After their son was murdered in 2002, a couple set out to improve Aurora, only to find a city eager to discuss change but unwilling to pursue it.

Willy Nast was a passing acquaintance of Jeff Signorelli, an Aurora, IL teen who was killed in 2002 when a bullet went through a wall at a party. As a college student, Nast interviewed Signorelli’s parents for an essay on the crime and the community it happened in. With plans for a sprawling book, Nast continued to interview Al and Mary Ann Signorelli over the years, documenting the ways they turned their grief into action. It included stints in local politics and nonprofits, but time and again city leaders dismissed them as inconvenient gadflies. While Jeff’s murder remains unsolved, his parents have found themselves battling both their grief and a system resistant to their efforts for change.

The independent podcast “City of Lights” looks beyond Jeff’s murder, becoming a profile of the parents affected by the crime, as well as the community institutions it did not. After decades of work on the project, Nast shares his soul searching about his place in the hometown story and why the case continues to animate his work.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "CITY OF LIGHTS" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 10 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.