ABSTRACT
Brian Welzien was a junior and finance major at Northern Illinois University (NIU) with a 3.8 Grade Point Average. He was athletic and well liked by everyone who met him. Brian took college, soccer, and his health seriously. This was evidenced by the fact that he was on the Dean’s list, and that he did not use drugs and rarely drank. On Friday, December 31, 1999, Brian went out to celebrate New Year’s Eve in the Wrightwood Neighbors area of Chicago. He was with a group of five males: two of his own friends (hereafter, Neil and Mark) and three acquaintances (hereafter, Ryan and two unidentified individuals). That was the last time Brian was ever seen alive again. He was found 76.6 days later (March 17, 2000), washed up on a remote beach about 40 miles away by road in Gary, Indiana.
