Airtight Bridge - Charleston, IL

 
Airtight Bridge is around 8 miles north of Ashmore/Charleston, IL and over the Embarass River.  If you put Airtight Bridge into Google or Apple maps, it will take you directly to it.  You are going to be on some gravel roads for a short bit, but you will be fine.

You can imagine this bridge was a local hangout for shenanigans.   A little drinking and swimming doesn't hurt.  I'm sure some teens still do this from time to time.

On October 19, 1980, a body was found under the bridge.  A woman with no head, hands or feet, the murderer really thought they were doing something there.

"Jane Doe" was buried in Charleston at the Mound Cemetery.  People left her flowers and other little items of respect.  This was an unsolved mystery in the area and many were interested.  People are still leaving her flowers.  White ones were present when we visited. 

In 1992, due to DNA technology, her ID was discovered.  She lived over a hundred miles away and her name was Diana Marie Riordan-Small.  

Why did it take so long to figure out who she was?  Diana was married, but never reported missing by her husband.  Her daughter was only two at the time of her disappearance.  Her mom and sister were off in a fundamental Christian cult and disconnected from the rest of the family at the time of her disappearance.  Her sister escaped from the church and wanted to reconnect with Diana, but she was no where to be found.  She's the one who filed the missing persons report....twelve years later.

Her "Jane Doe" headstone was replace with her actual name in 2008.

If you read about this place using outdated sources, it will state that the murder was never solved.   Her murderer has been found and the most obvious suspect of all, her husband.  The case was reopened in 2016.  Thomas Small was 70.  Thomas Small confessed to the murder of his wife.  Her head, hands, and feet were never found. 

He was sentenced to 30 years.  He will live out the rest of his life in the correctional facility.

He killed her after an argument and randomly dropped her at the bridge.