Monday showed that Sarniak, who worked with his wife at the Fox Valley Processing and Distribution Center in Aurora, had been shot multiple times. Will County Coroner Patrick K. O'Neil said the exact number of shots and the location would be withheld so as not to jeopardize the police investigation.

Channahon police, assisted by the Will County Sheriff's Department, also released a composite sketch of a man seen running from the scene around the time of the shooting. Police stress that he is not a suspect at this point; they want him only for questioning in connection with the slaying.

The person was described as a white male in his late 20s or early 30s. He was wearing khaki shorts and a multicolored check shirt over a gray T-shirt. He also was wearing black gym shoes.

Channahon Detective Sgt. Dave Margliano said a person heading west on the trail about the time of the shooting saw the man running east toward him. They'd like to know if the man saw or heard anything that could help them in the investigation.

A cyclist spotted by several people on Canal Road is no longer a suspect, county police said. That person appeared to be taking a path through the bushes only to get around the police investigation site on the towpath, they said.

Sarniak's body was discovered by a couple of cyclists on the towpath who heard shots, Margliano said. They saw the man was unconscious and had to run about a quarter mile east to the towpath entrance off the west I-55 frontage road to get a clear cellular signal and call police.

 On the frontage road, witnesses also saw a mid- to late-1980s red Ford Thunderbird with spoked wheel covers parked across the road to the east of Sarniak's older-model Ford Escort. Again, police aren't sure who the Thunderbird belongs to, but they want to find out if the owner would have any information on the slaying since the car was parked in the area at the time of the murder.

From the edge of the yellow police tape, a large fishing net was visible in Sarniak's Escort. Police said there was other fishing gear and later learned that Sarniak had come to this area fishing, as he often did on weekends.

Margliano said Sarniak was an avid outdoorsman, and that he also would search areas for bugs to feed to his pet snakes. Police aren't sure why he was on the towpath at the time he was slain. They released his photo to the media to determine if anyone saw Sarniak talking or arguing with anyone immediately before the shooting.

Margliano said they're puzzled as to why someone would have wanted to kill Sarniak, whom they described as a good person with a wife and two grown children. "His best friend was his wife," he said. "She's in pretty bad shape right now."

Sarniak and his wife both worked at the postal processing center in Aurora. Jim Mruk, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service Great Lakes Region, said Sarniak was a 29-year employee of the postal service. He spent most of his career at the Bedford Park distribution facility before transferring to the Fox Valley Independent Mail Processing Center on Aurora's far East Side when the facility opened in early 1992.

He was an express mail clerk, scanning express mail shipments and handling customer inquiries.

Although Sarniak's widow works there, Mruk could not provide any details on her. He said Sarniak had a reputation as an excellent employee. Counseling assistance is available for other employees, who all found out about the slaying Monday morning, he added.

Both Margliano and Channahon Police Chief Steve Admonis were amazed not only at the thought of a killing in Channahon, but that it would take place in the middle of the day on a popular stretch of the recreational trail.

 Margliano said they have had only relatively small problems on the trail, such as people falling off bicycles or minor snowmobile accidents. Security has never been an issue.

Ted Sari of Sumbaum Cycle in Joliet was in disbelief after his wife told him about the account of the murder in Monday's Herald News. He said many of his customers use the trail, and that one of the nice features is that it isn't as crowded as other area trails such as the Old Plank Road Trail that comes through eastern Will County.

"It's the new highway for the bikes, said Denny Siebert of Denny's Ski and Bike Chalet in Shorewood. Ever since the state put the trail under I-55 and built a new access off Houbolt Road, the I & M Trail has just taken off.

Siebert said he uses the trail often, and despite Sunday's slaying, believes it's still a safe place to be. "I would still go out there," he said.

Admonis and Margliano also said this was the village's first slaying since a man was killed following a bar fight about 10 years and the first one in 28 years where the offender wasn't immediately known.

Channahon police are asking that anyone who has information on Sunday's shooting death call them at (815) 467-1828, Will County police investigations at (815) 727-8574 or Crimestoppers of Will County toll-free at (800) 323-6734. Callers can remain anonymous.

Sunday's slaying also was the third in the area in the past week. On Sept. 3, 28-year-old Edward Hospital nurse Melissa Plut was found strangled in her far West Side Joliet home.

Early Friday morning, police found the remains of Michael Mirkovich, 30, of New Lenox in a muddy creek bed in Green Garden Township. They arrested his downstairs neighbor, John Coffey, 27, in connection with the murder. Reporter Mike Cetera of the Aurora Beacon News contributed to this story.