CALUMET CITY, Ill. — It was a story Kevin Seeley had heard before.
While growing up, Seeley would listen to his grandmother, Dee, talk about the murder of 18-year-old Karen Snider in Calumet City. The murder, which happened in 1966, remained unsolved.
“I probably heard the story five times,” Seeley says.
He didn’t have the name of a suspect in Snider’s murder, but the story peaked his curiosity.
And that’s what led to police breaking open the nearly 60-year-old cold case.
WGN Investigates reported last week that James Barbier was taken into custody by Calumet City police in Creve Couer, Mo., outside St. Louis, for Snider’s murder.
Barbier — a family friend and even a pallbearer at Snider’s funeral — was a suspect then, but police couldn’t prove he committed the crime. So the case went cold.
Seeley’s curiosity opened it back up.
Seeley, 29, made a phone call to Calumet City detectives, which reopened the cold case in December 2022.
Calumet City police spent the next 16 months working the case. The department said detectives located and re-interviewed witnesses and analyzed evidence which identified Barbier as a suspect, including DNA evidence kept for decades that police say matched to Barbier.
Last week, Barbier, now 79, was in Cook County Court, charged with the murder of Karen Snider late on the night of Nov. 12, 1966.
At the time, Snider was a new mom — not even 20 years old — when she was found dead, stabbed more than 120 times inside her home.
Her husband, Paul, was at work. Their 2-month-old daughter, Paula, was unharmed in a bassinet nearby.
“My father fought (to find the killer) from the day that he found (Snider dead) until he died,” Paula Larson said.
On Monday, Larson finally got to meet Seeley, the young man who listened to his grandma’s stories and remembered Karen Snider.
And made the call to detectives that finally broke open the case.
“We can’t forget why we are here today,” Calumet City Police Det. Kevin Rapacz said. “I’m humbled. We were able to work with a lot of people for the family.
“It means the most, closure for the family.”
Cook County prosecutors declined to have Barbier held in custody while he awaits trial. He’s been released on home confinement outside St. Louis.
Barbier’s next court hearing is scheduled for May 21.
