Pink Ribbons on Every Lawn The Unsolved Death of Lilly Bova

0:00 A dad in the Chicago suburbs started tying pink ribbons on his lawn and asked neighbors to do the same. And pretty soon they were all over Glinview, Illinois. Every one of them was for his 16 year old daughter, Lily. She was learning to drive and planning a summer at the pool. Today you're going to learn about the situation surrounding Lily and the people still fighting over what happened. [Music] [Music] Lily Bell Bova was the girl dancing around the room while everybody else was trying to get ready for homecoming.

1:06 Her friend, Layla, told that story to the student paper at Glenbrook South High School and her other friends back it up. Madeline had been friends with Lily forever and lived right next door. She told the paper that Lily never took sides that she was there for everybody. Then you've got her best friend Madeline who told inside edition that Lily was happy and had a big group of friends. Lily was 16 and there's video of her practicing to drive. Madeline says that the two of them had these pool passes and Lily was all excited about being able to use them together the whole summer. Lily's mom is Christine Mega. She goes by Christie. Christie says that Lily pitched in with the cooking and some nights Lily would even have dinner ready to go and on the table before Christie even made it home from work.

1:52 Her description of Lily is the family's puzzle piece. Lily's dad is Anthony Bova and she had an older sister named Olivia. They lived on the third floor of the Salem Walk Apartments, which is up north of Chicago in this unincorporated chunk of Cook County. And half the news stories call it Glenview while the other half call it Northbrook. We're talking about the same place no matter which way you hear it described. You've got Olivia home with Lily on the last Saturday of Spring Break, which was March 28, 2026. The family says a 16 year old boy came over that morning. Lily let him in. Christie says that Lily had known the kid since around 2020 during COVID. Christie saw him once, ever, and that time that she did see him he had a mask on.

2:37 He went to a different school than her kids. Madeline told inside edition that Lily had been complaining about a boy who kept calling and calling and Lily said that she was tired of him and didn't like him anymore. Nobody has ever confirmed whether she meant the same kid who showed up at the apartment that Saturday. Lily and the boy go back into her bedroom. The family says about 30 minutes go by and then Olivia hears a loud bang. And what I'm about to tell you is Olivia's accounts and it comes through her mom who told the story. The boy came out of Lily's room holding a gun and there was blood on his shirt. He told Olivia that he was sorry and then he asked her for a hug.

3:19 Olivia said no and told him to get out. And Christie says that he called his mom for a ride. He told Olivia to stay out of Lily's room before he left. Olivia went in. Lily had been shot in the head. Christie says Lily didn't have pants on and Olivia, who was 19, got her little sister dressed before the paramedics came because she didn't want them seeing Lily that way. Christie also says two shots were fired in the room and a bullet ended up in the wall. The sheriff's office hasn't said how many shots there were. Olivia called for help and the Cook County Sheriff's Police got there at around 11 a.m. And the first responders worked on Lily with CPR before an ambulance took her to the advocate Lutheran General Hospital over in Park Ridge.

4:04 She died at the hospital. After the shooting a neighborhood camera caught a teenager outside and Christie says that's him. You can see the kid pull off a hoodie and a shirt and head over towards some bushes. Police later went through those bushes. The gun is still missing. The sheriff's office has never said who that kid is in the video. About four hours after the shooting somebody came in with a lawyer and turned himself in. And he used his fifth amendment right and did not answer any questions. And police have never said who that was either. Probably the same person. And look, staying quiet with your lawyer sitting there is a right that you and I both have. So that part by itself proves nothing, but it is suspicious that Monday everybody came back from spring break to grief counselors at Glimbrook South.

4:53 And the principal sent a letter to families calling Lily a quiet spirit who was mature beyond her years. Anthony her father was at the hospital when the staff told him that Lily was gone. In a video inside addition aired he says he broke his hand punching a wall. He also said that he has nothing but good memories of her and he still pictures her telling him to keep his chin up. Then Anthony started tying pink ribbons on his lawn and he asked other people around him to do the same. People did. By late April you could find pink ribbons all over Glimview and out around Salem Walk. Around that time somebody asked the sheriff's office why nobody had been arrested yet. And the office said prosecutors didn't think there was enough evidence to charge anyone.

5:37 And its investigators were still out gathering more evidence. Christie spent Mother's Day packing up the room of the girl that she called the family's puzzle piece. That was 43 days after the shooting. She says she found a spent shell casing under Lily's bed. She called the police right away and she says investigators made her think that they already had that casing. The sheriff's office hasn't said where that casing came from or whether it means anything for the case. So for now you've got Christie's account and nothing official. She says the police handed the family their keys back and then later, which sounds backwards to me, they came back and asked if they could come in and dust the doors for fingerprints.

6:18 And by then the family had already been back inside. She also says she kept asking whether anybody swapped Lily's hand for gunshot residue. And she came away from talking to prosecutors believing that nobody did. The sheriff's office says detectives recovered gunshot residue evidence and it's never said where from. Christie went public in May. She told WGN, quote, "We know who has murdered my daughter." And she says detectives kept calling this case a slammed dunk. The answer from prosecutors came in June. People from the Cook County State Attorney's Office told the family in person that they would not file charges. The office said the evidence it could use in court couldn't get it to the burden of proof, which obviously is the bar that you have to clear to win a case.

7:05 And it called this a challenging case with a lot of questions still open. The sheriff's office came right back and said publicly that it thinks its forensic and electronic evidence will support charges eventually. The medical examiner put the cause of death down as a gunshot wound to the head. The manner of death got listed as undetermined. And inside edition reported that's because nobody could figure out who was holding the gun. That all came down in June, right when you'd expect Lily and Madeline to be breaking out those summer pool passes. Christie says the prosecutors told her the police never got the warrants they needed. And the police told her the prosecutors turned the warrants down.

7:46 Michael Dwyer is the deputy chief of investigations at the Cook County Sheriff's Office. He confirmed his detectives applied for warrants and served every one that got approved and nobody ever searched the boy's home. Neither office will say exactly which requests got turned down. Dwyer went on camera with inside edition in October 2026 and he said that his detectives believe Lily's death was a homicide. He said they believe they know what happened and they believe someone other than Lily fired that gun. Inside edition also had a forensic physician, Dr. Bill Smock, go over Lily's autopsy. He said the gun was at least 6 to 12 inches from her head and the bullet went from front to back and left to right.

8:29 He said that's extremely hard to do when you do it yourself and you're right handed. And he believes another person fired that shot. And the medical examiner, which is the office that makes the official call, still has it listed as undetermined. Christie says that she's been in fight or flight since March and she hasn't been able to grieve. She worries that she'll be out somewhere and mistake a stranger for that boy. At this time, nobody has been charged. The gun is still missing. Prosecutors say they'll look at any new evidence they get and Dwyer's detectives say they already know what happened. Christie is still pushing for charges against the boy. Her family says walked out of Lily's room that Saturday and when she talks about her daughter on camera now, she still calls Lily the family's puzzle piece.

9:17 If you listening to this right now know anything about this case, Cook County Sheriff's Police detectives are at 708-865-4896. And you can find that number in the show notes of this episode. Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder, Bingeable True Crime Stories. Hello, I'm Joe, I'm the host and here's an email. Subject, a request. Hi, Joe. Any chances you'd do an episode where the person survives? I know the show is called 10 Minute Murder, so I understand the issue with that request, but I'd really like to hear one where somebody got away, got out, got help, something.

10:03 I've been going through a rough stretch myself and I keep listening anyway because I like your voice, but I could use one where it turns out okay. If that doesn't fit the show, totally fine. Just thought I'd ask. Thanks, Paige, and Duluth Minnesota. And Paige, thank you so much for listening, I'm sorry you're going through a tough time. But I've never even thought about that, to be honest. Obviously given the name of the show, that means there's going to be a certain decided outcome. But you know what, I do like your idea. And this is me publicly committing to do that. Let me get out of October and in the next couple of months, if you don't hear an episode where I'm doing one, where the person does live and does survive. Then call me out on it because that means I've forgotten about it.

10:44 But yes, I love that idea and thanks for suggesting it. If you've got a suggestion for the podcast, you've got a story idea, just want to tell me something or ask any kind of question. You can do that, jo@tenminutemerder.com. J-o-e@tenminutemerder.com. And if you forget my email address, I understand. Jo was a really complicated name to remember. Just go to 10minutemerder.com and you can send me an email from there. To my OG listeners, you know how much I love you. Super big. Mucho. Please keep doing what you're doing, sharing the podcast with your friends and your family, commenting on social media posts that I make, and suggesting cases. This show only works because of you.

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