Town file
Elk Grove Village, Illinois
Elk Grove Village, Illinois (Cook and DuPage counties, Illinois) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 330, "The Vixen Of Violence" (27 October 2022). Frank Colombo, aged 43, and his wife Mary, aged 40, lived at 55 Brantwood in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, a planned suburb about half an hour from Chicago.
- Town
- Elk Grove Village
- County
- Cook and DuPage counties
- State
- Illinois
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 330
- Approximate location
- 42.006, -87.993
Episode 330 / 27 October 2022 / 159 min / full
The Vixen Of Violence
"This is Elk Grove, Illinois ... this particular town, Elk Grove, is in both Cook and Dupage counties" about 0:05:17
The case: Murder of the Colombo family (May 1976). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2022
- Population
- 31,831
- Median age
- 43
- Median household income
- $73,214
- Median home value
- $312,200
- Two-bedroom rent
- $1,335
- Religious
- 60%
- Violent crime
- ▼ about one third
History, in brief
- The Potawatomi tribe were originally in the Elk Grove area and were, in James's word, relocated in the 1830s under Andrew Jackson. about 0:07:13
- The area was settled by farmers from New England. about 0:08:33
- Elk Grove was not incorporated until 1956, because it was planned as a suburban community. about 0:08:41
- Most of the houses were built in the 1950s by the Centex Corporation. about 0:08:53
- The original plan forgot to separate industrial and residential areas, so factories stood next to houses; they later moved things around. about 0:10:13
- Elk Grove is now one of the largest industrial parks in the United States. about 0:10:21
- Many German immigrants settled there and a lot of the streets are named for the farmers. about 0:10:59
- Elk are stocked in the woods area, like trout. about 0:11:08
- In 1982 it was the centre of the Chicago Tylenol murders: 12-year-old Mary Kellerman died after taking Tylenol laced with potassium cyanide, which led to tamper-evident packaging. about 0:11:55
- In the 1990s and 2000s a beautification and redevelopment programme produced a plain 25-foot clock tower that nobody looks at. about 0:13:24
The reviews read out
5 stars
"Everyone always comes together to make the community better and everyone who lives there is genuine, kind and willing to help."about 0:13:45
5 stars
"Lived there 40-plus years; the exceptional village lives up to its motto, with schools and churches well represented and three children raised there, two still in the village."about 0:14:57
3 stars
"A good safe place with great schools, lots to do nearby such as the Woodfield Mall, and about 30 minutes from downtown Chicago."about 0:16:14
3 stars
"Not much to do for teens apart from places to eat and driving around."about 0:17:17
0 stars
"Vicky's review, headed 'Elk Grove is not the exceptional village' in capitals: 'I wish we never moved here'. Posted around 2012."about 0:18:12
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Bloomingdale, Illinois6.2 miles
- Arlington Heights, Illinois6.4 miles
- Villa Park, Illinois8.3 miles
- Streamwood, Illinois9.5 miles
- Oak Park, Illinois13 miles
- Libertyville, Illinois19 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.