David Dowaliby

About David Dowaliby

David Dowaliby was convicted of murdering his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Jaclyn Dowaliby in 1990. That conviction was overturned by the Illinois Appellate Court in 1991, which did not order a retrial, and the Illinois Supreme Court declined review of the case in 1992, thereby putting an end to the murder charges against David. To date, the only other suspect arrested for the murder of Jaclyn was her biological mother Cynthia Dowaliby, who was found not guilty by a directed verdict that was ordered by the Honorable Richard A. Neville, the judge who presided over the trial that resulted in David's conviction. No other suspects have ever been arrested in the case, and the case remains unsolved.

Jaclyn was reported missing from her Midlothian, Illinois home by David and Cynthia on the morning of September 10, 1988. According to David and Cynthia, Jaclyn had gone to sleep in her bedroom there the night before. Police initially assumed that a window through which an intruder may have entered the Dowaliby home to abduct Jaclyn had had the glass pane broken from inside the home, as there was more broken glass on the outside of the window than on the inside. However, forensic analysis later established conclusively that the glass had in fact been broken from the outside.

David and Cynthia initially cooperated with the police, volunteering for polygraph examinations and drug tests, which they both passed. They also directed the police to two possible suspects, the first being Jaclyn's biological father and the second being Jaclyn's uncle Rob Kenny. However, Jaclyn's biological father was in prison when Jaclyn's abduction took place, and Kenny had an alibi, albeit a dubious alibi that was later disputed by witnesses. Meanwhile, with no other leads that they felt were worth following, and an enormous amount of pressure to clear the case, the police started focusing their investigation on David and Cynthia.