Community Corner
The Most Shocking Stories of 2013
Brush up on some of the most-read Downers Grove Patch stories of 2013.
In a look back at the year's top stories, we pinpoint the ones that made jaws drop.
Downers Grove Man Bill Foley Found Dead After More Than A Week Missing
After a week and a half search by family, friends and law enforcement, Downers Grove resident Bill Foley was found dead Feb. 17 in Pope County.
Family members thanked more than 1,100 followers on the Facebook page "Help Find Bill Foley" for their support in a message Monday morning.
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Explicit Photos Found on Herrick School Computer, Teacher Resigned: Report
A Downers Grove middle school teacher resigned and relinquished her teaching credentials last year after explicit photos were found on her computer and authorities investigated whether those photos were shared with an underage boy.
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Kimberly A. Mason, a former language arts at Herrick Middle School, resigned in August after Grade School District 58 officials accused her of keeping nude or semi-nude photos of herself on her school computer.
Stabbing Deaths of Downers Grove Couple Ruled Murder-Suicide
Police said that Thomas Smith killed his wife, Jennifer Smith, before taking his own life in June. Their bodies were found Friday at their home in the 6200 block of Park Avenue.
Read more.Lightning Strike Kills Downers Grove High School Senior
A 17-year-old girl from Downers Grove was struck and killed by a lightning bolt in May, authorities said.Jennie Dizon, a senior at Benet Academy in Lisle, was found unconscious and not breathing just after 5 p.m. at O'Brien Park, 6909 S. Dunham Road, just east of the sled hill, according to Downers Grove Police Lt. Mike Willison.
Get the rest of the story.
Obituary: Hunter Himes, 15
Hunter Anthony Himes, 15, of unincorporated Downers Grove, died in January from injuries sustained during a bicycle accident in February 2012.
Hunter, who would have been a freshman at Downers Grove South this year, was left in a persistent vegetative state from brain injuries suffered after he was struck by a car while riding his bike home from a friend's house in Darien. His parents, Mark and Terra Ihde, put him on hospice in November after learning he would not recover.
Read the rest of Hunter's obituary.
Same-Sex Marriage Supporters, Opponents Rally in Downers Grove
Hundreds of opponents of same-sex marriage gathered in May outside State Rep. Ron Sandack's Downers Grove office, where they also faced off with gay rights activists staging a counter protest.
The Defend Marriage rally was organized by the Illinois Family Institute, a conservative non-profit that opposes Senate Bill 10. Illinois legalized same-sex marriage in November.
Local Women Who Claim to be 1st 'Crocodile' Drug Victims Go Public
Two women who say they are the first treated for symptoms associated with the ghastly drug "crocodile" revealed their stories and their wounds.
Most of the rose tattooed on Amber Neitzel’s left calf has rotted off, but she knows the damage could have been much worse for her if she hadn’t been treated for the flesh-eating drug she said caused the gaping, rank wounds on her body.
“I was doing this drug for a year and a half and didn’t even know it,” said Neitzel, who along with her sister, Angie Neitzel, say they were the first to be treated for the horror-movie drug "crocodile” at Joliet’s Presence St. Joseph Medical Center.
Read more about the women's recounting of the drug's effects.
Need a dose of "Good News" now? Check out our Top Stories that Moved You in 2013.
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