August 19, 2021 • 44 mins
In August of 2012, five years after his arrest before his family’s funeral in June 2007, Christopher Vaughn’s murder trail began. The Will County State’s Attorney’s office originally sought the death penalty, which has since been abolished in Illinois. As a result, Vaughn’s original defense was dismantled and he headed to court represented by a public defender.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Murder in Illinois is a production of iHeartRadio. In August
of twenty twelve, five years after the deaths of his family,
Christopher Vaughn's case headed to court. Vaughn's initial defense team
had been dismantled when its funding evaporated, so he was
now represented by a public defender. Here's Bill Clutter.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
By the time the death penalty was abolished, it was
March of twenty eleven, so we had been investigating the
case and learning the case for entire four years, and
then once those resources went away, when it was no
longer a capital case, the funding reverted to.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
The county prosecutors had originally planned to try this case
as a death penalty case, but in the five years
since the murder, the death penalty has been abolished here
in the state of Illinois, and the fund used to
pay for Christopher Vaughn's public defenders has been eliminated.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
He now has new attorneys.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Something that would have a mixed impact on Vaughn.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
The good news is they're abolishing the death penalty. The
bad news is they're abolishing the death penalty, which means
you don't get the resources to defend yourself before trial
and in many cases, prosecutors were making those decisions to
file their intent not to seek the death penalty because
it would.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Do just that.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
The defense that Vaughn ended up going to that courtroom
with as compared to the level that the prosecution had
at the time, how would you categorize it?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
People use the analogy of David versus Goliath, but in
this case it was David versus Godzilla.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I'm Lauren bred Pacheco, and this is murder in Illinois.
Speaker 6 (01:43):
But you did ja you you.
Speaker 7 (01:57):
Do?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
To recap Christopher Vaughan was held without bond in the
Will County Jail in Illinois, So from the time he
was arrested at his family's funeral in two thousand and
seven until the time of his trial in twenty twelve,
he'd spent the last five years of his life in jail.
Regardless of the verdict, a man who hadn't yet been
(02:34):
convicted of a crime had already lost five years of
his life to incarceration, and Gale and Pierre Vaughan were
very wary about their son's downgraded defense as he headed
to court.
Speaker 8 (02:49):
Well.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
John Rogers and Jerry Killian were both expert lawyers, and
they worked very hard on it for four years, and
they knew the thing inside and out, and they they
were ready to go to trial, but they kept the
state kept putting them off. If you're on trial for
(03:11):
murder in Illinois, like Chris was, the state pays the
lawyers and pays for your defense. Once they did away
with the death penalty, they called our two lawyers in
said hey, look, unless you want to finish this thing
pro bono, we're not going to pay you anymore.
Speaker 9 (03:32):
And we couldn't afford I mean, our house wasn't even
a fit in a bucket compared to the money that
we would have had to provide.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
Right, I mean, the lawyers told us that this trial
was probably costing the State of Illinois somewhere into the
centy of ten to twenty million dollars, and I thought, well,
that's a lot for lawyers.
Speaker 8 (03:56):
You know, the State of Illinois also drug it out
for four years. That's kind of their own fault.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
So lawyers just said, hey, look, you know we can't
finish the thing pro bono. They offered the State of
Illinois like two hundred and fifty thousand If you give
us two hundred fifty thousand to finish the case, and
the state of Illinois wouldn't do it. But then they
hired our public defender and his two associates to get
up to speed on the case. So it was like, Okay,
(04:22):
you wouldn't pay our lawyers two hundred and fifty grand,
but you paid your three lawyers and you still had
to pay the prosecution lawyers to be involved with it,
So the money didn't add up. You know, it's just
a matter of getting rid of our good quality lawyers.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
And Pierre had another issue with Chris's new defense.
Speaker 8 (04:43):
Well, and this is my opinion, here's the thing.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
The public defender lawyers are paid by the same people
who pay the prosecuting lawyers and who pay the judges.
Speaker 8 (04:57):
It all comes out of the same check book.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
So if you're person signing your check insinuates or let
you know that this is the way things should go, and.
Speaker 8 (05:11):
What are you going to do?
Speaker 1 (05:12):
As mentioned before, Chris also had the misfortune of sharing
a courthouse with another high profile case that was happening
at the same time, along with the press frenzy that
accompanied it.
Speaker 10 (05:24):
In just the first day, attorneys agreed on twelve of
the eighteen jurors they'll need for the Christopher Vaughn trial.
It's a trial taking place by the way, in a
courtroom literally next door to the murder trial of Drew Peterson.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Christopher Vaughn's trial unfolded in the same courthouse during the
same time period under the same state's attorney, James Glasgow.
Here's perr Vaughan.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
Jude Peterson was a police officer that had a couple
wives go missing, and as it turns out, his final
trial came up at the same time Chris did.
Speaker 8 (05:58):
So it was a meet a circus. There was Chamers
TVs set up outside, there was a drawing for seats.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
They had to they had to take a drawing for
the reporters to get in and take seats in both
both cases. And you know, our our judge said that
that Drew Peterson's case would not have any reflection on
his judgment, but it did. He was he was interviewed
by the press just like everybody else, and he wasn't
(06:26):
going to be outdone by Drew Peterson's case, let's put
it that way. So, yeah, there was a big media
circus at the end of every day after court, good
old Glasgow would be out there in the Street talking
about how he's prosecuting these two guys and everything, And
he never even appeared in either courtroom.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
But he was holding a lot of press conferences.
Speaker 8 (06:49):
Oh, yes, yes he was. He was running for election.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
At this point, the Peterson trial had garnered national attention.
Drew Peterson was eventually convicted of killing his third wife,
Kathleen Savio, and his fourth wife, still missing to this day,
is suspected to have met a similar fate. The case
somewhat overshadowed Vaughn's.
Speaker 11 (07:11):
This trial is expected to last about six weeks, and
interestingly enough, it's being heard right next to the courtroom
where the Drew Peterson murder trial is underway.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Running for reelection, Glasgow was quite vocal about his intention
to secure convictions for both Peterson and Vaughn, and his
opponent at the time accused Glasgow of manipulating the timing
of both trials for political purposes. Here's Gail Vaughan.
Speaker 12 (07:40):
He was trying to be re elected and he actually
used Chris as one of his platforms.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
But that wasn't a new development. Glasgow had been consistent
on Vaughn even before his funeral day arrest a week
after the murders.
Speaker 12 (07:56):
Yeah, their very first news conference already decided he was guilty.
When it was mister Glasgow and a police commissioner and
they were standing up there answering questions for the reporters.
They said, yep, well we'll get it, We'll bring him in.
They didn't even give him a chance.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Here's Bill Clutter's take on whether those press conferences had
a negative impact on Vaughan.
Speaker 6 (08:24):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I have no doubt about it. I mean, he was
already tried and convicted in the media, and you know,
just having to go into will County with all of
that intense publicity. He was already convicted in the court
of public opinion.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Rounding out the hurdles was the police department's apparent tunnel
vision as to Chris's guilt. From the very day of
the murder. There never seemed to have been much doubt
from the state's attorney side of things that Kim was
innocent and Chris premeditated the entire thing, and the media
and press followed along.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
It's typical in many of these cases, and time after
time that I've been involved. You know, it's hard enough
when you're innocent trying to prove your innocence. But it's
even more difficult when you have to overcome the pre
trop publicity that's already made up many of the minds
of jurors when they walk into that courtroom.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
So Chris headed into court with a five year public
perception of guilt and very few supporters. Here's Gail.
Speaker 12 (09:30):
There was nobody in his corner except our two lawyers
and Bill.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
That was it.
Speaker 9 (09:36):
And we come from a small family, so we didn't
have a lot of people to storm the court or anything.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
During the trial, the press made much note of Chris's demeanor.
His flat affect in particular, was pointed out by many
to be indicative of his guilt or lack of remorse.
But there are a number of things that likely played
into this perception. One was that Chris Vaughn had been
in jail for five years before the trial began, and
(10:05):
there was much more to that than the public was aware.
After he was convicted, his parents would gain disturbing insight
into what Chris was going through in the time leading
up to and during his trial.
Speaker 13 (10:19):
Let me run this past you. How about this situation
when you're brought over from the jail house to the
courthouse you're brought over in your jail clothes, but before
you leave the jail you are strip search naked, which
goes back on. Get on the bus, go over to
(10:40):
the courthouse. There you're given the clothes that we brought
him to. Go into court. There again your strip search,
cavity search, your closer search, and then you're allowed to addressed.
In the meantime, you're being physically and verbally abused by the.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Guards during the entire trial.
Speaker 8 (11:00):
Well, yes, and every hearing.
Speaker 13 (11:05):
He didn't give me your.
Speaker 14 (11:06):
Response, I'm speechless.
Speaker 15 (11:10):
Yeah, we were too.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
When did you find out that that was happening?
Speaker 13 (11:15):
He was told and threatened on what to do. We
didn't find this out until he was in Thenard for
a year.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Manard is Illinois's largest maximum security adult male facility. It's
considered the toughest prison in Illinois and where Chris would
be sent after his conviction.
Speaker 16 (11:35):
We finally got him opened up a little bit because
at you didn't have to go through a phone system,
and even though they had cameras on you, we were
able to talk to him a little more personable than
when we had been in Joliette.
Speaker 13 (11:51):
On the phone.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
When I pressed Chris confirmed his treatment at Joliette and
commented it actually prepared him for the reality of man
At Joliette, it would seem many of the people responsible
for overseeing Chris's well being and captivity did everything they
could to make life as unpleasant as possible, particularly during
(12:13):
his trial your scale and.
Speaker 16 (12:15):
While he was in captivity in joliet they had the
night night squad that would come in and intimidate and
shake them down and strip them and make them stand
outside their cells or in their cells.
Speaker 13 (12:30):
And toss theirselves looking for contrabands.
Speaker 16 (12:33):
While you had nothing on with another group of guys.
I mean, Chris was just pummeled from all directions. Psychologically,
he was still trying to understand that his family was
no longer there. He's being really viciously talk to, and
(12:57):
you know, Chris is very sensitive mentally.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
According to Pierre and Gale, that treatment intensified during the
trial and.
Speaker 16 (13:05):
When he was waiting. If there was a break during
court and christ was taken out or he arrived at
the courthouse early, they were putting in a cell that
was unclean.
Speaker 13 (13:17):
It reached.
Speaker 16 (13:20):
And was nothing there, just a chair in the middle
of a small cell room. Period I mean this kind
of had something that duty or psyche just the way
they mean him a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Once the trial began, the prosecution presented the jury with
their version of how the incident occurred. In their series
of events, Christopher Vaughan fatally shot everyone in his family
on a secluded stretch of the Interstate fifty five frontage road.
They alleged Vaughan pulled the family's forward expedition over, got
out under the guise of checking a cargo compartment on
(13:58):
the roof of the suv, then rabbed his wife through
the open passenger window, stuck a pistol wrapped in his
fleece to disguise it under her chin, and shot her
before turning his attention to his three children.
Speaker 10 (14:13):
Prosecutors alleged Christopher Vaughan pulled their suv onto a frontage
road near Shanahan during a family trip, killing them in
shooting himself in the leg, but Vaughn says that his
wife was the one who pulled the gun. She shot
him in the leg, he told investigators before he ran off.
Then he claims she killed their kids and herself.
Speaker 7 (14:35):
Jurors paid close attention as Fitzgerald highlighted again how blood
evidence at the scene of the family's suv did not
support Vaughn's version of events on that morning. In June
of two thousand and seven.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Recall that Vaughn told investigators repeatedly during his initial questioning
that he couldn't remember exactly what happened. Those gaps were
used against him. Highly problematic for Vaughn was the fact
that in the initial interrogation he gave the impression that
he'd left the car before Kimberly shot herself, but her
(15:11):
blood was found on the back right of the fleece
he'd been wearing, and there were other damning things too.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Prosecutor's claim it was Vaughan who pulled the trigger and
staged his own injuries. They say he was hoping to
cash in on a one million dollar life insurance policy
he had on his wife. They also planned to present
evidence that Christopher Vaughan had gone to a gun range
the night before the murders and used the same handgun
for target practice that was used in the killings.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
The prosecution also uncovered more things about Chris that would
prove incredibly damaging to his defense. In October and November
of two thousand and six, the year prior to the murders,
Chris began online correspondence with a man named Steve Willett
on a website discussing outdoorsmanship and wilderness survival techniques. They
(15:58):
had nicknames for each other. It was Flee and Vaughn
was Flint. Chris never mentioned his kids on that site
or during the discussions between the two. What he does discuss, however,
are survival techniques and the prospect of moving to Canada
permanently in the future.
Speaker 11 (16:16):
Prosecutors say Christopher Vaughan killed his family all because he
wanted to start a new life in Canada.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
And according to the police, Vaughan had been stockpiling wilderness gear.
Officers uncovered a storage unit that Vaughn had rented that
was full of camping equipment, sleeping bags, boots, and camp tools,
in addition to a jar of peanut butter and a
bottle of Jameson whiskey. The prosecution was putting together a
(16:43):
picture of a man who had kept tons of secrets
and was potentially planning to fake his own death and
run away from his family. We will come back to
all of this later, but according to Erica Wurst, who
covered the trial as a local reporter. It wasn't a
flattering picture, especially in contrast to the pictures of his
deceased wife and kids.
Speaker 17 (17:05):
I mean, not only were the children adorable, Kim had,
you know, a lot of friends, was going to school,
worked in the poolhouse.
Speaker 16 (17:12):
Chris, as quiet as he was, still was.
Speaker 15 (17:15):
Providing for his family. I mean, everyone.
Speaker 17 (17:19):
Seemed to say he was a nice guy, just very demure.
Then you find out, like all the lies in this
like alter life that Chris had been having underneath.
Speaker 15 (17:33):
Everyone's nose, finding that out, seeing all.
Speaker 17 (17:36):
The camping equipment, talking to his online buddy, and planning everything.
When that came out, boom, that was like another shock,
a huge shock.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
The prosecute intended to make mention of Chris's religious beliefs,
which he admitted lean towards Druidism, a modern spiritual movement
based on Celtic rooted mysticism that celebrates nature.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Attorneys fort Christopher Vaughan are asking me a judge, to
bar any mention of his religious beliefs in his upcoming
murder trial. They feel drawers will speculate on whether it's
a religion or a cult. Prosecutor said they won't discuss
Vaughn's religious beliefs, but may present drawers with postings Vaughan
made online on a mailing list.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Police had confiscated books on Druidism from von to home.
Speaker 11 (18:34):
He later told police during a videotaped interview that his
wife was upset with him over his religious beliefs, Druidism,
and his recent admission of an afair he had during
a business trip to Mexico a year earlier.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Here again is Erica Wurst for me.
Speaker 15 (18:51):
One of the big eye opening things was when they
brought up the gentlemen from Canada I believe, who Chris
had been corresponding with about their great walk into the wild.
There's a whole mission here, there's a whole goal here,
and not one of those planned missions or goals entail
(19:13):
your family or your child. He was lying to people
about being married, he was lying to people about having child.
That was a big one hearing this guy talk about
how he had no idea.
Speaker 17 (19:23):
That Chris had a family and he thought that they
were going to go do this.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Steve Willett testified at the trial, and the defense walked
through all the various messages between him and Vaughn. Here's
Bill again, I've.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Read the emails years ago between him and Chris.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
So this is the guy Chris found on a wilderness
website and he was kind of like an email pen pal,
exactly right.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
But I mean, the thing about this is they used
his testimony to try to establish the narrative that Chris
wanted to get rid of his family by killing them
so he can go hiking off into the wilderness with
his friend that he met online. His testimony was presented
and they walked him through the various email communications. Was
(20:15):
used to paint Chris in this awfully bad light, you know,
just the grind of He got a guy that looks
like he's living the American dream. He's got this big
house in Oswego, Illinois, in the suburbs of Chicago. He's
got a job and it's a successful career. He's making
two hundred thousand a year. But yet he wants to
(20:37):
escape into the wilderness and get off the grid and
leave civilization and the grind of it all. But I'm
convinced that it wasn't Chris's intent to kill his family
to accomplish that. He could have gone off into the
woods and disappeared and never returned without having to kill
his family.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
But then there were the strippers. Chris had spent almost
four thousand dollars and the weeks prior to the murder
in strip clubs.
Speaker 11 (21:03):
As many as four exotic dancers are expected to testify
that Vaughn frequented strip clubs in Chicago and the suburbs.
Months before the murders. He told one of the strippers
he was single, and even made bizarre statements about ancient souls.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Chris Vaughn wasn't exactly coming across as a sympathetic defendant.
Here's journalist Jojosey, editor of the Herald News.
Speaker 18 (21:28):
I don't think anybody really bought into his version of events.
And then anything started to come out, with his online
relationship with the guy in the Yukon and faking his
dad so he get away from his family and they
will get the life insurance or whatever it was, the
strip clubs and dropping several thousand dollars in a couple
weeks on one of the women.
Speaker 11 (21:48):
Prosecutors will also show the jury a cryptic poem allegedly
found in Vaughn's jail cell that made references to a
dancer named Maya that Vaughn had met at the Chicago
strip Club.
Speaker 18 (21:59):
I'm not mistaken the poems. What were they written in
Celtic or something. I mean, that's a unique detail and
it's strange. But when you're in jail for murdering your
family and you're writing poems about a stripper and running,
that's probably not a great optic. So, I mean, the
stuff that was coming out, it didn't look good.
Speaker 14 (22:22):
Here again is Erica worst When the poem that was
written to Maya was read out loud, that was a
little disturbing because it showed.
Speaker 15 (22:33):
This illusionment of love and less knowing that like his
wife's anniversary was like Inja and that was just kind
of that betrayal there that she wasn't even aware of
what's happening.
Speaker 17 (22:46):
So that kind of stufted thousands of dollars he spent
on these girls. Granted he didn't get dances from them
or have sex with them, but I think just going
there and I don't know, sort of like a retrieve
for him, get away from his house's going on, all
the scouting trips that he lied about. I don't know,
tell me what of that is an evidence.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
At this point, one might ask why Chris would have
gone through all of this trouble when if his marriage
was supposedly so bad, he could have just gotten divorced.
During Chris's interrogation, the police asked the same question, and
then Chris gave the response that would do him zero
favors in the courtroom. Divorce is not an option. We'll
(23:28):
come back to that. And then there was the murder itself.
The prosecution established what they believed to be Chris's motive
based on his emails with Willett and his behavior and
infatuation with the strippers he was visiting, while at the
same time Painting came out to be the kind of
mother who could not have possibly committed the crime. And
then there was the prosecution's presentation of the crime scene
(23:52):
and its emotional impact on the trial. Here's Gail.
Speaker 16 (23:57):
They had a large projected screen.
Speaker 9 (24:01):
It had to been by foot by.
Speaker 16 (24:05):
Seven foot.
Speaker 19 (24:06):
I mean it was a huge showing screen, and they
had pictures bigger than life.
Speaker 7 (24:12):
On this end.
Speaker 8 (24:13):
They were awful.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
During the display of these photos, the jury focused on Chris,
his demeanor, the look on his face.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
When the prosecutors put up a seventy two inch big
screen and showed all the pictures of the truck, the
crime scene, the bodies, every little thing that was involved
in it.
Speaker 8 (24:36):
You know, they called it evidence.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
They showed them all the parts of the crime scene,
but they didn't put it all together to make it
a crime. And you know, they had this big elaborate thing.
They had three or four lawyers on their side. And
when our guy got up there to the public defender
got up there, he brought up a laptop and set
a laptop and a table, you know, with a little
(24:59):
to each screen in front of a jury of eighteen
people and expected them to be able to see what
he was talking about.
Speaker 9 (25:08):
The prosecutors put up a big shock and awe performance.
Speaker 20 (25:13):
They showed pictures of the children lying dead in the seats,
They showed pictures of Kimberly. They just showed pictures to
make you feel really shocked.
Speaker 14 (25:27):
I mean, it was, it was terrible.
Speaker 9 (25:29):
And the whole time the screen was just for the jurors,
so the people on.
Speaker 14 (25:34):
The defense did not see what they were seeing, but
the jury could also see Cress.
Speaker 16 (25:41):
The jury was scaring at Chris the whole time, and
our our defensive attorney, mister Lenard, had talked to Chris
about this before, and Chris had told him, please, I
don't want to see those pictures. So when they thought
Chris was looking at it on a on these little
laptop screen, there was nothing there. We were not seeing
(26:03):
the pictures that the jury was, and they based a
lot of Chris's emotion on, Wow, he's looking at those
and he's looking at a fingernail, or he's staring at
the ceiling, or he's looking down at a pencil. And
mister Leonard had told Chris not to make comments about anything.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
So while the jury believed Chris's lack of reaction was
to the pictures of his dead children, he was in
fact seeing nothing and he was doing exactly as he
was instructed by his lawyer. But what the rest of
the court was seeing was horrifying. Here's Erica worst.
Speaker 14 (26:46):
They were horrible.
Speaker 21 (26:47):
They were horrible.
Speaker 22 (26:49):
You have little babies with you know, bullet wounds that
were zooming up on and seeing and Kim with her
hand like slouched like owned by the Center Council kind of.
Speaker 21 (27:02):
And she's got her wedding ring on.
Speaker 22 (27:04):
That's one that's like seered into my head just because
you know, it's so sad there's a wedding ring, there's blood.
It's just something hard to look at, you know, even
to see the kids clothing and Kim's clothing. Every part
of it just shouldn't have happened. Then when you see
that it actually did and it's real, you know, it
takes it to another level. Blake, Casandra and Abigail, we've
(27:29):
seen them alive and smiling in pictures. Oh, I seriously
want to pray right now. You see them the way
they ended up, and someone did that to them, and
if you're a human being, you can't wrap your head around.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
So Blake was behind Kimberley, Cassandra was in the center,
and Abigail was behind the driver's seat.
Speaker 7 (27:52):
Uh huh.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
And was was Abigail holding a Harry Potter book?
Speaker 21 (27:59):
You know, there was repower book.
Speaker 15 (28:00):
They had a little.
Speaker 22 (28:04):
Mickey mouse tissue thing. Pretty sure there was like a
Charlotte's web in there somewhere. They had blankets. They got
up at four in the morning, you know how they
were just probably groggy and still asleep. And you know,
you find Blake with his hands up and a defensive motion.
Speaker 21 (28:26):
That's another thing, is that just makes me lose my breath.
Is like he's looking at either one of.
Speaker 22 (28:31):
His parents holding.
Speaker 21 (28:36):
A gun to him.
Speaker 22 (28:37):
And then the other two girls are watching what happened
to the next one. And I always think about that
they're stuck in that back car and they're watching their
siblings get killed one after another, knowing their next and.
Speaker 21 (28:53):
The fear and the terror.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Remember the emotion, and even the recollection of those photos
will come back to it later.
Speaker 15 (29:03):
And then to see Kim in the front seat, in
her seatbelt of courses of and you see where the
gun is, but she's leading. That's hard to see. And
then you see Chris with a womb to.
Speaker 16 (29:18):
His sky and they risked.
Speaker 15 (29:22):
So yeah, there's no comparison. There's no comparison. Don't five people,
one in the car, one left.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
The prosecution also pointed out that Chris's behavior after the
shootings did not line up with someone whose family had
just been killed. The medics who attended to Christopher, Bond
and the ambulance were called to testify. They said Christopher
never made inquiries about Kim or Abigail, or Cassandra or Blake,
but one medic recalled Chris Vaughn expressed concern about his
(30:07):
cowboy boots.
Speaker 23 (30:08):
Now, while in the emergency room after the shootings, he
reportedly was upset about blood on his cowboy boots. Taken
all together, certainly this is evidence that seems difficult to overcome.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Chris had sustained non life threatening gunshot wounds, which the
prosecution contended could easily have been self inflicted. To help
his case, here's Erica worst again.
Speaker 15 (30:32):
In the ambulance. He is yelling at them about cutting
off his boots and not ruining his jacket because he
got it in the Yukon and.
Speaker 16 (30:45):
It's just so narcissistic.
Speaker 15 (30:46):
I was like, Holy, how is that your main concern
right now?
Speaker 14 (30:49):
Is that your main concern?
Speaker 15 (30:51):
And they're like, maybe he doesn't know his family and
kids are killed down the road, Like I wouldn't have
blessed my family and kids killed down the road. I
don't know, that's the thing. It could have dreams about
it every day.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
The defense did not have experts who could counter that
perception in terms of Chris's psychological or dissociative state.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Here's Pierre Well, at that time, Chris didn't know his
family was dead. All Chris knew was that his wife
shot him.
Speaker 8 (31:24):
And his blood was on his boots.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
And when he got into the ambulance, rather than pull
his boot off, they were going to cut the boot off,
and at all he did was ask them not to
cut the boot off, just take the boot off. And
somehow this guy all construed around that he didn't care
for his family.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
The defense made the case Kim had been experiencing erratic
behavior leading up to the incident, and again tried to
argue the culprit for her rapid swing in behavior could
have been one of the medications she was prescribed for
her migraines, Topomax, which was flagged by the FDA after
the killings. Here's Gail.
Speaker 19 (32:07):
Nearly two years passed before the FDA issued new warning
labels and medication guides for Topamax. The warning labels inserted
into the medications advised patients to immediately call their health
provider if they were experiencing new or worse anxiety, feeling
agitated or restless, having panic attacks, new or worse irritability,
(32:32):
and unusual changes in moods or behavior. This was documented
from one of her doctors after one of her visits.
She had called Chris because she was experiencing a behavioral problem.
She was experiencing mood swings. She did have panic attacks,
(32:55):
but because the drugs weren't studied enough at that point
in time, they didn't know these were danger signs.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Was that discussed in the case in court.
Speaker 9 (33:10):
Not really, It was kind of skirted around.
Speaker 19 (33:14):
We had a specialist, doctor Healey, who was supposed to
talk about this, but the judge disallowed him because he
said doctor Healey would only be giving his opinion, not facts.
This entire investigation was a tunnel vision and it infected
(33:36):
the entire group, and they only saw Chris as the villain.
They didn't seek Kim as a person that was asking
for help.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
The testimony of other possible expert witnesses for the defense,
like doctor Terry Kellyan, who diagnosed Vaughan with dissociative amnesia,
was also dismissed as opinion. And then there were other
issues that play. Chris's sister in law, Rachel, was called
to testify about a phone call she'd received from Kimberly
Vaughn shortly before the killings. Here's her take on the
(34:09):
team defending Chris.
Speaker 4 (34:11):
All I can say is I know they were not
very organized with me. I remember the lawyer called me
once before the trial started, and he said that will
probably call you to talk about your phone call. The
trial's coming, but I don't know if I'm going to
(34:34):
be called or when. So I finally called him and
I said, am I supposed to be coming? Because I
have to make plans. I have three children at that
point and no family in town, so I need to
know what's going on. And he finally said, well, we're
pretty sure we'll on this day. So I had like
(34:56):
a couple of days to get to Juliet, and I
had I mean, I knew they wanted to talk to
me about the phone call. I didn't know what that meant,
never having stepped foot into a real courtroom before.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
In cases of this level, witnesses are usually walked through
their testimony and prepared for possible cross examination. Rachel took
the stand without the time to even revisit a statement
she'd given five years before, one in which Kim confided
about two emotional outbursts she'd had in recent months, one
with Chris's parents, the other involving an issue with one
(35:30):
of the children's schools.
Speaker 4 (35:32):
I remember talking to Bill Clutter and him saying, I'm
going to write down what you are saying, and I said, okay. Well,
five years later, I'm sitting outside a courtroom and they
hand me a piece of paper and say, this was
your statement. At that moment, I didn't remember giving a statement.
I had never seen it. I had no idea, and
(35:53):
so I cannot remember if the incident at school, because
she just said something happened. I was with either a
teacher or a principle or something. It was my impression
she overreacted, so I don't know if that was in
the statement.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Apparently the defense had wanted Rachel to also testify about
a comment Kim made on that call about her doctor,
but in the end it wasn't allowed.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
I only know this because I could hear them talking
to the judge. But they were trying to get me
to be able to say what Kim said about her
doctor and what her dad thought about her doctor and
that kind of stuff. But then they were, you know, hearsay,
and it was too many layers in the chain there,
(36:40):
and so they didn't allow them to ask that question.
I told my husband that when I was done testifying
and I walked out of the room, my very first
thought was he's going to be convicted. It was in
the air. You knew it when you were in there.
I knew it when I was there.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
The prosecution made their closing arguments and the jury came
back with the decision in fifty minutes. Here's Pierre.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
But they came into the court room at nine o'clock
and for some reason, the prosecution was running along and
they asked the jurors if they wanted to take a
break for lunch, and they said no, they wanted to
get the thing done and over with because it was
a Friday, six weeks everybody was tired of it. And
(37:28):
then we listened to the prosecution's closing statement that lasted
three hours and went through all the evidence, but never
never tied the evidence to the actual crime. He just,
you know, just a lot of accusations in any windows.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Here's Erica Wurst's take.
Speaker 22 (37:50):
I was surprised at how fast it came in. That's
going to be one of the fastest I've been in.
I don't even think they got to lunch time yet
before it was thrown back, you know. And if it
did take any longer than that, it was because they
were sitting in their back having loans.
Speaker 21 (38:05):
But you know, it was a swift verdict, and that
was the shocking part to me. But it just meant
that they had their minds made up and that there
wasn't a whole lot of tits for ted or questions
coming back or anything. So they seemed pretty confident in
their verdict.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
The reaction in the courtroom was about what one would expect.
Here's Jojosey.
Speaker 18 (38:31):
Was anybody surprised with the verdict?
Speaker 5 (38:32):
I don't.
Speaker 18 (38:32):
I don't think anyone was surprised at all by the verdict.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
And the emotion Erica worst remembers came from the Phillips side.
Speaker 21 (38:40):
It was crying on Kim's side.
Speaker 22 (38:43):
Chris got up and I just, you know, read my
notes the other day and it was like he got
up and he didn't even look back at his.
Speaker 21 (38:53):
Family while he was being taken away. And I just
remember thinking that was that because he felt bad and
he didn't want to look.
Speaker 9 (39:03):
At your mom?
Speaker 21 (39:04):
Is that because it was too hard to look at
your mom? Is that why didn't he look back? So
that that was weird. It's always a Chris cross of
jubilation and utter heart breaks. But Kim did have a
lot more people on that wanted justice served.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Christopher Vaughan was found guilty on four counts of first
degree murder of his wife and three children, and sentenced
to four life sentences. A decision Erica Worst, who covered
the entire trial, agreed with when we first started speaking
about the case.
Speaker 16 (39:43):
I believe with.
Speaker 15 (39:48):
Ninety eight point nine percent, Shorty.
Speaker 17 (39:51):
That Crusher Vaughn chilled his wife the early and freak.
Speaker 15 (39:59):
I don't know so that you can show me anything
outside of a confession that would prove otherwise. I mean,
lots of convicts maintain or innocence. It's not unheard of.
I'm not surprised that he's maintaining his innocince. I don't
think I'll ever admit to killing his children in his life.
It was Kim then guess why she can't tell us now?
(40:21):
So yeah, I think he did it, And I think
that I'm educated enough on the topic and steps through
and looks every bit of a piece of evidence to
form an educated conclusion.
Speaker 13 (40:32):
Are there a couple of.
Speaker 15 (40:32):
Things maybe you guys can find out or stick in
or poking? Sure, no trial is invalluable.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Here is the Will County State's attorney James Glasgow, at
a press conference after the verdict.
Speaker 24 (40:45):
What this guy did here was a diabolical atrocity, and
he's a heartless, soulless psychopath. That's the bottom line. That's
what he is, without any compassion, without any empathy for
other human beings. There isn't a punishment that fits this crime.
You could lock them up for five hundred lifetimes and
(41:05):
it would not compensate the victims in this case or
the family members.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Fourteen years after the tragedy and nearly a decade after
that statement, Bill Clutter remains deeply frustrated by the verdict.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
We had experts that were prepared. We had the world's
leading expert on medications causing homicidal and smicidal behavior, and
that expert never testified. The jury never heard from that expert.
We had two experts working on that issue. We had
an expert in psychology working on dissociative amnesia to explain
(41:40):
that to the jury. That wasn't done.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Clutter believes it could have made a difference.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
The defense presented its theory of defense that this was
a murder suicide. Obviously it was ineffective, but how so
what else could have maybe turned their decision? Maybe hearing
from key experts had never heard from.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Here's attorney Keith Altman, who would have been one of
those experts.
Speaker 10 (42:06):
That the available evidence was not presented to a jury
and for them to have made a decision based.
Speaker 16 (42:13):
Upon the evidence, that's what superior.
Speaker 24 (42:17):
If the evidence was given to a jury properly and
they decided to convict him anyway, then at least he
had his day in court.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
So that's not what happened, and that's just it. There
was evidence given by the prosecution with regards to the
crime scene that simply didn't and still does not align
with expert opinion, and based on new revelations, not all
the circumstantial evidence holds up to scrutiny. If all the
(42:46):
evidence were presented fully, what would it have shown?
Speaker 25 (42:56):
Money of black Oh, the same shape and side.
Speaker 26 (43:10):
The nice indeed them.
Speaker 21 (43:15):
The sense of vision.
Speaker 6 (43:21):
He going Garrio, She.
Speaker 26 (43:27):
Just changed Nzo roads.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
On the next episode of Murder in Illinois, will carefully
re examine the issues that remain regarding the crime scene.
Speaker 16 (43:48):
She would have protected her kids like she was a
mama bear.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
And explain inconsistencies and key elements of the prosecution's version
of events.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
I didn't see any good psychiatric analyzes in.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
These and scrutinize the way evidence was handled and.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
That's completely contrary to the initial belief of the state's attorney.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
To see if combined these things could have raised reasonable doubt.
Murdered Illinois is a production of iHeartRadio. Executive producers are
Lauren bred Pacheco and Taylor Chackoyine written by Lauren bred
Pacheco and Matthew Riddle, story editing by Matthew Riddle, editing
and sound designed by Evan Tyre and Taylor Chackoine, featuring
(44:30):
music by Cicada Rhythm and new compositions engineered and mixed
by Van Tyre and Taylor Chackoine. Archived news reports provided
by wgnly. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, check out the
(44:51):
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get the stories
that matter to you.
Murder in Illinois is a production of iHeartRadio. In August
of twenty twelve, five years after the deaths of his family,
Christopher Vaughn's case headed to court. Vaughn's initial defense team
had been dismantled when its funding evaporated, so he was
now represented by a public defender. Here's Bill Clutter.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
By the time the death penalty was abolished, it was
March of twenty eleven, so we had been investigating the
case and learning the case for entire four years, and
then once those resources went away, when it was no
longer a capital case, the funding reverted to.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
The county prosecutors had originally planned to try this case
as a death penalty case, but in the five years
since the murder, the death penalty has been abolished here
in the state of Illinois, and the fund used to
pay for Christopher Vaughn's public defenders has been eliminated.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
He now has new attorneys.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Something that would have a mixed impact on Vaughn.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
The good news is they're abolishing the death penalty. The
bad news is they're abolishing the death penalty, which means
you don't get the resources to defend yourself before trial
and in many cases, prosecutors were making those decisions to
file their intent not to seek the death penalty because
it would.
Speaker 5 (01:20):
Do just that.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
The defense that Vaughn ended up going to that courtroom
with as compared to the level that the prosecution had
at the time, how would you categorize it?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
People use the analogy of David versus Goliath, but in
this case it was David versus Godzilla.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I'm Lauren bred Pacheco, and this is murder in Illinois.
Speaker 6 (01:43):
But you did ja you you.
Speaker 7 (01:57):
Do?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
To recap Christopher Vaughan was held without bond in the
Will County Jail in Illinois, So from the time he
was arrested at his family's funeral in two thousand and
seven until the time of his trial in twenty twelve,
he'd spent the last five years of his life in jail.
Regardless of the verdict, a man who hadn't yet been
(02:34):
convicted of a crime had already lost five years of
his life to incarceration, and Gale and Pierre Vaughan were
very wary about their son's downgraded defense as he headed
to court.
Speaker 8 (02:49):
Well.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
John Rogers and Jerry Killian were both expert lawyers, and
they worked very hard on it for four years, and
they knew the thing inside and out, and they they
were ready to go to trial, but they kept the
state kept putting them off. If you're on trial for
(03:11):
murder in Illinois, like Chris was, the state pays the
lawyers and pays for your defense. Once they did away
with the death penalty, they called our two lawyers in
said hey, look, unless you want to finish this thing
pro bono, we're not going to pay you anymore.
Speaker 9 (03:32):
And we couldn't afford I mean, our house wasn't even
a fit in a bucket compared to the money that
we would have had to provide.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
Right, I mean, the lawyers told us that this trial
was probably costing the State of Illinois somewhere into the
centy of ten to twenty million dollars, and I thought, well,
that's a lot for lawyers.
Speaker 8 (03:56):
You know, the State of Illinois also drug it out
for four years. That's kind of their own fault.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
So lawyers just said, hey, look, you know we can't
finish the thing pro bono. They offered the State of
Illinois like two hundred and fifty thousand If you give
us two hundred fifty thousand to finish the case, and
the state of Illinois wouldn't do it. But then they
hired our public defender and his two associates to get
up to speed on the case. So it was like, Okay,
(04:22):
you wouldn't pay our lawyers two hundred and fifty grand,
but you paid your three lawyers and you still had
to pay the prosecution lawyers to be involved with it,
So the money didn't add up. You know, it's just
a matter of getting rid of our good quality lawyers.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
And Pierre had another issue with Chris's new defense.
Speaker 8 (04:43):
Well, and this is my opinion, here's the thing.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
The public defender lawyers are paid by the same people
who pay the prosecuting lawyers and who pay the judges.
Speaker 8 (04:57):
It all comes out of the same check book.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
So if you're person signing your check insinuates or let
you know that this is the way things should go, and.
Speaker 8 (05:11):
What are you going to do?
Speaker 1 (05:12):
As mentioned before, Chris also had the misfortune of sharing
a courthouse with another high profile case that was happening
at the same time, along with the press frenzy that
accompanied it.
Speaker 10 (05:24):
In just the first day, attorneys agreed on twelve of
the eighteen jurors they'll need for the Christopher Vaughn trial.
It's a trial taking place by the way, in a
courtroom literally next door to the murder trial of Drew Peterson.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Christopher Vaughn's trial unfolded in the same courthouse during the
same time period under the same state's attorney, James Glasgow.
Here's perr Vaughan.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
Jude Peterson was a police officer that had a couple
wives go missing, and as it turns out, his final
trial came up at the same time Chris did.
Speaker 8 (05:58):
So it was a meet a circus. There was Chamers
TVs set up outside, there was a drawing for seats.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
They had to they had to take a drawing for
the reporters to get in and take seats in both
both cases. And you know, our our judge said that
that Drew Peterson's case would not have any reflection on
his judgment, but it did. He was he was interviewed
by the press just like everybody else, and he wasn't
(06:26):
going to be outdone by Drew Peterson's case, let's put
it that way. So, yeah, there was a big media
circus at the end of every day after court, good
old Glasgow would be out there in the Street talking
about how he's prosecuting these two guys and everything, And
he never even appeared in either courtroom.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
But he was holding a lot of press conferences.
Speaker 8 (06:49):
Oh, yes, yes he was. He was running for election.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
At this point, the Peterson trial had garnered national attention.
Drew Peterson was eventually convicted of killing his third wife,
Kathleen Savio, and his fourth wife, still missing to this day,
is suspected to have met a similar fate. The case
somewhat overshadowed Vaughn's.
Speaker 11 (07:11):
This trial is expected to last about six weeks, and
interestingly enough, it's being heard right next to the courtroom
where the Drew Peterson murder trial is underway.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Running for reelection, Glasgow was quite vocal about his intention
to secure convictions for both Peterson and Vaughn, and his
opponent at the time accused Glasgow of manipulating the timing
of both trials for political purposes. Here's Gail Vaughan.
Speaker 12 (07:40):
He was trying to be re elected and he actually
used Chris as one of his platforms.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
But that wasn't a new development. Glasgow had been consistent
on Vaughn even before his funeral day arrest a week
after the murders.
Speaker 12 (07:56):
Yeah, their very first news conference already decided he was guilty.
When it was mister Glasgow and a police commissioner and
they were standing up there answering questions for the reporters.
They said, yep, well we'll get it, We'll bring him in.
They didn't even give him a chance.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Here's Bill Clutter's take on whether those press conferences had
a negative impact on Vaughan.
Speaker 6 (08:24):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I have no doubt about it. I mean, he was
already tried and convicted in the media, and you know,
just having to go into will County with all of
that intense publicity. He was already convicted in the court
of public opinion.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Rounding out the hurdles was the police department's apparent tunnel
vision as to Chris's guilt. From the very day of
the murder. There never seemed to have been much doubt
from the state's attorney side of things that Kim was
innocent and Chris premeditated the entire thing, and the media
and press followed along.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
It's typical in many of these cases, and time after
time that I've been involved. You know, it's hard enough
when you're innocent trying to prove your innocence. But it's
even more difficult when you have to overcome the pre
trop publicity that's already made up many of the minds
of jurors when they walk into that courtroom.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
So Chris headed into court with a five year public
perception of guilt and very few supporters. Here's Gail.
Speaker 12 (09:30):
There was nobody in his corner except our two lawyers
and Bill.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
That was it.
Speaker 9 (09:36):
And we come from a small family, so we didn't
have a lot of people to storm the court or anything.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
During the trial, the press made much note of Chris's demeanor.
His flat affect in particular, was pointed out by many
to be indicative of his guilt or lack of remorse.
But there are a number of things that likely played
into this perception. One was that Chris Vaughn had been
in jail for five years before the trial began, and
(10:05):
there was much more to that than the public was aware.
After he was convicted, his parents would gain disturbing insight
into what Chris was going through in the time leading
up to and during his trial.
Speaker 13 (10:19):
Let me run this past you. How about this situation
when you're brought over from the jail house to the
courthouse you're brought over in your jail clothes, but before
you leave the jail you are strip search naked, which
goes back on. Get on the bus, go over to
(10:40):
the courthouse. There you're given the clothes that we brought
him to. Go into court. There again your strip search,
cavity search, your closer search, and then you're allowed to addressed.
In the meantime, you're being physically and verbally abused by the.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Guards during the entire trial.
Speaker 8 (11:00):
Well, yes, and every hearing.
Speaker 13 (11:05):
He didn't give me your.
Speaker 14 (11:06):
Response, I'm speechless.
Speaker 15 (11:10):
Yeah, we were too.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
When did you find out that that was happening?
Speaker 13 (11:15):
He was told and threatened on what to do. We
didn't find this out until he was in Thenard for
a year.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Manard is Illinois's largest maximum security adult male facility. It's
considered the toughest prison in Illinois and where Chris would
be sent after his conviction.
Speaker 16 (11:35):
We finally got him opened up a little bit because
at you didn't have to go through a phone system,
and even though they had cameras on you, we were
able to talk to him a little more personable than
when we had been in Joliette.
Speaker 13 (11:51):
On the phone.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
When I pressed Chris confirmed his treatment at Joliette and
commented it actually prepared him for the reality of man
At Joliette, it would seem many of the people responsible
for overseeing Chris's well being and captivity did everything they
could to make life as unpleasant as possible, particularly during
(12:13):
his trial your scale and.
Speaker 16 (12:15):
While he was in captivity in joliet they had the
night night squad that would come in and intimidate and
shake them down and strip them and make them stand
outside their cells or in their cells.
Speaker 13 (12:30):
And toss theirselves looking for contrabands.
Speaker 16 (12:33):
While you had nothing on with another group of guys.
I mean, Chris was just pummeled from all directions. Psychologically,
he was still trying to understand that his family was
no longer there. He's being really viciously talk to, and
(12:57):
you know, Chris is very sensitive mentally.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
According to Pierre and Gale, that treatment intensified during the
trial and.
Speaker 16 (13:05):
When he was waiting. If there was a break during
court and christ was taken out or he arrived at
the courthouse early, they were putting in a cell that
was unclean.
Speaker 13 (13:17):
It reached.
Speaker 16 (13:20):
And was nothing there, just a chair in the middle
of a small cell room. Period I mean this kind
of had something that duty or psyche just the way
they mean him a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Once the trial began, the prosecution presented the jury with
their version of how the incident occurred. In their series
of events, Christopher Vaughan fatally shot everyone in his family
on a secluded stretch of the Interstate fifty five frontage road.
They alleged Vaughan pulled the family's forward expedition over, got
out under the guise of checking a cargo compartment on
(13:58):
the roof of the suv, then rabbed his wife through
the open passenger window, stuck a pistol wrapped in his
fleece to disguise it under her chin, and shot her
before turning his attention to his three children.
Speaker 10 (14:13):
Prosecutors alleged Christopher Vaughan pulled their suv onto a frontage
road near Shanahan during a family trip, killing them in
shooting himself in the leg, but Vaughn says that his
wife was the one who pulled the gun. She shot
him in the leg, he told investigators before he ran off.
Then he claims she killed their kids and herself.
Speaker 7 (14:35):
Jurors paid close attention as Fitzgerald highlighted again how blood
evidence at the scene of the family's suv did not
support Vaughn's version of events on that morning. In June
of two thousand and seven.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Recall that Vaughn told investigators repeatedly during his initial questioning
that he couldn't remember exactly what happened. Those gaps were
used against him. Highly problematic for Vaughn was the fact
that in the initial interrogation he gave the impression that
he'd left the car before Kimberly shot herself, but her
(15:11):
blood was found on the back right of the fleece
he'd been wearing, and there were other damning things too.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Prosecutor's claim it was Vaughan who pulled the trigger and
staged his own injuries. They say he was hoping to
cash in on a one million dollar life insurance policy
he had on his wife. They also planned to present
evidence that Christopher Vaughan had gone to a gun range
the night before the murders and used the same handgun
for target practice that was used in the killings.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
The prosecution also uncovered more things about Chris that would
prove incredibly damaging to his defense. In October and November
of two thousand and six, the year prior to the murders,
Chris began online correspondence with a man named Steve Willett
on a website discussing outdoorsmanship and wilderness survival techniques. They
(15:58):
had nicknames for each other. It was Flee and Vaughn
was Flint. Chris never mentioned his kids on that site
or during the discussions between the two. What he does discuss, however,
are survival techniques and the prospect of moving to Canada
permanently in the future.
Speaker 11 (16:16):
Prosecutors say Christopher Vaughan killed his family all because he
wanted to start a new life in Canada.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
And according to the police, Vaughan had been stockpiling wilderness gear.
Officers uncovered a storage unit that Vaughn had rented that
was full of camping equipment, sleeping bags, boots, and camp tools,
in addition to a jar of peanut butter and a
bottle of Jameson whiskey. The prosecution was putting together a
(16:43):
picture of a man who had kept tons of secrets
and was potentially planning to fake his own death and
run away from his family. We will come back to
all of this later, but according to Erica Wurst, who
covered the trial as a local reporter. It wasn't a
flattering picture, especially in contrast to the pictures of his
deceased wife and kids.
Speaker 17 (17:05):
I mean, not only were the children adorable, Kim had,
you know, a lot of friends, was going to school,
worked in the poolhouse.
Speaker 16 (17:12):
Chris, as quiet as he was, still was.
Speaker 15 (17:15):
Providing for his family. I mean, everyone.
Speaker 17 (17:19):
Seemed to say he was a nice guy, just very demure.
Then you find out, like all the lies in this
like alter life that Chris had been having underneath.
Speaker 15 (17:33):
Everyone's nose, finding that out, seeing all.
Speaker 17 (17:36):
The camping equipment, talking to his online buddy, and planning everything.
When that came out, boom, that was like another shock,
a huge shock.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
The prosecute intended to make mention of Chris's religious beliefs,
which he admitted lean towards Druidism, a modern spiritual movement
based on Celtic rooted mysticism that celebrates nature.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Attorneys fort Christopher Vaughan are asking me a judge, to
bar any mention of his religious beliefs in his upcoming
murder trial. They feel drawers will speculate on whether it's
a religion or a cult. Prosecutor said they won't discuss
Vaughn's religious beliefs, but may present drawers with postings Vaughan
made online on a mailing list.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Police had confiscated books on Druidism from von to home.
Speaker 11 (18:34):
He later told police during a videotaped interview that his
wife was upset with him over his religious beliefs, Druidism,
and his recent admission of an afair he had during
a business trip to Mexico a year earlier.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Here again is Erica Wurst for me.
Speaker 15 (18:51):
One of the big eye opening things was when they
brought up the gentlemen from Canada I believe, who Chris
had been corresponding with about their great walk into the wild.
There's a whole mission here, there's a whole goal here,
and not one of those planned missions or goals entail
(19:13):
your family or your child. He was lying to people
about being married, he was lying to people about having child.
That was a big one hearing this guy talk about
how he had no idea.
Speaker 17 (19:23):
That Chris had a family and he thought that they
were going to go do this.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Steve Willett testified at the trial, and the defense walked
through all the various messages between him and Vaughn. Here's
Bill again, I've.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Read the emails years ago between him and Chris.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
So this is the guy Chris found on a wilderness
website and he was kind of like an email pen pal,
exactly right.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
But I mean, the thing about this is they used
his testimony to try to establish the narrative that Chris
wanted to get rid of his family by killing them
so he can go hiking off into the wilderness with
his friend that he met online. His testimony was presented
and they walked him through the various email communications. Was
(20:15):
used to paint Chris in this awfully bad light, you know,
just the grind of He got a guy that looks
like he's living the American dream. He's got this big
house in Oswego, Illinois, in the suburbs of Chicago. He's
got a job and it's a successful career. He's making
two hundred thousand a year. But yet he wants to
(20:37):
escape into the wilderness and get off the grid and
leave civilization and the grind of it all. But I'm
convinced that it wasn't Chris's intent to kill his family
to accomplish that. He could have gone off into the
woods and disappeared and never returned without having to kill
his family.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
But then there were the strippers. Chris had spent almost
four thousand dollars and the weeks prior to the murder
in strip clubs.
Speaker 11 (21:03):
As many as four exotic dancers are expected to testify
that Vaughn frequented strip clubs in Chicago and the suburbs.
Months before the murders. He told one of the strippers
he was single, and even made bizarre statements about ancient souls.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Chris Vaughn wasn't exactly coming across as a sympathetic defendant.
Here's journalist Jojosey, editor of the Herald News.
Speaker 18 (21:28):
I don't think anybody really bought into his version of events.
And then anything started to come out, with his online
relationship with the guy in the Yukon and faking his
dad so he get away from his family and they
will get the life insurance or whatever it was, the
strip clubs and dropping several thousand dollars in a couple
weeks on one of the women.
Speaker 11 (21:48):
Prosecutors will also show the jury a cryptic poem allegedly
found in Vaughn's jail cell that made references to a
dancer named Maya that Vaughn had met at the Chicago
strip Club.
Speaker 18 (21:59):
I'm not mistaken the poems. What were they written in
Celtic or something. I mean, that's a unique detail and
it's strange. But when you're in jail for murdering your
family and you're writing poems about a stripper and running,
that's probably not a great optic. So, I mean, the
stuff that was coming out, it didn't look good.
Speaker 14 (22:22):
Here again is Erica worst When the poem that was
written to Maya was read out loud, that was a
little disturbing because it showed.
Speaker 15 (22:33):
This illusionment of love and less knowing that like his
wife's anniversary was like Inja and that was just kind
of that betrayal there that she wasn't even aware of
what's happening.
Speaker 17 (22:46):
So that kind of stufted thousands of dollars he spent
on these girls. Granted he didn't get dances from them
or have sex with them, but I think just going
there and I don't know, sort of like a retrieve
for him, get away from his house's going on, all
the scouting trips that he lied about. I don't know,
tell me what of that is an evidence.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
At this point, one might ask why Chris would have
gone through all of this trouble when if his marriage
was supposedly so bad, he could have just gotten divorced.
During Chris's interrogation, the police asked the same question, and
then Chris gave the response that would do him zero
favors in the courtroom. Divorce is not an option. We'll
(23:28):
come back to that. And then there was the murder itself.
The prosecution established what they believed to be Chris's motive
based on his emails with Willett and his behavior and
infatuation with the strippers he was visiting, while at the
same time Painting came out to be the kind of
mother who could not have possibly committed the crime. And
then there was the prosecution's presentation of the crime scene
(23:52):
and its emotional impact on the trial. Here's Gail.
Speaker 16 (23:57):
They had a large projected screen.
Speaker 9 (24:01):
It had to been by foot by.
Speaker 16 (24:05):
Seven foot.
Speaker 19 (24:06):
I mean it was a huge showing screen, and they
had pictures bigger than life.
Speaker 7 (24:12):
On this end.
Speaker 8 (24:13):
They were awful.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
During the display of these photos, the jury focused on Chris,
his demeanor, the look on his face.
Speaker 5 (24:23):
When the prosecutors put up a seventy two inch big
screen and showed all the pictures of the truck, the
crime scene, the bodies, every little thing that was involved
in it.
Speaker 8 (24:36):
You know, they called it evidence.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
They showed them all the parts of the crime scene,
but they didn't put it all together to make it
a crime. And you know, they had this big elaborate thing.
They had three or four lawyers on their side. And
when our guy got up there to the public defender
got up there, he brought up a laptop and set
a laptop and a table, you know, with a little
(24:59):
to each screen in front of a jury of eighteen
people and expected them to be able to see what
he was talking about.
Speaker 9 (25:08):
The prosecutors put up a big shock and awe performance.
Speaker 20 (25:13):
They showed pictures of the children lying dead in the seats,
They showed pictures of Kimberly. They just showed pictures to
make you feel really shocked.
Speaker 14 (25:27):
I mean, it was, it was terrible.
Speaker 9 (25:29):
And the whole time the screen was just for the jurors,
so the people on.
Speaker 14 (25:34):
The defense did not see what they were seeing, but
the jury could also see Cress.
Speaker 16 (25:41):
The jury was scaring at Chris the whole time, and
our our defensive attorney, mister Lenard, had talked to Chris
about this before, and Chris had told him, please, I
don't want to see those pictures. So when they thought
Chris was looking at it on a on these little
laptop screen, there was nothing there. We were not seeing
(26:03):
the pictures that the jury was, and they based a
lot of Chris's emotion on, Wow, he's looking at those
and he's looking at a fingernail, or he's staring at
the ceiling, or he's looking down at a pencil. And
mister Leonard had told Chris not to make comments about anything.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
So while the jury believed Chris's lack of reaction was
to the pictures of his dead children, he was in
fact seeing nothing and he was doing exactly as he
was instructed by his lawyer. But what the rest of
the court was seeing was horrifying. Here's Erica worst.
Speaker 14 (26:46):
They were horrible.
Speaker 21 (26:47):
They were horrible.
Speaker 22 (26:49):
You have little babies with you know, bullet wounds that
were zooming up on and seeing and Kim with her
hand like slouched like owned by the Center Council kind of.
Speaker 21 (27:02):
And she's got her wedding ring on.
Speaker 22 (27:04):
That's one that's like seered into my head just because
you know, it's so sad there's a wedding ring, there's blood.
It's just something hard to look at, you know, even
to see the kids clothing and Kim's clothing. Every part
of it just shouldn't have happened. Then when you see
that it actually did and it's real, you know, it
takes it to another level. Blake, Casandra and Abigail, we've
(27:29):
seen them alive and smiling in pictures. Oh, I seriously
want to pray right now. You see them the way
they ended up, and someone did that to them, and
if you're a human being, you can't wrap your head around.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
So Blake was behind Kimberley, Cassandra was in the center,
and Abigail was behind the driver's seat.
Speaker 7 (27:52):
Uh huh.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
And was was Abigail holding a Harry Potter book?
Speaker 21 (27:59):
You know, there was repower book.
Speaker 15 (28:00):
They had a little.
Speaker 22 (28:04):
Mickey mouse tissue thing. Pretty sure there was like a
Charlotte's web in there somewhere. They had blankets. They got
up at four in the morning, you know how they
were just probably groggy and still asleep. And you know,
you find Blake with his hands up and a defensive motion.
Speaker 21 (28:26):
That's another thing, is that just makes me lose my breath.
Is like he's looking at either one of.
Speaker 22 (28:31):
His parents holding.
Speaker 21 (28:36):
A gun to him.
Speaker 22 (28:37):
And then the other two girls are watching what happened
to the next one. And I always think about that
they're stuck in that back car and they're watching their
siblings get killed one after another, knowing their next and.
Speaker 21 (28:53):
The fear and the terror.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Remember the emotion, and even the recollection of those photos
will come back to it later.
Speaker 15 (29:03):
And then to see Kim in the front seat, in
her seatbelt of courses of and you see where the
gun is, but she's leading. That's hard to see. And
then you see Chris with a womb to.
Speaker 16 (29:18):
His sky and they risked.
Speaker 15 (29:22):
So yeah, there's no comparison. There's no comparison. Don't five people,
one in the car, one left.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
The prosecution also pointed out that Chris's behavior after the
shootings did not line up with someone whose family had
just been killed. The medics who attended to Christopher, Bond
and the ambulance were called to testify. They said Christopher
never made inquiries about Kim or Abigail, or Cassandra or Blake,
but one medic recalled Chris Vaughn expressed concern about his
(30:07):
cowboy boots.
Speaker 23 (30:08):
Now, while in the emergency room after the shootings, he
reportedly was upset about blood on his cowboy boots. Taken
all together, certainly this is evidence that seems difficult to overcome.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Chris had sustained non life threatening gunshot wounds, which the
prosecution contended could easily have been self inflicted. To help
his case, here's Erica worst again.
Speaker 15 (30:32):
In the ambulance. He is yelling at them about cutting
off his boots and not ruining his jacket because he
got it in the Yukon and.
Speaker 16 (30:45):
It's just so narcissistic.
Speaker 15 (30:46):
I was like, Holy, how is that your main concern
right now?
Speaker 14 (30:49):
Is that your main concern?
Speaker 15 (30:51):
And they're like, maybe he doesn't know his family and
kids are killed down the road, Like I wouldn't have
blessed my family and kids killed down the road. I
don't know, that's the thing. It could have dreams about
it every day.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
The defense did not have experts who could counter that
perception in terms of Chris's psychological or dissociative state.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Here's Pierre Well, at that time, Chris didn't know his
family was dead. All Chris knew was that his wife
shot him.
Speaker 8 (31:24):
And his blood was on his boots.
Speaker 5 (31:27):
And when he got into the ambulance, rather than pull
his boot off, they were going to cut the boot off,
and at all he did was ask them not to
cut the boot off, just take the boot off. And
somehow this guy all construed around that he didn't care
for his family.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
The defense made the case Kim had been experiencing erratic
behavior leading up to the incident, and again tried to
argue the culprit for her rapid swing in behavior could
have been one of the medications she was prescribed for
her migraines, Topomax, which was flagged by the FDA after
the killings. Here's Gail.
Speaker 19 (32:07):
Nearly two years passed before the FDA issued new warning
labels and medication guides for Topamax. The warning labels inserted
into the medications advised patients to immediately call their health
provider if they were experiencing new or worse anxiety, feeling
agitated or restless, having panic attacks, new or worse irritability,
(32:32):
and unusual changes in moods or behavior. This was documented
from one of her doctors after one of her visits.
She had called Chris because she was experiencing a behavioral problem.
She was experiencing mood swings. She did have panic attacks,
(32:55):
but because the drugs weren't studied enough at that point
in time, they didn't know these were danger signs.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Was that discussed in the case in court.
Speaker 9 (33:10):
Not really, It was kind of skirted around.
Speaker 19 (33:14):
We had a specialist, doctor Healey, who was supposed to
talk about this, but the judge disallowed him because he
said doctor Healey would only be giving his opinion, not facts.
This entire investigation was a tunnel vision and it infected
(33:36):
the entire group, and they only saw Chris as the villain.
They didn't seek Kim as a person that was asking
for help.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
The testimony of other possible expert witnesses for the defense,
like doctor Terry Kellyan, who diagnosed Vaughan with dissociative amnesia,
was also dismissed as opinion. And then there were other
issues that play. Chris's sister in law, Rachel, was called
to testify about a phone call she'd received from Kimberly
Vaughn shortly before the killings. Here's her take on the
(34:09):
team defending Chris.
Speaker 4 (34:11):
All I can say is I know they were not
very organized with me. I remember the lawyer called me
once before the trial started, and he said that will
probably call you to talk about your phone call. The
trial's coming, but I don't know if I'm going to
(34:34):
be called or when. So I finally called him and
I said, am I supposed to be coming? Because I
have to make plans. I have three children at that
point and no family in town, so I need to
know what's going on. And he finally said, well, we're
pretty sure we'll on this day. So I had like
(34:56):
a couple of days to get to Juliet, and I
had I mean, I knew they wanted to talk to
me about the phone call. I didn't know what that meant,
never having stepped foot into a real courtroom before.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
In cases of this level, witnesses are usually walked through
their testimony and prepared for possible cross examination. Rachel took
the stand without the time to even revisit a statement
she'd given five years before, one in which Kim confided
about two emotional outbursts she'd had in recent months, one
with Chris's parents, the other involving an issue with one
(35:30):
of the children's schools.
Speaker 4 (35:32):
I remember talking to Bill Clutter and him saying, I'm
going to write down what you are saying, and I said, okay. Well,
five years later, I'm sitting outside a courtroom and they
hand me a piece of paper and say, this was
your statement. At that moment, I didn't remember giving a statement.
I had never seen it. I had no idea, and
(35:53):
so I cannot remember if the incident at school, because
she just said something happened. I was with either a
teacher or a principle or something. It was my impression
she overreacted, so I don't know if that was in
the statement.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Apparently the defense had wanted Rachel to also testify about
a comment Kim made on that call about her doctor,
but in the end it wasn't allowed.
Speaker 4 (36:19):
I only know this because I could hear them talking
to the judge. But they were trying to get me
to be able to say what Kim said about her
doctor and what her dad thought about her doctor and
that kind of stuff. But then they were, you know, hearsay,
and it was too many layers in the chain there,
(36:40):
and so they didn't allow them to ask that question.
I told my husband that when I was done testifying
and I walked out of the room, my very first
thought was he's going to be convicted. It was in
the air. You knew it when you were in there.
I knew it when I was there.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
The prosecution made their closing arguments and the jury came
back with the decision in fifty minutes. Here's Pierre.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
But they came into the court room at nine o'clock
and for some reason, the prosecution was running along and
they asked the jurors if they wanted to take a
break for lunch, and they said no, they wanted to
get the thing done and over with because it was
a Friday, six weeks everybody was tired of it. And
(37:28):
then we listened to the prosecution's closing statement that lasted
three hours and went through all the evidence, but never
never tied the evidence to the actual crime. He just,
you know, just a lot of accusations in any windows.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Here's Erica Wurst's take.
Speaker 22 (37:50):
I was surprised at how fast it came in. That's
going to be one of the fastest I've been in.
I don't even think they got to lunch time yet
before it was thrown back, you know. And if it
did take any longer than that, it was because they
were sitting in their back having loans.
Speaker 21 (38:05):
But you know, it was a swift verdict, and that
was the shocking part to me. But it just meant
that they had their minds made up and that there
wasn't a whole lot of tits for ted or questions
coming back or anything. So they seemed pretty confident in
their verdict.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
The reaction in the courtroom was about what one would expect.
Here's Jojosey.
Speaker 18 (38:31):
Was anybody surprised with the verdict?
Speaker 5 (38:32):
I don't.
Speaker 18 (38:32):
I don't think anyone was surprised at all by the verdict.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
And the emotion Erica worst remembers came from the Phillips side.
Speaker 21 (38:40):
It was crying on Kim's side.
Speaker 22 (38:43):
Chris got up and I just, you know, read my
notes the other day and it was like he got
up and he didn't even look back at his.
Speaker 21 (38:53):
Family while he was being taken away. And I just
remember thinking that was that because he felt bad and
he didn't want to look.
Speaker 9 (39:03):
At your mom?
Speaker 21 (39:04):
Is that because it was too hard to look at
your mom? Is that why didn't he look back? So
that that was weird. It's always a Chris cross of
jubilation and utter heart breaks. But Kim did have a
lot more people on that wanted justice served.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Christopher Vaughan was found guilty on four counts of first
degree murder of his wife and three children, and sentenced
to four life sentences. A decision Erica Worst, who covered
the entire trial, agreed with when we first started speaking
about the case.
Speaker 16 (39:43):
I believe with.
Speaker 15 (39:48):
Ninety eight point nine percent, Shorty.
Speaker 17 (39:51):
That Crusher Vaughn chilled his wife the early and freak.
Speaker 15 (39:59):
I don't know so that you can show me anything
outside of a confession that would prove otherwise. I mean,
lots of convicts maintain or innocence. It's not unheard of.
I'm not surprised that he's maintaining his innocince. I don't
think I'll ever admit to killing his children in his life.
It was Kim then guess why she can't tell us now?
(40:21):
So yeah, I think he did it, And I think
that I'm educated enough on the topic and steps through
and looks every bit of a piece of evidence to
form an educated conclusion.
Speaker 13 (40:32):
Are there a couple of.
Speaker 15 (40:32):
Things maybe you guys can find out or stick in
or poking? Sure, no trial is invalluable.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Here is the Will County State's attorney James Glasgow, at
a press conference after the verdict.
Speaker 24 (40:45):
What this guy did here was a diabolical atrocity, and
he's a heartless, soulless psychopath. That's the bottom line. That's
what he is, without any compassion, without any empathy for
other human beings. There isn't a punishment that fits this crime.
You could lock them up for five hundred lifetimes and
(41:05):
it would not compensate the victims in this case or
the family members.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Fourteen years after the tragedy and nearly a decade after
that statement, Bill Clutter remains deeply frustrated by the verdict.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
We had experts that were prepared. We had the world's
leading expert on medications causing homicidal and smicidal behavior, and
that expert never testified. The jury never heard from that expert.
We had two experts working on that issue. We had
an expert in psychology working on dissociative amnesia to explain
(41:40):
that to the jury. That wasn't done.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Clutter believes it could have made a difference.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
The defense presented its theory of defense that this was
a murder suicide. Obviously it was ineffective, but how so
what else could have maybe turned their decision? Maybe hearing
from key experts had never heard from.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Here's attorney Keith Altman, who would have been one of
those experts.
Speaker 10 (42:06):
That the available evidence was not presented to a jury
and for them to have made a decision based.
Speaker 16 (42:13):
Upon the evidence, that's what superior.
Speaker 24 (42:17):
If the evidence was given to a jury properly and
they decided to convict him anyway, then at least he
had his day in court.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
So that's not what happened, and that's just it. There
was evidence given by the prosecution with regards to the
crime scene that simply didn't and still does not align
with expert opinion, and based on new revelations, not all
the circumstantial evidence holds up to scrutiny. If all the
(42:46):
evidence were presented fully, what would it have shown?
Speaker 25 (42:56):
Money of black Oh, the same shape and side.
Speaker 26 (43:10):
The nice indeed them.
Speaker 21 (43:15):
The sense of vision.
Speaker 6 (43:21):
He going Garrio, She.
Speaker 26 (43:27):
Just changed Nzo roads.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
On the next episode of Murder in Illinois, will carefully
re examine the issues that remain regarding the crime scene.
Speaker 16 (43:48):
She would have protected her kids like she was a
mama bear.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
And explain inconsistencies and key elements of the prosecution's version
of events.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
I didn't see any good psychiatric analyzes in.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
These and scrutinize the way evidence was handled and.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
That's completely contrary to the initial belief of the state's attorney.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
To see if combined these things could have raised reasonable doubt.
Murdered Illinois is a production of iHeartRadio. Executive producers are
Lauren bred Pacheco and Taylor Chackoyine written by Lauren bred
Pacheco and Matthew Riddle, story editing by Matthew Riddle, editing
and sound designed by Evan Tyre and Taylor Chackoine, featuring
(44:30):
music by Cicada Rhythm and new compositions engineered and mixed
by Van Tyre and Taylor Chackoine. Archived news reports provided
by wgnly. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, check out the
(44:51):
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get the stories
that matter to you.
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