The Murder of Amy Schulz: Forensics, Footprints, and Cecil Sutherland

This Feels Criminal: A True Crime Podcast (Formerly Killer Queens)

This Feels Criminal | Formerly Killer Queens

Society & Culture, True Crime

4.4 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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The murder of Amy Schulz remains one of the most haunting true crime cases in Illinois history. In 1987, the 10-year-old vanished during a five-minute walk in the quiet town of Kell, leading to a massive investigation and a cross-country manhunt. Discover how forensic hair and fiber analysis, a Montana "hobo camp," and a decade of legal battles finally brought Cecil Sutherland to justice.

In this episode, Tyrella and Nikita deconstruct the investigation, the forensic breakthroughs that changed the case, and the enduring legacy of the Amy Center.

00:00 – The disappearance of Amy Schulz in Kell, Illinois.
06:15 – The community search and the tragic discovery in the oil field.
14:45 – Initial suspects and the mysterious lead from a Montana "hobo camp."
23:20 – Forensic Evidence: How dog hair and tire tracks identified Cecil Sutherland.
32:10 – The 1989 trial, the death penalty, and the 2004 retrial breakthroughs.
41:05 – Turning tragedy into hope: The mission of the Amy Center.

Support the Amy Center: Learn how they protect and support children at ⁠amycenter.org⁠.
Watch: On the Case With Paula Zahn – "From Dusk to Darkness" (S14E11).

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Audio Production by Wayfare Recording

Music provided by Steven Tobi

Logo designed by ⁠Ingrid at Penguin Designing⁠

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Did you ever hear a story and think, we're not getting the full picture?
0:08.6	That's where we start. On this field's criminal, we unpack crime, corruption, and conspiracy
0:14.0	with curiosity, context, and just a touch of chaos. We step outside the timelines and ask better
0:20.2	questions and explore the systems
0:21.9	behind the story, all in a voice that feels more like a friend than a reporter. Because when you
0:26.4	identify the patterns, you can't unsee how often they show up. On a summer evening in Kel, Illinois,
0:36.3	Dennis Schultz asked his 10-year-old daughter, Amy,
0:38.6	to go find her brother who'd been out looking for their family dog, who had ended up returning on his own.
0:44.3	But when Ryan came home without Amy, Dennis got pretty concerned.
0:48.9	After hours of searching, Amy's body was found in a field,
0:52.6	and the search for the person who sexually assaulted and murdered a young girl began.
0:59.6	I felt like you just needed to know all of that right off the bat.
1:03.2	Yeah. I didn't like it.
1:06.8	Yeah. They're all rough. This does talk about murder and sexual assault of a child.
1:12.1	We want you to know that up front.
1:13.9	So if this is a case you got a nope right out of, I completely understand that.
1:19.3	It's not going to be an easy one to cover.
1:23.0	Awesome.
1:24.2	Yep.
1:25.0	And also, this is a case that Nikita does not know. So she's kind of going in blind. I'm going to tell her the story. And you're going to hate everything about it. Oh, wonderful. As much as you could hate, go ahead and get ready because you're going to do that. Okay. Yeah. There is an episode of On the Case with Paula's On about this one.
1:45.4	It's called From Dusk to Darkness.
1:49.1	Just if you want to watch it.
	...

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