The cover story on the Sun-Times today is about Jeanette Sliwinski, the woman who killed Michael Dahlquist, John Glick, and Doug Meis in her apparent suicide attempt last month. The article is rather obviously trying to answer the question of what would have led someone to do what Sliwinski did, but it’s ultimately unsatisfying. For one, nearly every source in the article is anonymous. There’s a lot of hearsay, but little real information other than a brief biographical sketch. And frustrating little half-speculations like:

It’s unclear just how long Sliwinski worked as a stripper, but another exotic dancer who knows her said Sliwinski was dancing for at least a year after graduating from Niles West.

About 2-1/2 years ago, Sliwinski came into Chicago’s Admiral Theatre, said the dancer, who didn’t want her name used. Sliwinski was with a boyfriend and chatted openly and enthusiastically about dancing.

“She said she loved it and she made good money,” the dancer said. “She seemed to be in love with her boyfriend and everything was good.”

On a good night, a stripper at some clubs might rake in $1,000 or more, the dancer said. But sometimes it takes more than cash to deal with endless groping hands. Pill popping isn’t unheard of in the industry, the dancer said.

“Most of the time alcohol isn’t enough,” the dancer said.

But Sliwinski wasn’t like a lot of women in the business — she seemed to “have her head on straight,” the dancer said.

If she “wasn’t like a lot of women in the business” then why even bring up the “pill popping”?

Of course, there are no reasons to recklessly endanger, and in fact kill, other people like she did. So I suppose any attempt to explain her behavior is doomed to failure.

Chicago Sun-Times: Her desperate, deadly drive
Chicago Metroblog: This hot bitch
Chicago Metroblog: Tragedy