HAMMOND | Federal agents are now involved in finding who killed Milton and Ruby McClendon.

Speaking at a Thursday Mayor's Night Out event at Kenwood Elementary School, Hammond Police Chief Brian Miller said 11 FBI agents were sent to Hammond to work on evidence collection in the case, along with seven of the department's own detectives.

"We asked the FBI to come in and help us with the evidence recovery," Miller said. "These are very experienced people, people who know what they're doing."

Milton McClendon, 78, and his wife, Ruby McClendon, 76, were found dead Monday in a Cook County Forest Preserve in Calumet City. Autopsies completed Tuesday determined Milton McClendon died of a single gunshot wound to his head, while Ruby McClendon was shot multiple times.

Miller said the agents spent the better part of nine hours examining the couple's 1997 Cadillac Eldorado, which was found abandoned on the Dan Ryan Expressway early Wednesday morning. Investigators also spent time Wednesday combing through the McClendons' Field Street home, looking for signs that a crime may have began there and ultimately ended in Calumet City.

"The first step in any homicide investigation is that you work backwards," Miller said. "We found some things in the house that led us to believe there was a crime scene in Hammond."

Miller, who knew the McClendons through their involvement in the department's Crime Watch program, said the city's Police Department has received a number of calls from residents believing they might have seen something suspicious in the area near the McClendons' East Hammond home, and is encouraging anyone with any information to contact police.

"We want people to give us a call," Miller said. "Sometimes all you have to do is call and point us in the right direction."

Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said the McClendons were always active in the community and would have been at Thursday night's community forum.

"It's just a sad day," McDermott said. "There's no way I can feel good about being the mayor of the city of Hammond when something like this happens."

He said with law enforcement agents from two states and the FBI working on the case, he hopes authorities will find whoever killed the McClendons.

"We're going to find them, and we're going to bring them to justice," McDermott said. "(Investigators) are under a tremendous amount of pressure right now. What's important is to let these guys do their job and find these butchers."

Police seeking help

Hammond Police Chief Brian Miller said anyone who believes he or she may have seen any suspicious activity around Milton and Ruby McClendon's home in the 1000 block of Field Street on Sunday or early Monday or saw the couple's 1997 green Cadillac Eldorado with distinctive chain-design license plate frame is asked to call Hammond detectives at (219) 852-2906.