Chicago northwest neighbors say Loren Flensborg was a good neighbor, and someone with a heart of gold.
"When he walked in this door, he was bigger than life with a shy smile on his face," said Nancy Jack, Loren's sister. "He was like a big teddy bear."
Nancy never thought she'd outlive her young brother Loren but then came a terrible fire at his home on April 7, 2017.
"It was horrible. Everything was black soot. Everything was thown over.The china cabinet, everything was piled. We were walking in darkness too because everything was boarded up, " Nancy said remembering how she and family members walked around Loren's house after the fire.
Chicago Fire Department responders found her brother's body in the living room at the foot of the stairs and quickly determined the fire was not the cause of death: 75-year old Loren had been brutally murdered and his house set on fire.
Nancy says she gets chills just thinking about how her brother suffered.
"They hit him on the head and he was stabbed on the right side multiple times and then that wasn't good enough for them. They are so evil," she paused, trying to find the words. "They put a bag over his head and tied a cord around his waist and let him suffocate that way."
To Nancy, the attack seemed personal with no signs of forced entry. She assumed her brother Loren must have known the killer or killers and let them in.
Nancy also thinks she knows who murdered her brother saying, "we all know who did it, but we don't want to say who did it."
NBC 5 Investigates spoke to many of Loren's friends and residents in the neighborhood who essentially said the same thing. One woman who didn't want to be identified said she was worried about the steady stream of people going in and out of his house.
"No one deserve to die that way. It's really sad," the woman said.
Nancy said her brother Loren was too generous, befriended a number of people, had a girlfriend and often took care of her family, some who had access to his home. Everyone knew that Loren made a lot money in real estate, she said adding that her brother's estate was valued at $1.6 million.
It is unclear how much Loren had in cash at his home and what if anything was stolen. Nancy is convinced the motive for murder was money and says in the end her brother paid with his life.
"They have a lot of suspects, the police said but no clues," Nancy added.
The Chicago Police Department issued a statement to NBC 5 Investigates saying that "detectives are currently investigating and the investigation is ongoing" adding that they cannot comment on the specifics of an investigation.
