Initially billed as the murders of six black "businessmen," Chicago's unsolved homicides of 1971 and '72 had several things in common: all the victims were black males; each was shot in the back of the head, execution style; and all were discarded, like refuse, in the muddy South Branch of the Chicago River.

Lee Wilson was the first to die, in September 1971. Employed as a laborer in a meat packing plant, Wilson worked a shift from 4 a.m. to midnight. Dropping a co-worker off around 1 a.m. on September 2, he started for home but never arrived. Wilson's car was recovered later that day; his body, hands bound, a bullet in his brain, was fished from the river on September 6. Robbery was suggested as a motive, though Wilson had carried no more than three dollars on the night of his death.

William Thomas, a baggage handler at O'Hare Airport, habitually traveled with two or three hundred dollars in his pocket, in case of "emergencies." On the night of November 4, 1971, he called home and told his wife not to hold dinner, as he would be late on the job. Around 9:30 p.m., he picked up an employee's airline pass to Florida -- and disappeared. The pass was in his car, discovered three days later. Thomas, bound and shot like Wilson, was retrieved from the Chicago River on December 12.

Meanwhile, the elusive slayer had selected victim number three. The owner of his own taxi, 47-year-old Albert Shorter was off duty and cruising the bars when he vanished on November 17. The victim's Cadillac was found next day; his lifeless body was recovered on November 21.

Vernell Lollar, although unemployed, was flush with $900 from an insurance settlement when he vanished on November 26. His body, sans cash, was pulled from the river on December 13.

Lieutenant Scott (his name, not a military rank) was the first victim to qualify as a businessman. A partner in a snack shop, he withdrew $2,000 from a pension fund on the afternoon of December 13, 1971, and vanished that same evening. His car was found the next day, Scott's body hauled ashore on New Year's Eve.

The final victim in the murder series, Richard Stean, was twenty-eight years old, a partner in a television sales and service business. He left home around midnight on January 2, 1972, carrying $2,000 earmarked for a building contractor the next morning. Stean missed his appointment, and his car was recovered on January 6, after witnesses saw four passengers enter the infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects. On February 5, Stean's body was found in the river, but FBI agents were already working the case, tracking anonymous callers who demanded an $11,000 ransom from Stean's father. The drop was made on schedule, but no one ever came to get the cash.

A special task force was created in a bid to crack the case, but officers were getting nowhere fast. With half a dozen victims on their hands, no suspects, and a dearth of clues, police could only say, "The trail is cold."