A popular Chicago musician and owner of a successful construction company, John "Chicago Johnny" Spira, 45, had a lot of things going right in his life. He had money, a new girl, and plenty of fans who fawned over his musical talent. What John didn’t have was a reason to walk away from his life, which makes the mystery of his disappearance all the more difficult to understand.
John was last seen at around 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23, 2007, leaving his business, Universal Cable Construction Inc., in West Chicago. He had a dinner date planned for later that evening, but for reasons unknown, he never arrived. The following morning John’s girlfriend, Renata Biekskis, attempted to file a missing persons report with the St. Charles Police Department but was turned away because she was not his next of kin.
The following evening, John’s band, The Rabble Rousers, was scheduled to play a gig at Jason’s Steakhouse in Montgomery. However, for the first time in years, "Chicago Johnny" was a no-show. Determined to get the police involved, Renata persuaded John’s estranged wife, Suzanne, to contact the police and file a missing persons report.
Police initially did little to locate John, suspecting that he had run off or went on a trip without notifying his friends. Investigators found no signs of foul play at his home or at his business, and both of his vehicles were accounted for.
Stephanie McNeil immediately knew something was wrong when she heard her brother was missing. It was out of character for him to leave without contacting anyone, and she felt there was no way he would take off when he had already purchased tickets to fly to Phoenix, Ariz., the following week to visit his mother, who had recently been hospitalized.
As the weeks turned into months, Stephanie found herself making dozens of trips to Chicago to try to determine what had happened to her brother. Stephanie helped erect billboards with John’s picture and information, and she diligently distributed fliers and organized several searches, all to no avail.
