Will DNA solve cold case of slain Catholic professor in Chicago?

From a June 1, 1984 story in the Chicago Tribune, by reporter Philip Wattley:

• A suspect was being sought Thursday in connection with the slaying of a City Colleges of Chicago professor whose body, bearing 20 stab wounds, was found in his South Side apartment.
• Police said it appeared that the victim, Francis E. Pellegrini, 47, was slain Wednesday by someone he knew, because there was no sign of forced entry to his apartment....
  For the last nine years, Pellegrini, an assistant professor of sociology and social science for City Colleges, had been assigned to a program that allows high school seniors to take advanced courses to earn college credits, college officials said....
  Pellegrini, who was the organist and choir director at All Saints-St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, 518 W. 28th Pl., had not shown up to direct the choir.
• Last fall Pellegrini was honored for 25 years of service to the church, receiving congratulations from Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, President Reagan, Gov. James Thompson and Mayor Harold Washington.
• From 1971 to 1975, before joining the City Colleges faculty, Pellegrini was executive director of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, sponsor of Chicago's annual Columbus Day Parade.
  In 1964, while a teacher at
• Catholic High School here, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study classical languages in Italy.'

Pellegrini’s murder remains unsolved to this day.

What wasn’t mentioned in the Chicago Tribune story is that due to his work and connections in the Church, Pellegrini may have had knowledge of an alleged clergy pederast ring known as the Boys Club, which had been operating clandestinely in the city. Members of the alleged ring included priests and laymen, several of whom are deceased. There’s conflicting information about whether Pellegrini was planning to expose them. (The archdiocese has denied any knowledge of the alleged ring’s existence.)

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