The Theresa Andrews Case

The Theresa Andrews Case In September 2000, Jon and Teresa Andrews were busy getting ready to enter into parenthood. The young couple was childhood sweethearts and had been married for four years when they decided to begin building a family. Who would know that a chance meeting with another pregnant woman, while in the baby department of a store, would result in murder, kidnapping, and suicide? Summer of 2000 Michelle Bica, 39, shared the good news about her pregnancy with friends and family. She and her husband Thomas prepared their Ravenna, Ohio home for the arrival of their new baby girl by installing baby monitors, setting up a nursery, and buying baby supplies. The couple was jubilant about the pregnancy, especially after the miscarriage Michelle had suffered the year before.  Michelle donned maternity clothing, showed friends the baby sonogram, attended birthing classes, and other than her due date which kept getting pushed forward, her pregnancy appeared to be progressing normally. A Chance Meeting? During a shopping trip to the baby department at Wal-Mart, the Bicas met Jon and Teresa Andrews, who were also expecting their first child. The couples chatted about the cost of baby supplies and discovered that they lived just four streets away from each other. They also talked about due dates, genders, and other normal baby talk. Days following that meeting Michelle announced that there had been a mistake with her sonogram and that her baby was actually a boy. Teresa Andrews Disappears On Sept. 27, Jon Andrews received a call at work from Teresa at around 9 a.m. She was trying to sell her jeep and a woman had called saying she was interested in buying it.  Jon cautioned her to be careful and throughout the day tried to reach her to see how she was and if she sold the jeep, but his calls went unanswered. When he returned home he discovered both Teresa and the jeep were gone although she had left behind her purse and cell phone. He knew then that something was wrong and feared that his wife was in danger. Four Streets Over On the same day, Thomas Bica also received a call at his job from his wife. It was great news. Michelle, in a series of dramatic events, had given birth to their new baby boy. She explained that her water broke and she was taken to a hospital in an ambulance, had given birth, but was sent home with the newborn because of a tuberculosis scare at the hospital. Family and friends were told the good news and over the next week people came by to see the Bicas new baby which they named Michael Thomas. Friends described Thomas as a classic new dad who was ecstatic about their new baby. Michelle, however, seemed distant and depressed. She talked about the news of the missing woman and said she was not going to display the new baby flag in the yard out of respect for the Andrewses. The Investigation The following week, investigators tried to piece together clues into Teresas disappearance. A break in the case came when they identified the woman through phone records who called Theresa about the car. The woman was Michelle Bica. During the first interview with detectives, Michelle appeared evasive and nervous when she told them about her activities on Sept. 27. When the FBI checked out her story they found that she had never been to the hospital and there was not a tuberculosis scare. Her story appeared to be a lie. On October 2, detectives returned to do a second interview with Michelle, but as they pulled into the driveway, she locked herself in a bedroom, put a gun into her mouth, and shot and killed herself. Thomas was found outside the locked bedroom door in tears. The body of Teresa Andrews was found in a shallow grave covered in gravel inside the Bicas garage. She had been shot in the back and her abdomen had been cut opened and her baby removed. Authorities took the newborn baby from the Bica home to the hospital. After several days of testing,  DNA results proved that the baby belonged to Jon Andrews. The Aftermath Thomas Bica told police he believed everything Michelle had told him about her pregnancy and the birth of their son. He was given 12 hours of polygraph examinations which he passed. This along with the results of the investigation convinced the authorities that Thomas was not involved in the crime. Oscar Gavin Andrews Jon Andrews was left to mourn the loss of his childhood sweetheart, wife, and mother of his child. He found some solace in the fact that the baby, renamed as Teresa had always wanted, Oscar Gavin Andrews, had miraculously survived the brutal attack.