The Outlaws MC's clubhouse in Joliet, Ill.
The sheriff's department also confirmed there is an apparent connection with the young woman's disappearance and the Joliet Outlaws Motorcycle Club.
"We are confirming that she had told four different
people that she was heading to the Outlaws Clubhouse after her shift,"
Will County Sheriff's Department Spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer said.
Kearns was found murdered inside of the 1996 Jeep Grand
Cherokee that she was driving. Her vehicle was located in a rural area of
Kankakee County near St. Anne's, which is southeast of Kankakee, about an
hour's drive from Woody's or the Joliet Outlaws Clubhouse.
Joliet bartender Katie Kearns
"It's out in the country," Hoffmeyer said of the
crime scene.
By 10 a.m., the Will County Sheriff's Department SWAT team
showed up in force at the Joliet Outlaws clubhouse and stormed into the place.
"'They might have taken a car out of there as part of the
investigation," she said. At this stage, it appears that the homicide investigation is
coming together.
"We do have a person of interest," Hoffmeyer said.
"No charges have been filed yet."
She said that Will County Sheriff's investigators have been
working nonstop on the investigation since Wednesday morning. "Several of
them have not gone home since Wednesday morning."
Hoffmeyer confirmed that, around 10 a.m., several hours
after Kearns was found dead about an hour southeast of Joliet, the Will County
Sheriff's Police raided the Joliet Outlaws Motorcycle Club.
Police in front of the Outlaws MC's Clubhouse
The clubhouse is up
the road from Woody's, also along East Washington Street. Some Outlaws frequent Woody's Bar, where
Kearns was last seen alive.
In its press release about the homicide, the sheriff's
department emphasized that "detectives believe that there is no threat to
the community and that (Katie) was the intended target of this homicide."
Thursday's late morning announcement by Will County comes on
the heels of a volunteer search effort that was apparently underway around the
east side of Joliet in hopes of finding Kearns and the missing Jeep.
SOURCE: Patch