According to a study that used high speed photography to document veterinarians shooting cattle at close range, there were several occasions when no back spatter was observed. Clutter has previously written that a transfer blood stain on Kimberlys right thumb all comes together to prove it was the wife who unbuckled her own seatbelt, after her husband had been shot., That was my working theory at the time, Clutter said Thursday. He replied, Well, it would increase the risk of suicidal thoughts.. Then, see some truly haunting murder scenes from the streets of old New York. Murder in Illinois has taken heavy criticism for its generally negative portrayal of Kimberly and her family. I have read some of the flood of news articles following the Chris Vaughn trial. 'An eye for an eye.'. After seeing these colorized vintage crime scene photos, take a look at colorized photos that bring century-old New York to life. I came here for this!!! Ending 12-hour video interview, Vaughn crumpled up son's photo, Footage from video of intense 14-hour police interview, Crumples up photo of eight-year-old son and throws it into corner, Will not even say the names of his dead wife and three children. Plus, hear from the former Assistant States Attorney who believes Chris is right where he belongs. Later, under pressure, Vaughn is asked to guess what happened. He allegedly shoved his handgun under Kimberly's chin and shot her, then turned the gun on his sleeping children, the last of whom apparently raised his arms in an attempt to fend off the fatal bullets. In the video interview, he demonstrated raising his left arm between the gun and his head just as he noticed her pointing the gun at him. He described to the police how he and his family left their home at around five in the morning to go to a water park in Springfield. Jurors found Vaughn guilty of the June 14, 2007, murders of his wife Kimberly, 34, and their children: 12-year-old Abigayle, 11-year-old Cassandra, and 8-year-old Blake. I had the exact same feelings about the podcast. The letter said Vaughn trusted investigators to get to the truth. Plus, hear from the former Assistant State's Attorney who believes Chris is right where he belongs. Lol, Gave up early on as the host seemed to be going seriously Sarah Koenig on Mr Vaughn, Im not going to take anyone seriously if they hit me with the very silly he didnt have a killers eyes crap. Authorities said no one motive had been established but. The evidence was overwhelming and conclusive. Christopher Vaughn (second from left) sits with his family in his Oswego home before they were murdered in 2007. The children were shot once in the head and once in the chest. Prosecutors said Vaughn had hoped to disappear into the Canadian wilderness, pointing to emails hed exchanged with a Canadian man hed met online. Jurors didn't buy the theory, returning guilty verdicts in September after deliberating for just 45 minutes. Chris is wounded but survives. (The McDonald case is probably also fresh in my mind because I recently listened to three part series on the case from The Prosecutors.). Theyre real people.' It was clear that there were key events that he was unable to remember. The prosecution said he had shoved the gun under his wife's chin and killed her first, before turning . When he was questioned by detectives in the following days, Vaughn told them conflicting versions of how the shooting happened, Mills said, and video of the various interrogations will be shown to the jury. Her father is expected to take the witness stand Tuesday. Mar 12, 2020, 9:30am PST. His wife, Kimberly, 34, was in the front passenger seat, slumped over the center console with a single contact gunshot wound under her chin. Rozak said before imposing his sentence that he was "very frustrated" by the state Legislature's restrictions, an apparent reference to Illinois' decision last year to end the death penalty. . He said Kimberlys arm blocked it. : Directed by Travis Wilkerson. Elizabeth, another sister, and Jennifer, Kimberly's twin, were both there. John List. 'They're gone. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, (DSM-IV), I found a condition known as Dissociative Amnesia, a form of memory loss caused when a person witnesses a traumatic event. Wont listen to any other podcasts by this host. He was convicted and they should keep Kims name out of their mouths. When contacted by the Sun-Times on Thursday, he noted that Vaughn has had 10 years to come up with this statement, which Regis called contrary to the evidence., Glasgow also said the new theory contradicts the scene, insisting the angles are all wrong and it means Vaughns car door, where a bullet was found, would have been open. The podcasts host, Lauren Bright Pacheco, said the theory offered in Thursdays episode, its ninth, has already been tested in a crime-scene reconstruction July 15 in Kentucky. . A potential family annihilator unhappy in his marriage that seems 100% guilty just based on the fact he is the biggest threat to the attacker, but is not killed. In this case, the seatbelt latch was soaked with Chriss blood. He genuinely appeared unaware that his family had been killed. I am interested in reading up on the case. On Saturday, Vaughn was arrested in St. Charles and In 2007, Chris Vaughn was convicted of murdering his wife and 3 kids on the way to a waterpark in illinois. He then fell 'head-first' out of the vehicle and stumbled down the road until he flagged down a passing motorist, he said. After hearing the evidence that supported our defense theory, he recruited a defense attorney to assist pro bono. Analysis of the bloodstain patterns on her left hand provides more compelling evidence that her death was indeed, a suicide. Abigayle had been shot near the right eye and in her right lower chest. said she always spoke highly of her family. Nothing could be done. On June 14, 2007, the Vaughn family from Oswego loaded up the family vehicle and headed for Springfield, IL to spend the day at Knight's Action Park. Transported to the hospital, Chris Vaughn believed his family was still alive. He told a nurse, You should call my wife. I got to the road to get help.. "Mr. Vaughn likes writing poetry. Vaughn murdered his family members, prosecutors say, because he saw them as obstacles to his dream of a new life in Canada. He didnt like his life and this was his choice on how to remedy that. When investigators arrived at the scene, they noticed blood stains on the strap of the seatbelt. We asked the doctor who prescribed the Topamax about his patients email to her husband. ', 'They're gone,' Vaughn answers, his head bowed. Were ready for anything that occurs, Glasgow said. Vaughn maintains his innocence and claims that Kimberly killed her family before committing suicide. At some of the scenes where the Rhoden family was killed, investigators did find . I recommended that we appoint an expert in psychiatry to evaluate the statements Chris made to police. The Vaughn family murders in Illinois in 2007 have long divided those interested in the crimes. Plans changed when Chris landed a job with Chicago-based Navigant. Murder of the wife and children in the suburbs, Kimberly. A documentary murder mystery about the filmmaker's family, set in lower Alabama. And Vaughn certainly did not betray his feelings or emotions as prosecutors repeatedly projected ghastly images of Vaughn's wife, Kimberly, 34, and children Blake, 8, Cassandra, 11, and Abigayle, 12 on a large, flat-screen television. This report was sent to the lead detective several days before he took the grand jury witness stand. But despite Mills' claims, Lenard contended "the evidence will show Mr. Vaughn did not pull the trigger in the vehicle that day his family passed away.". Susan Phillips, right, mother of Kimberly Vaughn, and Kimberly's twin sister, Jennifer Ledbetter, spoke at Christopher Vaughn's sentencing Tuesday at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet. Christopher Vaughn, of Oswego, Illinois, is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of his wife and three children on June 14, 2007. To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com. Initially, it was believed that he had unbuckled his wifes seat belt after he shot her. Vaughn got out of the family SUV to look at the luggage rack on the roof. At the National Innocence Conference in Cincinnati in April 2011, I ran into an old friendRob Warden, Executive Director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University Law School. After killing his family, she said, Vaughn intentionally grazed his wrist with a bullet and shot himself in the leg, Mills said then "planted the gun between" Kimberly's feet. The ISP crime scene investigator listed Kimberly as Suspect #1 and Christopher Suspect #2. On the way, Kimberly started to feel sick, so he got off I-55 around Channahon and took the quiet frontage road. Christopher Vaughn, of Oswego, Illinois, is seen in his police interview declining to even say the names of his murdered three children and wife. The Oswego family was reportedly taking a day trip to a water park in Springfield when Christopher Vaughn left Interstate 55 and drove onto a frontage road when his wife became ill. The Oswego man, now 38, murdered his family in 2007 after pulling their SUV off Interstate 55 onto an isolated frontage road near Channahon on the way to what he said was a surprise trip to a Springfield water park. why cant the family feel pride in academic achievements? The parents of family annihilators have taken this tactic more times than I can count, but theyre rarely given a supportive, one-sided platform to air their grievances against their dead daughter-in-law (who is also the mother of their presumably beloved grandchildren). Kimberlys doctor began to prescribe a cocktail of medications to relieve her migraine headaches, including the prescription medications Nortriptyline and Topamax. It was around midnight when the parents of April Boss went looking for the 19 . plans and enthusiasm I was already put off by the "he looked too nice to be guilty", but the second episode was downright inappropriate. What the actual?! Out of all the True Crime ive seen and read about, somehow this one has slipped me. At another point, Vaughn pushes away a bag of food from McDonalds that detectives have brought him. first-degree murder in the So far, I have not found much Reddit discussion on it. I felt like I needed some balance or to just clean my palate. deaths. Why not ask to be hypnotized so u can remember. Before the execution could be carried out, Earnest was stabbed 30-times by a fellow inmate at the state penitentiary. 1. I thought to drive the truck. J.B. Pritzker. 113K views 10 years ago Three years ago, the murder of one man's family stunned a small Illinois town. 'I just don't know I think I panicked or something.'. . Earnest was convicted of murder and was sentenced to death. !Go listen to Episode 17 of Court Junkie for a more fact/evidence based account. its sad to me that before her death Kim was telling other people about her husbands good traits and she was looking into marriage counseling. Autopsy photos of her left thumb show patterns of passive drops of blood in the location where it would be expected, if she had pulled the trigger. Emma Reynolds Gov. Learn more about this story in the video above. Charles, Mo. There's circumstantial evidence that he was unhappy and wanted to leave his family, his story is sketchy as hell (he knew what happened at first, and then he had amnesia? @iheartradio needs to pull this disgrace of a podcast and issue an apology to the Phillips. 2020 UNSOLVED MAGAZINE All Rights Reserved. She told police he only wanted to talk. He allegedly killed his family so he could live by himself in the Canadian wilderness. On the eventful day, a family of five from Oswego, Illinois, had piled into their red Ford Expedition for a surprise trip to a water park. It was a lonely life for Kimberly. During his second inspection of the vehicle, Haag attached a laser to the end of the dowel rod and was able, with the tip of his finger, to demonstrate that the shot that struck Cassandra had been fired from the passenger seat, Kimberly was seated. (CBS), Christopher Vaughn, You have entered an incorrect email address! After this, the CSI was excluded from the investigation and the Will County States Attorney wrote a letter to his supervisor asking that the CSI no longer be assigned to Will County cases. In discussing his fantasy to trek into the wilderness, he suggested he could fake his own death so his stay-at-home wife could collect on his three and a half million dollar life insurance policy. Christopher Vaughn and his family were driving from Oswego to Knights Action Park in Springfield in 2007, but they never made it. Earnest Lee Hargon, 43, a former cattle truck driver and Michael Hargon's cousin, was charged Monday with capital murder in the deaths. That stripped away resources to defend Vaughn. Chris Regis, the former prosecutor who gave part of the closing argument at Vaughns trial, is now corporation counsel for the City of Joliet. Later, Ledbetter spoke with Sgt. Crucially, prosecutors also argued that two bullet holes in a jacket he wore had been created when someone wrapped the gun in the jacket to either silence or conceal the weapon, or to cushion a blow. His . Previously running for mayor and a beloved activist. he did it and heres what proved it: he had an article about hw to make a murder look like suicide, claimed he didnt read it but somehow followed some of the suggestions listed in the article. He claims he had been patching things up with her after he had confessed to cheating on her and was trying to be a better family man. Like other Chicagoans, we have ideas about what the next mayor should do. There is a transfer stain of blood on the inside of Kimberlys right thumb. I have read some of the flood of news articles following the Chris Vaughn trial. Very little back spatter would occur with the bullet entering the soft underside of the chin. NL VFW Friday Fish Fry. The ISP CSI described how the phenomenon of tunnel vision infected the Vaughn case. The Illinois State Police followed up by issuing subpoenas to her physicians requesting her medical records that may indicate suicidal or homicidal thoughts or impulses, or relating to Kimberlys prescriptions for and utilization of the drugs referred to as Topamax, Avapro, and Nortriptyline. She was taking Avapro for high blood pressure. There was no struggle for the weapon. Only a driver trying to surprise passengers would have to pull over, how could she fire multiple shots into three kids without him trying to stop her? They said, he had to make it look like he didnt do this, so he then got back into the SUV and shot himself in the left wrist and thigh before dropping the gun between Kimberlys feet, unbuckling her seat belt and walking away. No Cover, Public Welcome 21+, 35th Annual Arts, Crafts and Food Festival, Mark Skorusa Loan Originator powered by Rocket Mortgage NMLS #2347622, Turano Bread Truck Engulfed In Flames On I-55, Video Of Surrendering Man Killed By Will Co. Sniper Won't Be Released, Taste Of Joliet: Tyler Hubbard, Mitchell Tenpenny For Country Night, Multiple Bomb Threat For Joliet's Hollywood Casino, Angry Gunman Confronts Homeowner On Ingalls: Cops. In some cases, the observation of back spatter on the hand that held the gun will provide unmistakable evidence of suicide. 'Today I lost everything,' Vaughn says on the video, later referring to how tired he is. Vaughn told investigators the family had been on its way to a water park in Springfield. 'Mandalorian' star Pedro Pascal, creators on new Grogu revelations and 'Last of Us' comparisons, Saved by the bell: Contestant ordered to keep mask on, in historic 'Masked Singer' first, Chris Pine admits 'it does look' like Harry Styles spit on him but this is what actually happened, Rebel Wilson 'collapsed' after Ramona Agruma proposal: 'I was so overwhelmed', Amy Grant recalls being 'so scared' to return to touring following serious bike accident. (Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune). Much of the trial focused on blood evidence that prosecutors said proved Vaughn murdered his family. 2007 the Vaughn family- Christopher, his wife Kimberly and their three children . She was athletic and played volleyball. There was no sexual contact, not even a lap dance. Her apartment was set on fire, and her body was burned beyond . In the days following the murders, investigators searched the Oswego home of the Vaughn family, confiscating computers and other evidence. This would have been a fatal head shot, had he not worn his heavy, silver watch band imbedded with turquoise stones, that morning. Joliet Drug Dealer Arrested On Briggs Street: Police, Walgreens Pharmacist Attacked After Man Visits Wrong Store: JPD. While his family wore summer clothes befitting an excursion to a Springfield waterpark, Vaughn donned cowboy boots, blue jeans, a T-shirt with a long-sleeved shirt over it, and a fleece jacket he purchased on a secret trip to the Yukon, said Assistant State's Attorney Deborah Mills. Madison digs deep into his mother's past, examining every member of his family as the possible culprit. While Vaughn might come off as cold-hearted or callous, Lenard asked jurors not use the accused quadruple-murderer's demeanoror eccentricitiesagainst him. They are lucky they were allowed to be at the funeral. Prosecutors will continue playing portions of interviews with Vaughn today. And if he married her, that was his choice. He allegedly murdered his family so he could move to a . 'Abigayle, Blake,' the detective adds. Why is her dad responsible for the teen pregnancy?! The lab was unable to find his fingerprints on the article. On the second day, when police pressed him to try to remember what happened by telling him do it for your children, he had a fragmentary memory. Why not ask how they are, why are you not upset that you cant remember? 10:18 GMT 29 Aug 2012 I havent formed an opinion yet, but was looking to see what you guys think. To keep creating If they wanted to appear more balanced, they could have edited out parts that favor Chris and put down the wife's family but they didn't. Zach LaVine finished with a game-high 41 points, DeMar DeRozan added 21 and Patrick Beverley had a double-double with 10 rebounds and 10 assists. After pulling over, the motorist phoned 911, and the man was rushed to hospital. That was really off putting. The Colorado father and oil worker was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife Shanann, their unborn child, and their two children, Celeste and Bella, ages 4 and 3. Be forewarned that some of the. Blake, 8, a kind-hearted boy who loved baseball and had an outsized vocabulary, was slain last, apparently after raising his arms in self-defense. Vaughn got out of all the True crime ive seen and read about, somehow one... Just 45 minutes why is her dad responsible for the 19 the theory, he said ( second left. Just clean my palate head and once in the chest. ' SUV to look at luggage! Park vaughn family murders Springfield in 2007 the children were shot once in the video, referring... Set on fire, and the man was rushed to hospital hospital, Chris Vaughn believed family.. ' Kimberly killed her family CSI described how the phenomenon of tunnel infected! 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Visits Wrong Store: JPD burned beyond deliberating for just 45 minutes items to arrestreports @ patch.com your.

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