Bonus Episode – Still Missing

As the Elgin Police Department Cold Case Unit heads into 2026 and prepares for Season 3 of Somebody Knows Something, Detectives Andrew Houghton and Chris Hall are taking stock of every open missing persons case in their files — and asking the public for help finding answers for families still waiting. The unit is also growing. Detective Beth Sterricker brings nearly two decades of Elgin Police experience to the team, and Sergeant Matt Vartanian — co-host of Season 1 — is back, this time overseeing the Cold Case Unit as part of his new role in the Major Investigations Division. Four people are still missing. Their families are still waiting. Franco Loyo was 61 years old when he walked north along N. Airlite Street in Elgin on the evening of April 19, 2023, and was never seen again. Listed as missing and endangered, his case will officially become a cold case in April 2026 — but his family isn't waiting for a label. Maynor Escalante-Martinez was just 16 — an unaccompanied minor placed with a sponsor family in Elgin — when he was reported missing on June 29, 2021, after allegedly leaving with a man claiming to be his uncle. He would be 20 years old today. Whether he left safely or not, no one has been able to confirm it. Chad P. Smith was reported missing in February 2021 after his family hadn't heard from him since December of 2020. Unconfirmed sightings have placed him on the south side of Chicago, but his whereabouts have never been verified. His mother is still in Elgin. She is still looking. Daren Wood was 24 years old when he stopped by his mother's east-side Elgin home in July 2017 and promised he'd be back in two days. He never came back. Eight years of investigation, including cross-referencing his case against unidentified remains in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, has yet to bring his family closure. There is one piece of good news. Willie Wilder, previously on the unit's caseload after disappearing in December 2021, was found alive in South Elgin in September 2025 — proof that these cases can be resolved. But behind the four open cases is a fifth that goes back even further. In the fall of 1982, Wyteria Jones was last seen near the Douglas Hotel in downtown Elgin and vanished. Hers is the oldest cold case missing persons investigation in the unit's files, and she will be the focus of the full Season 3 investigation launching in March. Someone out there knows something about each of these people. If you have information, contact the Elgin Police Department Cold Case Unit at [email protected], call 847-289-COLD, or visit www.ElginColdCases.com.