October 8, 2024 • 27 mins
On January 9, 1990, a bank robber nicknamed the Bearded Bandit entered the First Nationwide Bank in Wilmette, Illinois, disguised with a false beard, a baseball cap, dark sunglasses, and driving gloves. He carried a gun and police radio scanner, and threatened bank employees that he'd, ”blow their brains out.” While he collected from the vault, his wife prepared their getaway. The Ericksons, a husband-and-wife bank robbing duo, committed a series of armed robberies in the Chicago area in 1990 andd 1991. And when it ended, it was in a dramatic and desperate way.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
On January ninth, nineteen ninety, Jeffrey Ericsson entered the first
nationwide bank and We'll met Illinois, disguised with a false beard,
a baseball cap, dark sunglasses, and driving gloves. He carried
a gun and a police radio scanner and threatened bank
employees that he'd quote blow their brains out. While Jeff
(00:33):
got the loot from the vault, Jill Ericson prepared their getaway.
The Ericsons, a husband and wife bank robbing team, committed
a series of robberies in the Chicago area, specifically in
the Northwest suburbs in nineteen ninety and nineteen ninety one,
and when it ended, it was in a dramatic and
desperate way. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Trumarky.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
And I'm Holly Frye. So before we begin, this is
a violent story, and we have a trigger alert regarding
suicide twice in this episode. We're gonna let you know
before we talk about it, so you can skip ahead
if that is not something that you wish to hear.
With that out of the way, Let's meet the Ericsons.
(01:17):
Jeff Ericson met Jill Cohen at a bar in Niles, Illinois,
just outside of Chicago, in nineteen eighty one, shortly after
he was discharged from the Marine Corps. Jill was a
high school senior celebrating her seventeenth birthday with her older sister.
Jeff would later say he was attracted to her long
(01:37):
blonde hair and long legs. That night, he nicknamed her gorgeous.
He recalled that during that first meeting they discovered their
mutual dislike of dancing. They also talked about their mutual
love of animals. Less than six months later, Jill dropped
out of Buffalo Grove High School and moved in with Jeff.
(01:58):
According to Jeff, she wanted to escape the pain of
her parents impending divorce. In nineteen eighty three, they were
married in a civil ceremony attended only by their parent.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Jill, the daughter of pharmacist Carl Cohen and his wife Fran,
was long described as a loner, dating back to her
high school years. Most of her jobs were solitary positions
and labs at various suburban Chicago companies, such as at
Safety Clean Corporation, in Elgin, where she was involved with
chemical analysis, in the spring of nineteen ninety one, so
(02:31):
that's about sixteen months after the couple's very first robbery.
Jill was diagnosed with a mental illness when she checked
herself into a suburban hospital for help with alcohol misuse.
To be clear, we are not in any way implying
her diagnosis led her to rob Banks. Rather, this is
(02:52):
a piece of her person, the person Jill. She described
how she was primarily nocturnal and would feel energized and
wide awake for days at a time, only to then
fall into depressions where she couldn't get out of bed.
Some reports she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Jeff later
said she had been diagnosed with quote mild schizophrenia. She
(03:15):
had a mistrust regarding medications, worried she would not feel
like herself if she took them.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Jeff was a few years older than Jill, and after
graduating from high school, he joined the Marine Corps, where
he was awarded for his excellent marksmanship skills. He worked
as a mechanic and received an honorable discharge in February
of nineteen eighty one after four years of service. After
his success in and departure from the Marine Corps. Though
(03:43):
Jeff's life may be best described as unfocused, he worked
a series of unrelated jobs that included everything from driving
a truck in a limousine, operating a cleaning business, and
clerking at a seven to eleven, which he always said
was one of his favorite jobs because he got to
talk to all kinds of people.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Jeff had once been an auxiliary police officer in Rosemont, Illinois,
for about a month in nineteen eighty five. For a
short period, Jeff was also a police officer in Hoffman
Estates from April nineteen eighty six until May of nineteen
eighty seven. Hoffman Estate's police Lieutenant John Gammel confirmed after
Jeff was apprehended that yes, he had been on the
(04:26):
force instead of him. Quote, he was in training with
us and his evaluations were below standards. His poor performance
was discussed with him, and he resigned. That's the official word.
His mother, though, had a different take, stating that he
was just quote too nice for that kind of job.
Jeff gave different versions to different people regarding his resignation
(04:48):
from the police force. For instance, he once explained to
a neighbor he was fired for failing to come to
the aid of a threatened officer. In an interview with
the Chicago Tribune while he was wait his trial, he
claimed he was asked to resign after quote a superior
saw him apologizing profusely to a motorist he was ticketing.
(05:09):
Over the course of the next two years, after losing
that job, Jeff turned to crime. But before we turn
to those crimes, we're going to take a break for
a word from our sponsors. When we're back, we'll talk
about everything from the opening of Ericsson's Best Used Books
bookstore to the moment the husband and wife part was
apprehended in a suburban parking lot.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about stakeouts, stolen mazdas,
and a shootout in a shopping center parking lot in
suburban Schomberg.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Life pretty much carried on for Jeff and Jill. They
went to work, they had pets, to their neighbors, They
frequently rode their motorcycles in the middle of the night,
and after that first robbery in January of nineteen ninety
they robbed more banks. By early nineteen ninety one, they
had enough money to buy a two story townhouse in
(06:15):
Hanover Park. They purchased with cash, explaining to the real
estate agent that Jeff was self employed. They settled into
a fairly isolated life. Neighbors and acquaintances described Jeff as
quote a jovial fellow who loved to talk. He was
also described as a creature of habit. Jill, the opposite,
(06:37):
was shy and usually didn't respond to neighborly greetings. She
was said to be unpredictable with a brilliant streak.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
In May of nineteen seventy one, Jeff opened a used
bookstore named Ericsson's Best Used Books in the village of Roselle,
only about five miles from their new home. If getting
into book selling seems like an odd or an interesting
for the Ericsons, Jeff explained that he'd always love to read,
and he was also a people person, and he really
(07:06):
enjoyed talking to customers. Plus he did have kind of
an eclectic resume, as you'll recall. Customer reviews suggested people
were impressed with not only the excellent condition and selection
of the books on sale in the shop, but also
with Jeff's knowledge of the classics. After Jeff's arrest, Brian
keta owner of Tucker's hot Dogs, which was located right
(07:29):
next to the Ericson's bookstore, recalled that Jeff used to
stop by and chat during his lunch hour, continuing that,
in hindsight, quote, I would never imagine he'd have the
brains to be a bank robber. Authorities quietly agreed with
them to quote one official working on the case, who
spoke anonymously to the press, quote, you see him, and
(07:50):
you can't imagine the guy would be able to plan
anything with such military precision. Philip Katula, a customer at
Best Used Books, recalled being impressed by Jill, though saying quote,
she talked to me about Fourier analysis, which only one
in one hundred people would know.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
The store wasn't losing money, but Jeff kept pouring money
into it, and in addition, Jill was maxing out their
credit cards on a regular basis on well stuff. They
were having trouble managing their money, and the couple fell
deep into debt. They had by this time robbed a
few banks, and their financial position only boosted their desire
(08:31):
to rob again. No one knew the identity of the
person the press had nicknamed the bearded bandit, and the
Ericsons now felt pretty brazen about being able to get
in and out of banks with a lot of stolen
money and without getting caught.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Events on November fourth, nineteen ninety one changed the trajectory
of their bank robbing, but the Ericsons did not know
it at the time. Palatine Police officer Kevin Maher was
wounded during a routine traffic stop involving a small Mazda
driven by a man wearing a fake beard and sunglasses.
That stop wasn't because of who was behind the wheel,
(09:08):
though it was simply that the car appeared to have
expired license stickers. That's a minor violation, but the driver
of the car unexpectedly slammed on the brakes, jumped from
the vehicle, and fired three shots at the patrol car,
striking Officer Mar once in the shoulder while fleeing the
scene on foot. That car turned out to be stolen,
(09:30):
and the bullet was later traced to a gun in
the Ericson's house. Authorities believed mar inadvertently intercepted Jeff on
the way to his next heist. Remember, no one knew
the bearded bandit was Jeff Erickson, just yet just shy
of Two weeks after the shooting, on November eighteenth, the
First Chicago Bank in Elk Grove Village was robbed by
(09:52):
a man wearing a fake beard, sunglasses, and carrying a
gun and police scanner.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
The shooting of Officer Marr generated additional urgency and prompted the
creation of a new task force to coordinate the efforts
of federal agents and several suburban police departments, including the
towns of Elk Grove Village, Libertyville, Norwidge, Mondoline, Skokie, and Wheeling.
They were assigned to stake out stolen foreign cars, specifically
(10:23):
Japanese made from the mid to late nineteen eighties, and
it worked.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Here's why. In an Affidavid filed in United States District
Court by FBI Special Agent David Children, agents noticed that
a theft of a foreign car always preceded a robbery
by the so called bearded bandit, and in addition, they
had observed that all but one of the cars had
been stolen during the day in or near shopping centers
(10:52):
while their owners were at work. Federal agents and local
police took this as a major clue in the case
and staked out two stolen cars in a Schomberg parking
lot that happened to be parked not terribly far from
a bank. Of the two, it was a nineteen eighty
four maroon Mazda that had been stolen on December ninth
(11:12):
from the parking lot of Randhurst shopping Center in Mount
Prospect that got the Ericsons caught.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Can I just tell you I didn't put it in there?
The other one was in nineteen eighty six gold Mazda.
Here I went for the mazdas line, I tell you what.
The FBI's stolen car stakeout began on Friday, December thirteenth,
and by that Monday, shortly before noon, they'd caught up
with the Ericsson's when the couple drove their silver forty
(11:40):
Cono Line van to a parking lot in a shopping
center in Schomberg and stopped near the Mazda. As Jeff
attempted to start the car, or a better description would
be attempted to hot wire it, agents moved in on him,
it's reported, and Jeff later admitted to it. He'd reached
for a handgun stashed in a Duffel bag on the
(12:02):
passenger seat next to him. Before surrendering. Authorities reported he
was carrying two loaded guns, a fake beard, and two
false mustaches.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
That maroon Mazda. The couple didn't know that the car
they'd stolen on December ninth had been under surveillance by authorities.
As Jeff was apprehended, Jill fled in their van, leading
authorities on an eleven mile high speed chase that ended
in a hail of gunfire only about five miles from
(12:32):
the parking lot where it all began. According to witnesses,
as she fired at those pursuing her, she sped into
a residential subdivision, where she became cornered. The layout of
the neighborhood was one where the same road that was
the entrance was also the exit, and it left her
in a position with no escape, said Joseph Piscatelli, a
(12:53):
resident of the subdivision at the time. Quote, there must
have been forty police cars sirens blaring. As soon as
as the van turned in the other cars blocked the entrance.
She crashed the van into a sign at the front
of a townhouse development. So, before we go on, the
end of Jill's life is traumatic, and this is the
first of those two warnings regarding the discussion of suicide.
(13:16):
So if you would prefer not to hear, jump ahead
about twenty seconds and we will meet you there. According
to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, both the autopsy
and police investigation determined that while Jill was wounded by
gunfire in the shootout with police and federal agents, they
had been non fatal injuries found in the back of
(13:39):
the van. Jill had died of a self inflicted gunshot wound.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
We are now going to take a break for a
word from our sponsors. When we return, we will talk
about Jeff's arrest and his trial.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about Jeff's case, starting
with his booking.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
When Jeff was apprehended, he was super fixated on police procedure.
He pointed out to the FBI agents who arrested him
any and every little thing they were doing wrong and
stated he noticed a variety of errors while he was
being booked into the Metropolitan Correctional Center. As he stood
(14:36):
handcuffed in a Chicago courtroom before United States Magistrate Judge
Rebecca Palmyer, the press described him wearing quote, a long
sleeved white T shirt, blue jeans, and white high top
basketball shoes without laces. Newspapers also described him as quote stocky.
I added this because they always talk about what the
(14:58):
women wore, and with a life of me, I couldn't
think of any any time where they described in court
with the man war and so I felt like that
was important information toward him.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Although defense attorney Daniel Alexander stated Jeff was not a
flight risk, the judge ordered him to be held in
the federal lockup at the Dirkson Federal Building, a federal
court complex in the Chicago Loop District downtown, pending his
detention hearing.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
On the same day as Ericson's arrest, Magistrate Judge Pallmyer
also issued a warrant to search the Ericson residents in
Hanover Park, Okay. Specifically, the warrant provided that agents could
search for the following items United States currency, money, straps
and rappers, a black semi automatic pistol, a two to
(15:51):
twenty three caliber weapon and other guns. A dark colored beard,
mustache and wig, black sunglasses, ordable police scanner, Chicago Cubs
baseball cap, red nylon gym bag, ammunition, and auto theft tools.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
On February twelfth, nineteen ninety two, Jeff Erickson was indicted
on federal charges of holding up eight financial institutions and
on state charges of shooting an Illinois police officer. He
pleaded not guilty. The FBI hadn't been sure at first
how and if Jill was involved in the robberies. They
(16:31):
eventually figured out after her death that she had been
a co conspirator and if alive, she would have been
charged in the planning and execution of these bank robberies.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
After twenty two months robbing banks, Jeff went on trial
for bank robbery for more than one hundred and eighty
thousand dollars in court. Witnesses of those robberies generally described
the bearded bandit as an approximately six feet three inches
tall mail weighing approximately two hundred and twenty pounds. They
described how he wore a fake beard and had an
(17:05):
aggressive nature about him, brandishing weapons and verbally threatening bank
employees during the hold ups. United States attorney Victoria Peters
stated that a total of eleven bank employees and one
customer had positively identified Jeff Erickson as the quote bearded
bank robber. Other witnesses, though, had failed the prosecution's case.
(17:28):
For instance, when one employee of Savings of America Bank,
which was held up on March fifth, nineteen ninety was
asked in court to identify the robber, they picked out
a reporter for the Chicago Tribune instead of Ericson.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And let's not forget that Jeff's crimes were not limited
to armed bank robbery. He also faced state charges in
the wounding of police officer Kevin Marr, who tried to
stop him for traffic violation in November of nineteen ninety one.
On July sixteenth, officer Mar recounted in his testimony his
run in with a man he called the quote bearded gunman,
(18:07):
but he was not able to identify that man as
Jeff Ericsson. Previous to his testimony, though jurors had already
heard that the FBI determined that shellcasings found at the
scene of the traffic stopped shooting came from a gun
found in the Ericson residence. Jeff may have been unrecognizable
in his fake beard and dark sunglasses, but there was
forensic evidence to link him to that scene regardless.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Before we continue, this is our second of those two
warnings regarding the discussion of suicide. So if you would
prefer not to hear this part of the story, just
jump ahead about sixty seconds and we will meet you there.
It was shortly before five thirty pm on July twentieth,
nineteen ninety two, in an underground garage of the Dirkson
(18:51):
Federal Building when Jeff unexpectedly yelled quote, I'm going to
take everybody with me. Jeff, an expert marksman, shot and
killed United States Marshal Roy Frakes and also a General
Services Administration security guard named Harry Beloomini, before taking his
own life in what seems to have been a botched
(19:13):
courthouse escape. It all happened as he and other prisoners
were being prepared for transport back to the nearby federal
lock up. According to reports, Belouomini, fatally wounded, managed to
fire four bullets at Jeff, one of which struck him
in the back. It was a fatal hit, stated FBI
(19:34):
spokeswoman Deborah Jones of the violent scene, quote, Jeff knew
he was already dying when he shot himself.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Jeff had somehow freed himself of his handcuffs. A key
was later found by his body, though no one ever
was one hundred percent certain where or how he got it,
and with a free hand, he wrestled a service Revolver
away from a deputy United States Marshal. Officials believed his
goal was to escape by disappearing into the rush hour
(20:02):
crowds of downtown Chicago. Said John Stibbitch, chief of detectives
for the Chicago Police Department. Quote, he was dressed in
street clothes. He would have blended right in. Witnessed Terry
Green stated he was returning home from work and was
half a block away from the Federal building when he
heard the gunfight between Jeff and authorities. Quote, it sounded
(20:25):
like eight or nine shots. It sounded like firecrackers. It
was about five fifteen or so, and people were just
going home from work. It's just lucky no pedestrians were shot.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
After Jeff's death, Richard Mottweiler, a defense attorney who had
been representing Jeff's, stated, quote, the day had gone very well.
He was very upbeat all day. We had some good
things happen from the defense side. I thought the government
had not presented the quality evidence we'd expected, continued Mottwiler. Quote.
(20:56):
When I talked to him, he was always soft spoken,
light the side that came out last night. I never
saw before.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
What an amazingly tragic.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Story it is. Would you like to make it a
double as we kind of shake off the sadness of
this one?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yes, let's make it a double.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Okay. Do you want to guess what the thing was
that I fixated on in this story? Oh?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
No, Well, my brain immediately went was it the beard?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
But I didn't.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I actually wasn't going to guess that, but that was
my first brain click.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
The stolen Mazda, the Mazdas. I think the idea of
a maroon Mazda being so critically tied to this criminal duo,
there's a little bit of comedy to it. Most people
are not like, yeah, I drove a Mansta. I mean
there was. I'm not. I'm not in any way dogging
(22:02):
on Mazda's. I for a while wanted nothing more in
my life than a Mazda five, which I never bought.
I mean, I wanted a minivan. I'm not a mom.
I don't have you know, a soccer team. I just thought, like,
think of all the fabric I could put in that car,
but all the things you could.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Do with it, I know, And there are three Mastas.
Actually in the story that he was driving a Mazda
when he shot.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Mar Yes, so many Mastas.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
So Masta really kind of is one big highlight in
this story.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
But I wanted to focus on that maroon one, and
so I got to thinking about how I would make
a kind of maroon colored drink that like a Mazda.
I mean, Mazta does make some very sporty cars, but
they make a lot of you know, these are all
kind of middle middle range, like the kind of reliable,
cute cars that people would drive to go to work.
(22:52):
And so I was thinking about a drink that looks,
you know, harmless like a juice, but is in fact
full of alcohol, so in fact not harmless. And I
also wanted something with a surprising flavor. And this one
has one ingredient that's an optional and I'll include it
as I read the recipe, but I'll discuss afterwards why
(23:14):
it is optional. So this drink is called Stolen Mazda,
and it is two ounces of port wine like a
red port, one ounce of cognac, a quarter ounce of
vanilla liqueur uh, and then you can just stir these
together in a glass pour it into your strain it
(23:36):
into your like a rock's glass with fresh ice, and
then top it with two to three ounces of low
sugar or sugar free ginger ale. It looks like you're
gonna drink grape juice or something of that nature. And
then you're like, whoa wine taste?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So right, well that's a lot of alcohol.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, if you like the taste of wine, if you
like that that rounded port wine flavor, leave out the
vanilla liquur. But if you don't like for something to
taste like it has a wine note in it, which
some people don't like that taste. They find it bitters
on their tongue, add the vanilla liquor. That's the only
change a room. This one was. It's oddly sippable. Those
(24:14):
are like port and Konyak are heavy heavy, yeah, flavor
heavy alcohols, and yet because of the ginger ale, and
because you're keeping that low sugar it it doesn't taste
terribly heavy. It's a weird thing that happens.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Is it the ginger or the bubbles.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
It's the combo, I mean, because you're getting the cut
through of the flavor from the ginger and then the
bubbles lighten up the whole. The whole thing, just like
there are If this sounds wacky to you and you're like,
I've never heard of that, there are actually a variety
of drinks that include konyak and uh soda. That's not
(24:56):
something I ever think of as combining with soda, but
there are drinks that do it. Similarly, we've talked on
the show before about Kalimocho and tinted Diverano, which are
are wine drinks that combine wine with soda. So there
are some precedents here to make the mocktail. It is
an easy little sub out. Instead of port, you're gonna
use pomegranate juice, and instead of cognac, you're gonna use
(25:19):
black tea. If you want that vanilla note, you're gonna
use a vanilla syrup. And then you just keep your
your low sugar sugar free ginger ale. I would really, really,
really emphasize the sugar free on that one, because the
pomegranate juice sweetens it up so much that otherwise you're
gonna have a little bit of a sugar bomb. If
you love a sugar bomb, go for it. Full sugar.
(25:40):
I can't handle it. But yeah, so that is the
stolen Mazda, which looks pretty benign and like a glass
of juice, and then it's full of all kinds of alcohol.
I mean, I'll put cognac in everything. I'll put cognac
in eggs. I don't care. I love it, but this
is a fun way to include it. It's also a
good way if you're like me and you a case
get a port, but you're not a big wine drinker.
(26:03):
I like to come up with drinks that I can
mix port into because it just, you know, it often
does some really cool things, and you know, you can
use it up that way. You don't want to sitting
around for too too long.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I loved that you focused on the Mazdas because they're
like because they are just these innocent car victims parked
in parking lots that got to do terrible things.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I mean, I think right the reason my brain went
there is because this story is very heavy in a
lot of ways. Oh yeah, it's there's a lot of
darkness to it, and so I think my brain is
like in that KOOKI they stole a bunch.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Of Mazdas, and then there's our drink.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
So yes, that is the stolen Mazda. If you make it,
I hope you find it delicious. I am so grateful,
as I know Maria is as well, that you've spent
this time with us, and I hope you'll be back
next week because we will have another story and an
their drink to go with it. Criminalia is a production
(27:22):
of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
On January ninth, nineteen ninety, Jeffrey Ericsson entered the first
nationwide bank and We'll met Illinois, disguised with a false beard,
a baseball cap, dark sunglasses, and driving gloves. He carried
a gun and a police radio scanner and threatened bank
employees that he'd quote blow their brains out. While Jeff
(00:33):
got the loot from the vault, Jill Ericson prepared their getaway.
The Ericsons, a husband and wife bank robbing team, committed
a series of robberies in the Chicago area, specifically in
the Northwest suburbs in nineteen ninety and nineteen ninety one,
and when it ended, it was in a dramatic and
desperate way. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Trumarky.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
And I'm Holly Frye. So before we begin, this is
a violent story, and we have a trigger alert regarding
suicide twice in this episode. We're gonna let you know
before we talk about it, so you can skip ahead
if that is not something that you wish to hear.
With that out of the way, Let's meet the Ericsons.
(01:17):
Jeff Ericson met Jill Cohen at a bar in Niles, Illinois,
just outside of Chicago, in nineteen eighty one, shortly after
he was discharged from the Marine Corps. Jill was a
high school senior celebrating her seventeenth birthday with her older sister.
Jeff would later say he was attracted to her long
(01:37):
blonde hair and long legs. That night, he nicknamed her gorgeous.
He recalled that during that first meeting they discovered their
mutual dislike of dancing. They also talked about their mutual
love of animals. Less than six months later, Jill dropped
out of Buffalo Grove High School and moved in with Jeff.
(01:58):
According to Jeff, she wanted to escape the pain of
her parents impending divorce. In nineteen eighty three, they were
married in a civil ceremony attended only by their parent.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Jill, the daughter of pharmacist Carl Cohen and his wife Fran,
was long described as a loner, dating back to her
high school years. Most of her jobs were solitary positions
and labs at various suburban Chicago companies, such as at
Safety Clean Corporation, in Elgin, where she was involved with
chemical analysis, in the spring of nineteen ninety one, so
(02:31):
that's about sixteen months after the couple's very first robbery.
Jill was diagnosed with a mental illness when she checked
herself into a suburban hospital for help with alcohol misuse.
To be clear, we are not in any way implying
her diagnosis led her to rob Banks. Rather, this is
(02:52):
a piece of her person, the person Jill. She described
how she was primarily nocturnal and would feel energized and
wide awake for days at a time, only to then
fall into depressions where she couldn't get out of bed.
Some reports she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Jeff later
said she had been diagnosed with quote mild schizophrenia. She
(03:15):
had a mistrust regarding medications, worried she would not feel
like herself if she took them.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Jeff was a few years older than Jill, and after
graduating from high school, he joined the Marine Corps, where
he was awarded for his excellent marksmanship skills. He worked
as a mechanic and received an honorable discharge in February
of nineteen eighty one after four years of service. After
his success in and departure from the Marine Corps. Though
(03:43):
Jeff's life may be best described as unfocused, he worked
a series of unrelated jobs that included everything from driving
a truck in a limousine, operating a cleaning business, and
clerking at a seven to eleven, which he always said
was one of his favorite jobs because he got to
talk to all kinds of people.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Jeff had once been an auxiliary police officer in Rosemont, Illinois,
for about a month in nineteen eighty five. For a
short period, Jeff was also a police officer in Hoffman
Estates from April nineteen eighty six until May of nineteen
eighty seven. Hoffman Estate's police Lieutenant John Gammel confirmed after
Jeff was apprehended that yes, he had been on the
(04:26):
force instead of him. Quote, he was in training with
us and his evaluations were below standards. His poor performance
was discussed with him, and he resigned. That's the official word.
His mother, though, had a different take, stating that he
was just quote too nice for that kind of job.
Jeff gave different versions to different people regarding his resignation
(04:48):
from the police force. For instance, he once explained to
a neighbor he was fired for failing to come to
the aid of a threatened officer. In an interview with
the Chicago Tribune while he was wait his trial, he
claimed he was asked to resign after quote a superior
saw him apologizing profusely to a motorist he was ticketing.
(05:09):
Over the course of the next two years, after losing
that job, Jeff turned to crime. But before we turn
to those crimes, we're going to take a break for
a word from our sponsors. When we're back, we'll talk
about everything from the opening of Ericsson's Best Used Books
bookstore to the moment the husband and wife part was
apprehended in a suburban parking lot.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about stakeouts, stolen mazdas,
and a shootout in a shopping center parking lot in
suburban Schomberg.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Life pretty much carried on for Jeff and Jill. They
went to work, they had pets, to their neighbors, They
frequently rode their motorcycles in the middle of the night,
and after that first robbery in January of nineteen ninety
they robbed more banks. By early nineteen ninety one, they
had enough money to buy a two story townhouse in
(06:15):
Hanover Park. They purchased with cash, explaining to the real
estate agent that Jeff was self employed. They settled into
a fairly isolated life. Neighbors and acquaintances described Jeff as
quote a jovial fellow who loved to talk. He was
also described as a creature of habit. Jill, the opposite,
(06:37):
was shy and usually didn't respond to neighborly greetings. She
was said to be unpredictable with a brilliant streak.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
In May of nineteen seventy one, Jeff opened a used
bookstore named Ericsson's Best Used Books in the village of Roselle,
only about five miles from their new home. If getting
into book selling seems like an odd or an interesting
for the Ericsons, Jeff explained that he'd always love to read,
and he was also a people person, and he really
(07:06):
enjoyed talking to customers. Plus he did have kind of
an eclectic resume, as you'll recall. Customer reviews suggested people
were impressed with not only the excellent condition and selection
of the books on sale in the shop, but also
with Jeff's knowledge of the classics. After Jeff's arrest, Brian
keta owner of Tucker's hot Dogs, which was located right
(07:29):
next to the Ericson's bookstore, recalled that Jeff used to
stop by and chat during his lunch hour, continuing that,
in hindsight, quote, I would never imagine he'd have the
brains to be a bank robber. Authorities quietly agreed with
them to quote one official working on the case, who
spoke anonymously to the press, quote, you see him, and
(07:50):
you can't imagine the guy would be able to plan
anything with such military precision. Philip Katula, a customer at
Best Used Books, recalled being impressed by Jill, though saying quote,
she talked to me about Fourier analysis, which only one
in one hundred people would know.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
The store wasn't losing money, but Jeff kept pouring money
into it, and in addition, Jill was maxing out their
credit cards on a regular basis on well stuff. They
were having trouble managing their money, and the couple fell
deep into debt. They had by this time robbed a
few banks, and their financial position only boosted their desire
(08:31):
to rob again. No one knew the identity of the
person the press had nicknamed the bearded bandit, and the
Ericsons now felt pretty brazen about being able to get
in and out of banks with a lot of stolen
money and without getting caught.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Events on November fourth, nineteen ninety one changed the trajectory
of their bank robbing, but the Ericsons did not know
it at the time. Palatine Police officer Kevin Maher was
wounded during a routine traffic stop involving a small Mazda
driven by a man wearing a fake beard and sunglasses.
That stop wasn't because of who was behind the wheel,
(09:08):
though it was simply that the car appeared to have
expired license stickers. That's a minor violation, but the driver
of the car unexpectedly slammed on the brakes, jumped from
the vehicle, and fired three shots at the patrol car,
striking Officer Mar once in the shoulder while fleeing the
scene on foot. That car turned out to be stolen,
(09:30):
and the bullet was later traced to a gun in
the Ericson's house. Authorities believed mar inadvertently intercepted Jeff on
the way to his next heist. Remember, no one knew
the bearded bandit was Jeff Erickson, just yet just shy
of Two weeks after the shooting, on November eighteenth, the
First Chicago Bank in Elk Grove Village was robbed by
(09:52):
a man wearing a fake beard, sunglasses, and carrying a
gun and police scanner.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
The shooting of Officer Marr generated additional urgency and prompted the
creation of a new task force to coordinate the efforts
of federal agents and several suburban police departments, including the
towns of Elk Grove Village, Libertyville, Norwidge, Mondoline, Skokie, and Wheeling.
They were assigned to stake out stolen foreign cars, specifically
(10:23):
Japanese made from the mid to late nineteen eighties, and
it worked.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Here's why. In an Affidavid filed in United States District
Court by FBI Special Agent David Children, agents noticed that
a theft of a foreign car always preceded a robbery
by the so called bearded bandit, and in addition, they
had observed that all but one of the cars had
been stolen during the day in or near shopping centers
(10:52):
while their owners were at work. Federal agents and local
police took this as a major clue in the case
and staked out two stolen cars in a Schomberg parking
lot that happened to be parked not terribly far from
a bank. Of the two, it was a nineteen eighty
four maroon Mazda that had been stolen on December ninth
(11:12):
from the parking lot of Randhurst shopping Center in Mount
Prospect that got the Ericsons caught.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Can I just tell you I didn't put it in there?
The other one was in nineteen eighty six gold Mazda.
Here I went for the mazdas line, I tell you what.
The FBI's stolen car stakeout began on Friday, December thirteenth,
and by that Monday, shortly before noon, they'd caught up
with the Ericsson's when the couple drove their silver forty
(11:40):
Cono Line van to a parking lot in a shopping
center in Schomberg and stopped near the Mazda. As Jeff
attempted to start the car, or a better description would
be attempted to hot wire it, agents moved in on him,
it's reported, and Jeff later admitted to it. He'd reached
for a handgun stashed in a Duffel bag on the
(12:02):
passenger seat next to him. Before surrendering. Authorities reported he
was carrying two loaded guns, a fake beard, and two
false mustaches.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
That maroon Mazda. The couple didn't know that the car
they'd stolen on December ninth had been under surveillance by authorities.
As Jeff was apprehended, Jill fled in their van, leading
authorities on an eleven mile high speed chase that ended
in a hail of gunfire only about five miles from
(12:32):
the parking lot where it all began. According to witnesses,
as she fired at those pursuing her, she sped into
a residential subdivision, where she became cornered. The layout of
the neighborhood was one where the same road that was
the entrance was also the exit, and it left her
in a position with no escape, said Joseph Piscatelli, a
(12:53):
resident of the subdivision at the time. Quote, there must
have been forty police cars sirens blaring. As soon as
as the van turned in the other cars blocked the entrance.
She crashed the van into a sign at the front
of a townhouse development. So, before we go on, the
end of Jill's life is traumatic, and this is the
first of those two warnings regarding the discussion of suicide.
(13:16):
So if you would prefer not to hear, jump ahead
about twenty seconds and we will meet you there. According
to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, both the autopsy
and police investigation determined that while Jill was wounded by
gunfire in the shootout with police and federal agents, they
had been non fatal injuries found in the back of
(13:39):
the van. Jill had died of a self inflicted gunshot wound.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
We are now going to take a break for a
word from our sponsors. When we return, we will talk
about Jeff's arrest and his trial.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about Jeff's case, starting
with his booking.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
When Jeff was apprehended, he was super fixated on police procedure.
He pointed out to the FBI agents who arrested him
any and every little thing they were doing wrong and
stated he noticed a variety of errors while he was
being booked into the Metropolitan Correctional Center. As he stood
(14:36):
handcuffed in a Chicago courtroom before United States Magistrate Judge
Rebecca Palmyer, the press described him wearing quote, a long
sleeved white T shirt, blue jeans, and white high top
basketball shoes without laces. Newspapers also described him as quote stocky.
I added this because they always talk about what the
(14:58):
women wore, and with a life of me, I couldn't
think of any any time where they described in court
with the man war and so I felt like that
was important information toward him.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Although defense attorney Daniel Alexander stated Jeff was not a
flight risk, the judge ordered him to be held in
the federal lockup at the Dirkson Federal Building, a federal
court complex in the Chicago Loop District downtown, pending his
detention hearing.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
On the same day as Ericson's arrest, Magistrate Judge Pallmyer
also issued a warrant to search the Ericson residents in
Hanover Park, Okay. Specifically, the warrant provided that agents could
search for the following items United States currency, money, straps
and rappers, a black semi automatic pistol, a two to
(15:51):
twenty three caliber weapon and other guns. A dark colored beard,
mustache and wig, black sunglasses, ordable police scanner, Chicago Cubs
baseball cap, red nylon gym bag, ammunition, and auto theft tools.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
On February twelfth, nineteen ninety two, Jeff Erickson was indicted
on federal charges of holding up eight financial institutions and
on state charges of shooting an Illinois police officer. He
pleaded not guilty. The FBI hadn't been sure at first
how and if Jill was involved in the robberies. They
(16:31):
eventually figured out after her death that she had been
a co conspirator and if alive, she would have been
charged in the planning and execution of these bank robberies.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
After twenty two months robbing banks, Jeff went on trial
for bank robbery for more than one hundred and eighty
thousand dollars in court. Witnesses of those robberies generally described
the bearded bandit as an approximately six feet three inches
tall mail weighing approximately two hundred and twenty pounds. They
described how he wore a fake beard and had an
(17:05):
aggressive nature about him, brandishing weapons and verbally threatening bank
employees during the hold ups. United States attorney Victoria Peters
stated that a total of eleven bank employees and one
customer had positively identified Jeff Erickson as the quote bearded
bank robber. Other witnesses, though, had failed the prosecution's case.
(17:28):
For instance, when one employee of Savings of America Bank,
which was held up on March fifth, nineteen ninety was
asked in court to identify the robber, they picked out
a reporter for the Chicago Tribune instead of Ericson.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And let's not forget that Jeff's crimes were not limited
to armed bank robbery. He also faced state charges in
the wounding of police officer Kevin Marr, who tried to
stop him for traffic violation in November of nineteen ninety one.
On July sixteenth, officer Mar recounted in his testimony his
run in with a man he called the quote bearded gunman,
(18:07):
but he was not able to identify that man as
Jeff Ericsson. Previous to his testimony, though jurors had already
heard that the FBI determined that shellcasings found at the
scene of the traffic stopped shooting came from a gun
found in the Ericson residence. Jeff may have been unrecognizable
in his fake beard and dark sunglasses, but there was
forensic evidence to link him to that scene regardless.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Before we continue, this is our second of those two
warnings regarding the discussion of suicide. So if you would
prefer not to hear this part of the story, just
jump ahead about sixty seconds and we will meet you there.
It was shortly before five thirty pm on July twentieth,
nineteen ninety two, in an underground garage of the Dirkson
(18:51):
Federal Building when Jeff unexpectedly yelled quote, I'm going to
take everybody with me. Jeff, an expert marksman, shot and
killed United States Marshal Roy Frakes and also a General
Services Administration security guard named Harry Beloomini, before taking his
own life in what seems to have been a botched
(19:13):
courthouse escape. It all happened as he and other prisoners
were being prepared for transport back to the nearby federal
lock up. According to reports, Belouomini, fatally wounded, managed to
fire four bullets at Jeff, one of which struck him
in the back. It was a fatal hit, stated FBI
(19:34):
spokeswoman Deborah Jones of the violent scene, quote, Jeff knew
he was already dying when he shot himself.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Jeff had somehow freed himself of his handcuffs. A key
was later found by his body, though no one ever
was one hundred percent certain where or how he got it,
and with a free hand, he wrestled a service Revolver
away from a deputy United States Marshal. Officials believed his
goal was to escape by disappearing into the rush hour
(20:02):
crowds of downtown Chicago. Said John Stibbitch, chief of detectives
for the Chicago Police Department. Quote, he was dressed in
street clothes. He would have blended right in. Witnessed Terry
Green stated he was returning home from work and was
half a block away from the Federal building when he
heard the gunfight between Jeff and authorities. Quote, it sounded
(20:25):
like eight or nine shots. It sounded like firecrackers. It
was about five fifteen or so, and people were just
going home from work. It's just lucky no pedestrians were shot.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
After Jeff's death, Richard Mottweiler, a defense attorney who had
been representing Jeff's, stated, quote, the day had gone very well.
He was very upbeat all day. We had some good
things happen from the defense side. I thought the government
had not presented the quality evidence we'd expected, continued Mottwiler. Quote.
(20:56):
When I talked to him, he was always soft spoken,
light the side that came out last night. I never
saw before.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
What an amazingly tragic.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Story it is. Would you like to make it a
double as we kind of shake off the sadness of
this one?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yes, let's make it a double.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Okay. Do you want to guess what the thing was
that I fixated on in this story? Oh?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
No, Well, my brain immediately went was it the beard?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
But I didn't.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I actually wasn't going to guess that, but that was
my first brain click.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
The stolen Mazda, the Mazdas. I think the idea of
a maroon Mazda being so critically tied to this criminal duo,
there's a little bit of comedy to it. Most people
are not like, yeah, I drove a Mansta. I mean
there was. I'm not. I'm not in any way dogging
(22:02):
on Mazda's. I for a while wanted nothing more in
my life than a Mazda five, which I never bought.
I mean, I wanted a minivan. I'm not a mom.
I don't have you know, a soccer team. I just thought, like,
think of all the fabric I could put in that car,
but all the things you could.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Do with it, I know, And there are three Mastas.
Actually in the story that he was driving a Mazda
when he shot.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Mar Yes, so many Mastas.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
So Masta really kind of is one big highlight in
this story.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
But I wanted to focus on that maroon one, and
so I got to thinking about how I would make
a kind of maroon colored drink that like a Mazda.
I mean, Mazta does make some very sporty cars, but
they make a lot of you know, these are all
kind of middle middle range, like the kind of reliable,
cute cars that people would drive to go to work.
(22:52):
And so I was thinking about a drink that looks,
you know, harmless like a juice, but is in fact
full of alcohol, so in fact not harmless. And I
also wanted something with a surprising flavor. And this one
has one ingredient that's an optional and I'll include it
as I read the recipe, but I'll discuss afterwards why
(23:14):
it is optional. So this drink is called Stolen Mazda,
and it is two ounces of port wine like a
red port, one ounce of cognac, a quarter ounce of
vanilla liqueur uh, and then you can just stir these
together in a glass pour it into your strain it
(23:36):
into your like a rock's glass with fresh ice, and
then top it with two to three ounces of low
sugar or sugar free ginger ale. It looks like you're
gonna drink grape juice or something of that nature. And
then you're like, whoa wine taste?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So right, well that's a lot of alcohol.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, if you like the taste of wine, if you
like that that rounded port wine flavor, leave out the
vanilla liquur. But if you don't like for something to
taste like it has a wine note in it, which
some people don't like that taste. They find it bitters
on their tongue, add the vanilla liquor. That's the only
change a room. This one was. It's oddly sippable. Those
(24:14):
are like port and Konyak are heavy heavy, yeah, flavor
heavy alcohols, and yet because of the ginger ale, and
because you're keeping that low sugar it it doesn't taste
terribly heavy. It's a weird thing that happens.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Is it the ginger or the bubbles.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
It's the combo, I mean, because you're getting the cut
through of the flavor from the ginger and then the
bubbles lighten up the whole. The whole thing, just like
there are If this sounds wacky to you and you're like,
I've never heard of that, there are actually a variety
of drinks that include konyak and uh soda. That's not
(24:56):
something I ever think of as combining with soda, but
there are drinks that do it. Similarly, we've talked on
the show before about Kalimocho and tinted Diverano, which are
are wine drinks that combine wine with soda. So there
are some precedents here to make the mocktail. It is
an easy little sub out. Instead of port, you're gonna
use pomegranate juice, and instead of cognac, you're gonna use
(25:19):
black tea. If you want that vanilla note, you're gonna
use a vanilla syrup. And then you just keep your
your low sugar sugar free ginger ale. I would really, really,
really emphasize the sugar free on that one, because the
pomegranate juice sweetens it up so much that otherwise you're
gonna have a little bit of a sugar bomb. If
you love a sugar bomb, go for it. Full sugar.
(25:40):
I can't handle it. But yeah, so that is the
stolen Mazda, which looks pretty benign and like a glass
of juice, and then it's full of all kinds of alcohol.
I mean, I'll put cognac in everything. I'll put cognac
in eggs. I don't care. I love it, but this
is a fun way to include it. It's also a
good way if you're like me and you a case
get a port, but you're not a big wine drinker.
(26:03):
I like to come up with drinks that I can
mix port into because it just, you know, it often
does some really cool things, and you know, you can
use it up that way. You don't want to sitting
around for too too long.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I loved that you focused on the Mazdas because they're
like because they are just these innocent car victims parked
in parking lots that got to do terrible things.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I mean, I think right the reason my brain went
there is because this story is very heavy in a
lot of ways. Oh yeah, it's there's a lot of
darkness to it, and so I think my brain is
like in that KOOKI they stole a bunch.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Of Mazdas, and then there's our drink.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
So yes, that is the stolen Mazda. If you make it,
I hope you find it delicious. I am so grateful,
as I know Maria is as well, that you've spent
this time with us, and I hope you'll be back
next week because we will have another story and an
their drink to go with it. Criminalia is a production
(27:22):
of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Holly Frey
Maria Trimarchi
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