From what I have read. His confession / reenactment was pretty detailed.I am on the fence but isn't it strong evidence against him that he re-enacted the murders?
From what I have read. His confession / reenactment was pretty detailed.I am on the fence but isn't it strong evidence against him that he re-enacted the murders?
When researching any historical event, and in particular the trial and conviction of Chester Weger, it is always best to review primary documents and accounts.From what I have read. His confession / reenactment was pretty detailed.
60 years ago...
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The three women from the Chicago suburbs, Mildred Lindquist, Lillian Oetting and Frances Murphy, who hiked to their fate in Starved Rock’s St. Louis Canyon.
Chester Rocky Weger was convicted of killing Mildred Lindquist, age 50, one of three women found dead in the park. He was never tried for the deaths of Lillian Oetting, 50, or Frances Murphy, 47. All were killed on 3 March 1960.
Weger was sentenced to life in prison and began his sentence in Menard State Prison.
Weger always claimed that he was innocent of the killings.
In November 1964, a 27 year old prisoner in Texas, John M. Peters claimed that he had killed the three Chicago women. He also claimed to have beaten a woman to death in Marshall, Texas in 1955, and claimed to have shot a man to death in El Capitan, New Mexico.
LINK:
THE STARVED ROCK MURDERS — American Hauntings
There are too many cases like this: even today- a rush to judgement and innocent people are put in prison- sometimes just based on only eye witness testimony, which is notoriously wrong in many cases.After reading the facts of this case and the discovery of new DNA evidence exonerating Weger, I unquestioningly believe he was innocent and the victim of a rush to judgment caused by public pressure on law enforcement and the need to solve the case.
After reading the facts of this case and the discovery of new DNA evidence exonerating Weger, I unquestioningly believe he was innocent and the victim of a rush to judgment caused by public pressure on law enforcement and the need to solve the case.
It's much more than the hair, Betty.I didn't see it as exonerating him. They tested a hair found on one of the victims' glove and it wasn't him. People pick up hairs on their clothing, especially outerwear, for any number of reasons. It would have been great if they could retrieve more evidence for DNA testing, particularly blood or similar.
I disagree.After reading the facts of this case and the discovery of new DNA evidence exonerating Weger, I unquestioningly believe he was innocent and the victim of a rush to judgment caused by public pressure on law enforcement and the need to solve the case.
Polygraph's are inadmissible in court due to the subjective nature of interpretation.I disagree.
--Wegner failed multiple polygraph tests.
--Wegner’s coat was stained with human blood.
--Wegner confessed multiple times to murdering the women.
--The twine that bound the women was taken from the kitchen at the Starved Rock State Park Lodge, where Wegner worked as a dishwasher.
--Wegner was identified by a teenage girl he had raped in 1959 near the Starved Rock State Park. The girl and her boyfriend were bound with the same twine as were the murdered women.
--The DNA evidence that "exonerated" Wegner did no such thing. It consisted of a male human hair found on the glove of one of the murdered women. It wasn't Wegner's but there is no certainty that it came from the murderer. It could have come from a bellhop at the lodge for example, or nearly anyone.
Wegner did it, IMO.
I believe the police rely too much on polygraph testing. We all know sociopaths pass those every day and innocent people fail them every day-- They aren't admissible in a court of law for a reason: they are unreliable. They can be used as a tool to gauge a the veracity of a suspect's statement- sometimes just taking the test causes such anxiety a suspect will confess to the crime.Polygraph's are inadmissible in court due to the subjective nature of interpretation.
And he passed several, before interacting with a polygraph test from the John Reid group.
While the twine may have come from the kitchen, it cannot be linked to Weger, there are no fingerprints and no one saw him with it.
As for the blood on his coat, testing at that time was limited to determining whether the blood was human or animal. Hardly, damning evidence.
Weger denied multiple times murdering the women. It was only after he was interrogated for 24 hours straight, threatened with the electric chair, and harassed around the clock by police, he confessed...which he immediately recanted.
I have never heard of the alleged rape you are referring to and would like to see a link to that story.
Weger was charged with a sex crime at 12 years old for allegedly inserting a cloth into the vagina of a young girl.
As for the hair, there is no logical reason it should have been there after the woman underwent such a traumatic event unless it fell from the head of the killer or accomplice.
If you really want to delve into this case, I am for it.Polygraph's are inadmissible in court due to the subjective nature of interpretation.
And he passed several, before interacting with a polygraph test from the John Reid group.
While the twine may have come from the kitchen, it cannot be linked to Weger, there are no fingerprints and no one saw him with it.
As for the blood on his coat, testing at that time was limited to determining whether the blood was human or animal. Hardly, damning evidence.
Weger denied multiple times murdering the women. It was only after he was interrogated for 24 hours straight, threatened with the electric chair, and harassed around the clock by police, he confessed...which he immediately recanted.
I have never heard of the alleged rape you are referring to and would like to see a link to that story.
Weger was charged with a sex crime at 12 years old for allegedly inserting a cloth into the vagina of a young girl.
As for the hair, there is no logical reason it should have been there after the woman underwent such a traumatic event unless it fell from the head of the killer or accomplice.
Another podcast from Hale details the motives for murder.Some interesting things I learned from reading information provided by Andrew Hale, Weger's attorney.
Hale received information from someone who stated that one of the husbands may have wanted his wife eliminated, so he could marry his girlfriend.
Rather than go into full detail here, I will give the cliff-notes version.
The most logical victim in this scenario is Frances Murphy. She and Robert Murphy were married in 1937 and had four children.
According to Hale, it appears that whoever killed Murphy, defecated and urinated on her.
Plus there was physical damage to the groin area, as if someone kicked her.
The killer also cut off the tip of one of her fingers.
The information Hale received is that a young woman named Marion Anderson, possibly Murphy's secretary, gave birth out of wedlock to a boy, a few weeks before the murders. She was 39 at the time and Murphy was 51.
Murphy married Anderson less than two years after the murders and adopted her son, giving him his last name. Thomas Murphy is buried beside his new wife, several miles away from the Geneseo cemetery, where his wife of 29 years is buried by herself.
It is detailed here.
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EP 8: The Tip (the Smokey Wrona story)
It’s an unfortunate reality that cold cases generally only grow colder with time. Evidence is lost. Memories fade. Witnesses die. Collective interest wanes. Andpodcasts.apple.com
As for the hair, there is no logical reason it should have been there after the woman underwent such a traumatic event unless it fell from the head of the killer or accomplice.