Cheryl Huff

• Missing Since 12/31/1992
• Missing From Glendale Heights, Illinois
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Age 26 years old
• Height and Weight Unknown
• Associated Vehicle(s) Gray 1991 Chevrolet Corsica (accounted for)
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Cheryl's maiden name is Hezja.

Details of Disappearance

Cheryl was last seen leaving her part-time job at the Village Center Pharmacy in Glendale Heights, Illinois on December 31, 1992. She was en route to collect $200 in child support from her estranged husband of seven years, Garry F. Huff, at his rented room in the 700 block of Leslie Lane. A photo of Garry is with below this case summary.

Cheryl had left Garry in March, taken their two children and moved in with her parents. She filed for divorce in July. In addition to her job as a cashier at the pharmacy, she worked a trucking company in Addison, Illinois.

On the evening of her disappearance, she was supposed to get the money and then pick up the children and take them to a New Years' party at a friend's home. She never collected her children, however, and has never been heard from again.

Two days later, Cheryl's gray 1991 Chevrolet Corsica was found abandoned near the apartment where she had planned to attend the party.

Three weeks after Cheryl's disappearance, Garry was arrested for her murder. He confessed that he shot her to death with a small-caliber handgun at 6:30 p.m. that night, then burned her body with wood and kerosene in a 55-gallon barrel in his backyard early the next morning. He dumped what was left in a garbage bin at Cardinal Industries in St. Charles, Illinois, where he worked as a machinist and cabinet finisher.

The contents of the garbage bin were later taken to a landfill; investigators don't believe Cheryl's remains are recoverable. Three teeth and some bone fragments were located at the dump site in St. Charles, however, and a small piece of human tissue inside the barrel matched Cheryl's DNA.

Garry's roommate stated Garry had said several times that he wanted to kill his wife and burn her body. In his confession, Garry said he got angry over how Cheryl planned to spend the child support money, and demanded that she give it back. She refused, and he shot her multiple times: once in the chest, twice in the face and one in the back of the head.

Garry has a prior criminal record; he served time in a North Carolina prison for a property crime. He pleaded not guilty at his murder trial, which was held before a judge instead of a jury. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 80 years in prison, exceeding the guidelines that recommended 20 to 60 years, because the judge said the murder was "brutal and heinous, indicative of wanton cruelty." His projected release date is 2033.

Cheryl's parents adopted the couple's children after Garry's sentencing. She has never been found, but foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.