Chicago Johnny: The Search of a Man Lost Without a Clue

When the music fades slowly for John “Chicago Johnny” Spira although hopeful hearts still remain steadfast.<span id="fullpost">
February 23, 2007

West Chicago, Ill. – Many believe that the music of the band called “Rabble Rousers” can continue to live on for the band’s member, John Michael Spira (also known as Johnny Cage), 45, a citizen of 3000 block of King Richard Circle in St. Charles, Illinois.

However, this didn’t happen because since February of this year, John Michael Spira is still nowhere to be found. Although this is so, the family still remains hopeful that some leads may prove to be favorable.

But, ten months have already passed and there is not even a single trace that can point the authorities to where John Spira might be.

Reminiscing what had happened…

It was a typical working day for John Spira (Johnny Cage to his fans) at his own firm which he is said to share with his estranged wife, Suzanne, and another business partner named David W. Stubben: The Universal Cable Construction Inc. which is located at a busy corner at 2N255 County Farm Road, in DuPage County. (His business is just near West Chicago, Illinois). Those close to him saw him until around 5:30 p.m. at the said place.

It was known that Johnny Cage had a later engagement to meet a friend for dinner around 8 in the evening at the Oak Brook place, but failed to show up.

When news of his unlikely behavior of not showing up reached his girlfriend, Renata Bielskis, Johnny Cage’s girlfriend, felt alarmed that she immediately trotted off to the nearest station, St. Charles Police Department, in order to file a report about Johnny’s disappearance to alert the authorities, and hopefully have an immediate head-start for a thorough town-wide search for Johnny (including the neighboring places that he may have gone to).

However, since Renata wasn’t next of kin, her report was dismissed. She was even told that Johnny may have gone off somewhere else for the night, and may show up soon enough. But Renata couldn’t stop feeling worried about the safety of her boyfriend.

The next night, since Johnny was a long-time band member of the Rabble Rousers, he was expected by his band members to appear for the band’s gig at their usual music place (where they perform live before an audience) at Jason’s Steakhouse, which is located in Montgomery. But, Johnny didn’t attend the said event.

It was really rather unusual, as his band members and close family relations say, for Johnny to miss a show. He was never known not to show up for a gig since those close to him says that it is pretty obvious that Johnny loves the music and the thrill of performing before an audience in all his four-year membership with the group.

Still, authorities didn’t move to investigate his disappearance because of an absence of a formal report made by any of Johnny’s close family relations.

At 5:30 a.m. the next day (February 25), the filing of a missing persons report by Johnny’s estranged wife, Suzanne Spira was finally accepted by local authorities of St.Charles and the DuPage County Sheriff’s Department. But, many hours were already wasted.

When the officials checked Johnny’s home at King Richard Court, and also conducted investigations in his business premises, the surprising thing is that nothing unusual or out of the ordinary was found.

There were no signs of foul play. And some authorities speculated that perhaps Johnny left on a whim, and didn’t want anyone to find out where he was headed to.

But close relations of Johnny do not believe these things because they claim that Johnny isn’t known to do things out of the ordinary like not showing up for his band’s gig that he hasn’t – in his entire membership with them – ever fail to show up for a musical performance since he played a key role in the band as a guitarist.

The police also said that Johnny must have decided to leave everything because he has to go to a place no one knows about.

Impossible! That is the word that comes out of the mouths of those who knew him well. Why? Because why would a man with a stable job and a famous music life be able to choose to leave and adapt those things that are easy to remember and prepare? That he cares about so much? How could a man like Johnny leave all the things that he had worked so hard for? Technically, he is well-endowed in work stability and riches, has a loving family, and a faithful girlfriend. But, why would Johnny leave all these things when he isn’t known to make impromptu and unexpected exits from prior situations?

Since there were no leads or new info about Johnny from the officials, his sister, Stephanie, decided to take matters on her own. She put up a website for her brother, and made a profile for him where her description of Johnny is crystal clear. According to her, Johnny is passionate about his music, and that’s why his jilting the group or going somewhere else (as some may think) simply does not describe her brother.

No one can really say what actually happened to Johnny that time before he disappeared along with an office supply – a roll of plastic material – that also disappeared without a trace as of this writing.
All of the family members of Johnny were so distraught and overly concerned about Johnny’s whereabouts. That is why there is still a continuation of the search up to now.

However, the question still remains on whether he is alive or not anymore.

Further investigations that were done garnered some interesting things about Johnny’s case.

One is that there was no single banking activity made on his credit cards.

Two, there is no known means of getting in touch with him since bank accounts, his cellphone, and other things left no trace.

To get more people to help, flyers were freely given with a photo of Chicago Johnny.

Aside from the website, Stephanie, along with two friends, erected a billboard outside Johnny’s business on cable construction which has Johnny’s best two pictures and a message of help. However, after two days, someone destroyed the billboard by intentionally burning the whole company.

Whether the burning of Johnny’s company is related to his disappearance, no one knows. There are still more investigations being made, and much of it is centered around finding Johnny soon.

To push the case forward, the close family relations of Johnny opted to give a reward of ten thousand dollars to anyone who can give a lead to where Johnny might be, dead or alive.

So, will the music find its way to where Johnny is? Probably. But then, this case is still pending, and the family needs all the help they can get.