In November 1987, an unsolved murder occurred in Illinois where an entire family was brutally killed. The mother, who was pregnant, gave birth before, during, or shortly after her death and the child also died. It is considered one of the most horrifying murders in US history.

The unsolved 1987 murder of Joeann Dardeen's family, including her pregnant daughter-in-law and grandson, still haunts her and the people of Illinois. The family was brutally killed with a baseball bat, with the daughter-in-law giving birth during the attack and the newborn being killed as well. The father's body was found mutilated in a wheat field the next day. This gruesome crime remains unsolved 25 years later.

The murder case in Jefferson County, where a family was killed, remains unsolved and no one has been held accountable. The prime suspect, serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells, claimed to have committed the killings among the 70 he claimed in various states as a drifter and carnival worker. However, authorities only linked him to nearly two dozen murders. Due to doubts about the accuracy of his confession, the Dardeen murders were not among them.

The question of whether serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells was responsible for the Dardeen family murder or if the killer is still at large remains uncertain. Sells, who was a prime suspect, passed away earlier this month in a Texas execution chamber for the murder of a 13-year-old girl. With his death, the answer to the question might be more elusive.

Joeann Dardeen, the mother of the murdered son, does not believe that Tommy Lynn Sells was responsible for the death of her son's family. She disputes Sells' claims that the father, Keith Dardeen, had invited him for a three-way tryst with his pregnant wife after meeting him at a gas station. According to her, Keith Dardeen was very protective of his family and would not have entertained such an idea.

On November 17, 1987, after her son, Keith Dardeen, failed to show up for work, Joeann Dardeen notified the police to check on her son's family at their home 80 miles southeast of St. Louis. When authorities arrived, they found Elaine Dardeen, her 3-year-old son, and her newborn baby all dead and positioned on a waterbed. The next day, hunters discovered Keith Dardeen's body a mile away. The brutality of the crime was extreme, making it one of the most terrible and egregious murders in history.

Before Tommy Lynn Sells was arrested in Texas for the murder of 13-year-old Kaylene Harris, suspects in the Dardeen family murder case were scarce. After his arrest, Sells began confessing to other killings. The investigator who first arrested Sells for Harris' death said that Sells often claimed to wake up in unfamiliar places with blood on him. He stated that Sells used a variety of weapons such as guns, knives, an ice pick, and even his bare hands to commit his crimes.

Sells claimed responsibility for the Dardeen family murders, providing some accurate details of the crime, which he could have obtained from media accounts. When questioned about specific details that were not made public, Sells initially gave the wrong answer but then corrected himself. It is possible that Sells merely guessed the correct answer. Sells also insisted he shot Keith Dardeen in a specific seat of the victim's car, but evidence disproved this. Overall, there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding his claims.

Sells offered to lead authorities to where he had hidden key evidence in the Dardeen family murders case but was not allowed to leave Texas. The prosecutor was unable to charge Sells with the killings based on his questionable confession and lack of physical evidence. It is possible that Sells was the killer, but there is also a possibility that the actual perpetrator is still at large.