BLOOMINGTON -- While the investigation into the massacre of five members of the Gee family moves into its sixth day, there are some Central Illinois homicides that have remained unsolved for years.

Among the more recent cases that remain unsolved is the beating death of a 7-year-old Streator boy. Dalton Mesarchik disappeared while waiting outside his family's home for a church van to pick him up. His body was found the next day, March 27, 2003, at a boat launch on the Vermilion River in rural South Streator.

Police recovered a three-pound, short-handled sledgehammer they believe was used in the murder. The hammer, a Bench Pro brand, was sold only by Kmart.

A $50,000 reward has been offered in the case. People with information are asked to call state police at (815) 844-1500 ext. 2321, the Livingston County sheriff's tip line at (877) 844-4411 or Streator Area Crime Stoppers at (815) 672-9000.

A 2 year-old Bloomington boy died July 10, 1996, from internal injuries likely caused by someone kicking or hitting him with "massive, rapid force" a short time before his death. A coroner's jury ruled the Vinsint Malone's death a homicide, but no arrests have been made.

Jennifer Lockmiller, 22, was found Aug. 28, 1993, strangled in her Main Street apartment. Normal police said the murder of the 22-year-old Illinois State University student remains open and under investigation.

Former boyfriend Alan Beaman's conviction in the case was overturned in 2008 by the state supreme court. The court ruled that the jury did not hear crucial evidence that could have assisted Beaman's defense.

Prosecutors declined in January to retry him, but police say Beaman remains a suspect in the case.

Robert and Marcia Edwards were shot to death Jan. 21, 1983, in their rural Pontiac home. Livingston County sheriff's police have long suspected the couple's adopted son, Joseph Edwards, then 18, but he has vanished without a trace despite the crime being featured five times on "America's Most Wanted."

Susan Hendricks, 30, and her three children, Rebekah, 9, Grace, 7, and Benjamin, 5, were axed to death in the bedrooms of their east Bloomington home. Their bodies were found Nov. 8, 1983.

A month later husband David Hendricks was charged with eight counts of murder. Hendricks was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but he was acquitted in a retrial in 1991. Bloomington police closed the case seven years after David Hendricks' acquittal.

Carol Rofstad, 21, an ISU student, was found beaten Dec. 23, 1975, outside a sorority house in the 600 block of South Fell Avenue and died the next day. Normal police never closed the case and last year received some assistance from Morton College's Institute for Cold Case Solution, but no arrests have been made.