Jay Given
Real Name: Jay Neil Given
Nicknames: "The Midnight Mayor"
Location: East Chicago, Indiana
Date: May 15, 1981
Case
Details: East Chicago, Indiana, is a classic, industrial, blue-collar community. Like its famous namesake in Illinois, everyday life in East Chicago was for years controlled by the local political machine. For two decades, one of the city’s power brokers and "political kingmakers" was a fifty-one-year-old municipal attorney named Jay Given. He was well respected for his knowledge of municipal law. He was a master fundraiser, a clever, behind-the-scenes operator who traded on favors to create strong political alliances. According to his son, Jeffrey, he was very powerful. He understood how to win elections. He was intimately familiar with the politicians, the people in power. He knew all the “skeletons in their closets”. This made him very powerful in East Chicago. This also led him to make many enemies.
From 1963 to 1973, Jay was the city attorney for East Chicago. He was also a co-owner of a local law firm. By the 1970s, the political machines in the Midwest were beginning to come apart. In 1970, Jay had helped elect Robert "Bob" Pastrick, the city controller, as mayor of East Chicago. He also advised Pastrick and served as legal consultant for the city's sanitary board. However, the two became involved in a political controversy when several city councilmen refused to approve Pastrick's projects as long as Jay was involved in them. Within two years, they were on the outs and no longer allies. Pastrick dismissed Jay from the sanitary board. According to Jeffrey, Jay and Pastrick split on a number of issues, including upcoming elections and political alliances. After the split, Jay sued Pastrick and city councilmen over violation of the "Sunshine" open meeting laws. His attention also started turning towards electing somebody else other than Pastrick as mayor.
On May 15, 1981, the local Elks Club was the scene of a Las Vegas-style fundraiser for County Commissioner N. Atterson Spann. Spann was the city’s foremost black politician. At the time, he was considering a run for mayor. Several of the fundraiser attendees were city and county officials from the area. Jay had asked Jeffrey to accompany him to it; however, Jeffrey had just returned from college and declined. Jay arrived there alone at around 9:30pm. He went to the bar and began to mingle with the crowd. He was not known for attending many political fundraisers. His appearance there was regarded by many as an attempt to solidify East Chicago’s white and black power blocks against the growing political strength of Hispanic Americans, who were backing Pastrick for re-election.
Jay worked the room for two hours. At one point, he won $300 from a raffle. Shortly after 11pm, he said his goodbyes, telling one politician that he had to leave early because he and his wife, Phyllis, were flying to Cleveland early the next morning. He headed out of the club to smoke, but never made it through the front door. Instead, he was shot once in the back of the head at point-blank range. He died in the entryway of the Elks Club, within earshot of 400 people. Incredibly, no one ever admitted to witnessing the shooting. Years later, police have yet to charge a suspect.
But on the night of the murder, detectives thought the case might be wrapped up quickly, despite the fact that several people stepped through the lobby to leave the building, trampling over the crime scene. They found a shell casing in the foyer of the club and a spent .45-caliber bullet in the street. Former Police Inspector Paul DiCharia, who was in charge of collecting evidence from the scene, was astonished at the remarkable condition it was in. According to him, the bullet came through the front part of Jay’s forehead, went through the glass front doors, hit the brick building across the street, and bounced back into the street where it was found. It was in perfect condition, with the exception of the nose of it.
Inspector DiCharia marked the evidence and locked it in his desk drawer, rather than check it into the vault (which was the typical procedure). He says that this practice was not uncommon; he had done it with other evidence. His partner and other investigators had done it before as well. He wanted the other investigators to look at the evidence.
Four days later, Inspector DiCharia was shocked when he opened his drawer and discovered that someone had tampered with the evidence in an apparent attempt to prevent investigators from matching the bullet to a gun. On the shell casing, a hole was punched through the primer. On the bullet, someone had taken a sharp instrument and tried to cut the lines and grooves in a way so that they could not be compared to a gun.
The only people with access to the evidence drawer worked in the police department. The tampering had all the earmarks of an inside job. Inspector DiCharia sent the altered bullet and shell casing to the FBI for analysis. Despite the damage, they identified the murder weapon as a rare Detonics 1911-style combat Master handgun. The casing was eventually linked to one of only fifty-eight Detonics with a specially modified ejecting mechanism.
Incredibly, one of those guns was traced back to the East Chicago Police Department. The weapon was once owned by Deputy Chief John Cardona, who was a prime suspect in the case. He had been a member of a Latino political club that was at odds with Jay. And several eyewitnesses placed him at the Elks Club on the night of the shooting. According to former special prosecutor Joseph Van Bokkelen, Cardona was very active in the Spanish organization. They were not welcome at the Elks Club event. He reportedly gave two or three different reasons why he was there, based on different conversations he had. At some point, he acknowledged that he was there to watch Jay.
According to investigators, a witness claims that Cardona seemed to be following Jay at one point during the evening. According to Van Bokkelen, Jay had made it clear that if “his people” came to power in the city, there were going to be some changes. Cardona was one of those “changes.” One witness heard Jay say that if Spann got in, Cardona would be “walking the beat again.”
None of the witnesses saw Cardona when Jay made his way towards the exit. However, one party goer says that shortly before the shooting, he saw Jay engaged in a discussion with a man in the lobby. Investigators believe the man could have been Cardona. The witness described the man as approximately 6’1”, with black, wavy hair, and a bluish-gray suit. That could have been consistent with what Cardona was wearing at the time and his height. After seeing the discussion, the witness went to the washroom. While in there, he heard a gunshot. When he came out, he saw Jay lying face down on the floor. The other person was gone.
Cardona said that he was in the bar when Jay was gunned down. However, according to investigators, several people said they did not remember seeing him there at the time. These witnesses were seated at the bar and knew him; they could not place him there. The only person who placed Cardona at the bar at the time of the shooting is himself.
Over the next few weeks, everyone in the police department was asked to take a polygraph exam, including Cardona. He failed the test, and later, he refused to take a second exam regarding evidence tampering. Investigators believed that three key pieces of evidence pointed to him. First, he apparently fit the description of the man seen talking with Jay. Second, he owned a Detonics handgun, even though he said it had been stolen six months earlier. Third, he had access to the drawer where the evidence had been kept.
But when viewed in a different light, what appears to be overwhelming circumstantial evidence actually might make Cardona an unlikely suspect. Why would a man as prominent as a deputy police chief make a very visible appearance at a fundraiser attended by 400 people? Why would he then shadow the movements of a known political rival for at least part of the evening, as alleged by one witness? And why would he murder that rival within earshot of every guest at the party?
Perhaps it was these very questions that kept prosecutors from pressing charges. In fact, the case was never even brought before the grand jury. Von Bokkelen believes that there was enough evidence for an indictment. However, according to him, the local prosecutor, Jack Crawford, did not want to lose the case, especially because it had already caused adverse publicity with the evidence tampering. He believes that Crawford wanted a case that was a “locked-type” one in which a conviction was certain, and he did not think it was tight enough. Crawford later claimed that members of his task force that examined the case decided not to seek an indictment due to lack of evidence.
Jeffrey would like to see an indictment and trial in Jay’s case. He says that if Cardona did not do it, then they should go after whoever actually did it. He is frustrated that they do not have any closure on the case.
Who murdered Jay? At this point, police believe there are witnesses who may be able to help answer that question. Just prior to the shooting, five people were descending the stairway of the Elks Club. Three of them, all men, were approaching the foot of the steps at the precise moment that Jay was gunned down. The three men have never been identified. The police hope that one of them saw the killer and will now come forward with information.
In August 1983, Cardona was dismissed from office after being found guilty of two disciplinary charges. This was shortly after he refused to take the second polygraph exam. He later moved out of state. He declined to appear on camera for the broadcast, telling an Unsolved Mysteries researcher, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
In 1986, Inspector DiCharia admitted he lied when he was questioned about evidence tampering in the case. He testified at a grand jury that he had no knowledge of when the tampering occurred; however, he actually knew it occurred within five days of the murder. He claimed he lied because he feared losing his job, as he had five children he was raising by himself. He also claimed he lied to protect Cardona from an evidence tampering charge. Furthermore, he claimed the tampering was "directed" at him because the evidence was in his custody. He was later convicted of perjury.
John Cardona
Suspects: Cardona is a prime suspect in this case. He was seen at the club on the night of the murder and apparently was following Jay around. He matched the description of the man seen talking to Jay shortly before he was killed. He claimed he was at the bar at the time of the shooting, but witnesses who were there did not remember him being there. He also visited the hospital where Jay was taken after the shooting, but gave no reason why. He had owned one of the rare guns that was used in the murder. He also had access to the drawer where the evidence was taken from and tampered. Also, shortly before the murder, he had asked another officer about how a bullet or shell casing could be traced back to a specific gun. Finally, he had motive to kill Jay, who claimed that he would have him demoted if Spann was elected. Police believe he may have killed Jay during an argument over politics. However, no one could place him at the actual location of the murder at the time. He himself reported his Detonics handgun had been stolen six months earlier.
There was speculation that Jay was killed to keep him from revealing incriminating information about the city's political players. Others speculated that it was the result of a political vendetta. It is not known if the murder was planned or occurred in the "heat of the moment." Robbery was not believed to be a motive, as the $300 he won was still in his pocket.
At the time Jay was killed, five people were coming down that stairs. Three of them, all African-American men, have never been identified. Investigators would like to speak to them in hopes that they saw the perpetrator.
Extra Notes:
- This case first aired on the January 5, 1994 episode.
- Spann was later convicted of state and federal bribery charges.
- A witness, Chester Newsome, came forward five years after the murder, saying that he had seen Jay and Cardona arguing and shoving each other in the Elks Club building. Just seconds later, he heard a gunshot. His testimony was not considered credible because he was a convicted felon who was facing a lengthy prison term. It is not known if he was the same witness mentioned above.
Results: Unsolved. Police believe that several witnesses in this case were intimidated or threatened into silence, most likely because of the alleged police involvement in it. They would like to re-question several of them, including a woman who worked in the Jockey Club, which was located in the same building as the Elk's Club. On every other night, she waited for her ride in the building's lobby. However, on the night of the murder, she left at 10:30pm and walked straight home. It is not known if she witnessed something that night. When she spoke to police, she said she "just wanted to forget that night," and implied that she had seen something but did not want to tell them about it for her own safety. According to the witness's daughter, she is now in her eighties, living in a nursing home, and does not want to talk about this case.
Another witness, a woman who reported the shooting, was never questioned by police, for reasons unknown. Yet another witness was apparently so afraid of cooperating with police that she agreed to spend ten days in jail for contempt of court. Another witness, firefighter Mark Warholic, told police he had seen Jay talking with a man in the building's vestibule shortly before the murder. He later hired an attorney and moved to Florida. After the murder, Cardona drove him home; along the way, they stopped at the hospital Jay was sent to. Cardona never explaine why he stopped there.
Meanwhile, Cardona remains the prime suspect. Jay's family is convinced that he was responsible, but that "East Chicago politics" kept him from being arrested. Cardona has since moved to Florida. He maintains his innocence.
Sadly, Jay's widow, Phyllis, passed away in 2009 without ever seeing this case solved.
Links:
- Jay Given on Unsolved.com
- Jay Given Slain Inside E.C. Club - May 17, 1981
- Will murders go unsolved? (Page 1)
(Page 2) - November 4, 1984 - Perjury claim reopens slaying case - December 23, 1986
- Son seeks clues to father's death - January 29, 1994
- Victim's son wants father's murder solved - January 31, 1994
- Son still seeks clues to father's death - January 31, 1994
- Son dreams of avenging murder
- Jay Given: Case cold nearly 30 years later - December 21, 2009
- Shot in the back of the head: 40 years later, Given case still rocks region - June 23, 2019
- Cold Case: Jay Given (Video)
- Jay Given's Obituary
- Jay Given on Find a Grave