The Brown’s Chicken Massacre

Brown’s Chicken was an American success story for the ages. It grew from a single-family-owned restaurant in Bridgeview, Illinois, to a prominent chain with roughly 300 outlets in 13 states, the majority of which were in the Chicago metropolitan region.

But that all changed when seven people were killed during a murderous heist.

The incident

On January 8, 1993, two young men entered Brown’s Chicken in Palatine, Chicago, just before its 9:00 pm closing time.

They ordered a chicken meal before taking their seats at the first booth next to a trash can.

After stuffing their faces, the pair put the remains of their dinner in the trash can, covered their hands with latex gloves, and proceeded to rob the restaurant.

Employee, Rico Solis, who was in the process of sweeping the floor, was approached by one of the robbers, who directed him to walk to the back of the restaurant. The other fired a shot and ordered everyone to get on the floor.

Another employee tried to make a run for it and jumped over the counter. He was shot before making it to safety and taken to the restaurant’s west side cooler, along with one of the franchise owners, Richard Ehlenfeldt. A few moments later, multiple shots were heard coming from that cooler.

After killing two employees, one robber held franchise co-owner Lynn Ehlenfeldt at knifepoint and demanded she retrieved the money from the safe. The robber then slit her throat with the knife and dragged her body into the restaurant’s walk-in refrigerator, where the remaining four employees were located.

It would later come to light that the four employees begged not to be shot, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. The robbers fired multiple times into the walk-in refrigerator.

The night’s massacre earned the duo just less than $2000.

Brown’s Chicken employees Guadalupe Maldonado, Michael C. Castro, Rico L. Solis, Thomas Mennes, and Marcus Nellsen were among the seven killed, along with franchise owners Richard E. Ehlenfeldt and his wife Lynn W. Ehlenfeldt.

There were no survivors.

Heartbreakingly, two of the casualties, Michael Castro and Rico L. Solis, were 16 and 17 years old, respectively, when they met their untimely end. The two were both working part-time at the fast-food restaurant after attending classes at Palatine High School.

The cops were soon alerted that something was amiss when they received phone calls from concerned loved ones. Less than 6 hours after the 9:00 pm closing time, police officers arrived at the restaurant and found the back entrance unlocked. They soon discovered the seven victims of the massacre inside.

Don’t eat on the job

On January 11, 1993, when investigating the scene at Brown’s Chicken, Dr. Jane Homeyer saw that a four-piece chicken meal with fries, coleslaw, and a small drink had been purchased at 9:08 pm from one of the cash registers.

Looking further, she noticed that although the trash can on the west side of the dining room had a fresh bag, inside was a cardboard box with four pieces of chicken, scattered French fries, biscuits, coleslaw, paper products, and other chicken parts and bones.

The trash can contained the remains of what looked like the same meal purchased at 9:08 pm.

Dr. Homeyer had the foresight to take the leftover chicken from the trash can near the murder scene. She attributed her decision to “divine providence” and kept the potential evidence in the police freezer.

It’s important to note that the use of DNA evidence to solve crimes was still in its early stages in 1993. Therefore the piece of chicken left in the garbage couldn’t be used to track down the culprit at that time.

Unfortunately, with not many viable leads to go on, the case would remain unsolved for nine agonizing years.

That is until Anne Lockett came forward with vital information in March 2002.

James Degorksi was Anne Lockett’s boyfriend at the time of the murders. She stated that just a few hours after the killings, he told her to “Watch the news tonight. I did something.” That something was the massacre at the Brown’s Chicken restaurant.

James eventually told Anne what had transpired and urged her to lie for him and his pal Juan Luna. Anne, who was dealing with substance misuse and psychological issues at the time, kept the secret for nine years, only telling authorities when she was afraid James would harm her.

Police descended on the murderous duo and got them to agree to DNA swabs. When the results came back a few weeks later, Luna’s DNA was a perfect match for saliva found on the chicken dinner that had been left half-eaten in the restaurant on the night of the murders.

It was later revealed that Luna used to work at the restaurant but was subsequently let go. As a former employee, he knew there were no alarms, that the money was kept in the backroom safe, and most importantly, Luna was aware the owners did not have a gun on site.

In May of 2002, Luna confessed to the crime at the Hoffman Estates Police Department. He told detectives that he and high school friend James Degorski entered the restaurant just as it was closing at 9:00 pm, ordered a four-piece chicken supper, and then forced the staff to the back of the establishment and executed them.

Both James Degorski and Juan Luna would later be jailed for life.

The aftermath of a massacre

Frank Portillo, then president, and co-founder of Brown’s Chicken, said sales at all of his restaurants dropped by 35% just months after the bodies of the seven victims were discovered in the suburban restaurant’s cooler and walk-in refrigerator.

“It scared people. They just stopped coming. Even today, people tell me they never have been back to a Brown’s since the tragedy.”

The company eventually had to close over 100 restaurants in the Chicago area.

The building that housed the massacre is no longer standing. After being revamped as a dry cleaner and a deli, it was demolished in April 2001 and sat vacant for some years. The former Brown’s Chicken location now houses a Chase bank branch office.