IL IL - Valerie Percy, 21, Kenilworth, 18 September 1966

[human]

He is disgusting for sure, but his crimes seem very personal. Parents, brother, wife, hit man.

Did he know Valerie at all?

 

[Betty P]

He is disgusting for sure, but his crimes seem very personal. Parents, brother, wife, hit man.

Did he know Valerie at all?

I haven't read the book yet, but it seems likely they were at least casually acquainted. His family lived about a block away from the Percy home for many years. Parents of both families were CEO's of major corporations headquartered in Chicago. They probably traveled in the same social circles, country clubs, etc.

Both William and his brother, Richard, were wild. William had been arrested for assaulting their neighbor and their father had accused Richard of burglary just prior to his own death/suicide in 1965. Both sons seemed very spoiled, thrill seekers, party boys who liked to act out and engage in dangerous stunts. William was also drinking and doing a lot of drugs, including LSD (it was found in his system when his wife killed him in 1970. He had mental illness (bi-polar, perhaps?) that was rapidly escalating in severity during his late 20's, probably due in part to his drug use. I can definitely see one or both of them engaging in voyeurism, breaking and entering, etc. in their own neighborhood just for the thrill of it.

Valerie's death occurred a little over a year after the death of William's brother, Richard in 1965. It would have been right after the time when he alleges the hit man showed up in San Francisco and threatened him. He says he killed the man there and disposed of his body. He may have returned to Kenilworth from SF afterwards to see if the hit man had talked to his parents or others back home. His wife alleged he abused her sexually, so its not much of a stretch to see him attacking Valerie just down the street. He may have stalked her or her sister in previous years, peeping in windows, etc.

Reading the testimony at his wife's trial was chilling. He was one crazy, violent man who was seldom held accountable for his actions. A real loose cannon.

 

[Luckymanuh]

I am reading the Wells book now. No to impressed. Seems like most of the information came from the news outlets and newspapers. I am half way through and nothing new jumps out at me. I have read everything I can get my hands on about this case! I am still holding out that in the 2nd half there some new information.

I still will believe the break in the night before at the doctors house that was stopped with the doctor getting up and Valerie's murder were done by the same perp.

 

[Winward1]

He is disgusting for sure, but his crimes seem very personal. Parents, brother, wife, hit man.

Did he know Valerie at all?

There's no indication that, if he did it, he even knew the house was Percy's house. If he did it, then he also broke into Pirrucello's house the morning prior. According to the wife, and police records, he was just violent and crazed, especially, according to her, after he had his brother killed.

Very true of him not being accountable. And it's easy to see how the local cops would dismiss many of his actions as domestic.

Either way, his brother was killed with a gun his wife purchased for the brother a few days prior, and under mysterious circumstances. At least one, and likely two men associated with him vanished from the face of the earth and his former neighbor, in a neighborhood he had returned to many times after moving away, ended up bludgeoned and stabbed to death.

And then of course, in the spring of the year Valerie was killed, he attempted to murder three people, including his parents, at their home around the corner from Percy's, only none of the three, nor the cops, knew he had killing them in mind. The plan unwound before it got that far.

 

[Winward1]

I am reading the Wells book now. No to impressed. Seems like most of the information came from the news outlets and newspapers.

Actually, that's not accurate. Until now, there has not been one word about Thoresen possibly being linked to the Percy case.

So... you have a new suspect. Valerie was killed with a bayonet. A very unusual weapon and the first murder in a village's 75 year history (and there's only been one other murder there since.)

Six months after the murder, this guy, who grew up a block away from her and had an ultra violent past and is considered a nut by the cops is caught with tons of military weaponry, including bayonets.

And the cops have letters from his brother asking him why he keeps going back to Kenilworth and causing trouble. And the book reveals he had been investigated for one of the worst dismemberment killings in Chicago history, also unsolved.

None of this has been revealed before despite the massive amount of coverage the Percy case received.

 

[Winward1]

FYI, the book has been revised slightly. So there's a new link:

Amazon.com: Sympathy Vote: a Reinvestigation of the Valerie Percy Murder eBook: Glenn Wall: Kindle Store

 

[Winward1]

As revealed in the new book, a violent, disturbed and previously unnamed suspect in the Percy murder lived a stone’s throw away from the corner of Melrose Avenue and Roslyn Road in Kenilworth.

As seen on this map (click thumbnail for larger version), that location falls almost directly between Chuck Percy’s former property and the location of a house on Ridge Road in unincorporated Winnetka, where a home invasion occurred 24 hours prior to the murder. Police believe both crimes were committed by the same person. No motor vehicle was linked to either incident.

 

[Winward1]

I have it on good authority that the print version of Sympathy Vote (a Reinvestigation of the Valerie Percy Murder) will be available at Amazon dot com in 5-7 business days. (Posting this 12/7.)

 

[Winward1]

Now it's out in print: Sympathy Vote: a Reinvestigation of the Valerie Percy Murder: Glenn W Wall: 9780989971522: Amazon.com: Books

 

[STANDREID]

From that title, is the author suggesting that Percy wouldn't have won had his daughter not been murdered? I don't agree. He was up against Paul Douglas who'd done virtually nothing to distinguish himself after 18 years in office even though he was in the majority party. His big cause was saving the Indiana Dunes which aren't even in the state he was supposed to be representing.

 

[Winward1]

That's discussed in the book, Standreid. Several people who were working on the campaign at the time share their memories. Seems like Percy was running a competitive campaign. One recalls a poll that put Percy in the lead before the murder, and Douglass' age is explained (he was early 70s, IIRC.) The title seems not so literal, just something related to the story that has elements of the murder (sadness) and politics (vote.)

 

[STANDREID]

The biggest puzzler to me is why didn't anyone hear anything until the attack was over? It was a large house but the rooms don't really look that far apart in the diagrams. I can't imagine Valerie not screaming either.

 

[Winward1]

I think anyone who's truly interested in this case would find the book interesting. There are observations, opinions and info off of police records, verbatim, from some of the first people on the scene, detectives that worked the case, neighbors who knew the family and area, a lot of stuff that's never before been disclosed, including about the likely suspect that did it. Some of it likely would answer people's questions about such an unusual murder.

For instance, Percy's wife woke up. She was the only person in the house that didn't share his DNA. So he and his kids may have been heavy sleepers whereas she wasn't.

In college I had a roommate who said I slept through all kinds of things, like him setting off firecrackers outside of our door, "breaking in" when he'd lost his keys, etc. Some people are just heavy sleepers and others either aren't, or one might just happen to have been awake at a certain time on a certain day. It's not that unusual actually.

 

[Winward1]

A review of the recent book on about this case:

http://neologisticsediting.com/2013/12/sympathy-vote-a-review/

 

[Dreamnine]

Well I bought the book today - had to set up an Amazon account and install the Kindle app on my tablet, but I'm really looking forward to it based on what I've heard here and elsewhere.

 

[Dreamnine]

I thoroughly enjoyed the book - well written and researched.

I believe the author is definitely on to something with WT as suspect. Presently I think its about 75% likely WT, 5-10 % Malchow and 15% someone else altogether. I tend not to believe this was a burglary, though, more of a thrill killing.

What's occurred to me - and mentioned much earlier in this thread - is that the killer may have been spurned by either Valerie or Sharon (or thought he was) and killed as revenge, quite possibly mistaking one for the other.

 

[JoeFromLB]

I don't know if this has been discussed, but, according to the story linked below, Valerie had dinner that evening at home with two young men who worked on the campaign, Tully Friedman and Timothy W. Drescher. This article says they left "early", but there are other stories that have them leaving at around 10 PM. There are also articles on the web that mention another dinner guest, James Mann.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...cwwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-QUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5142,5214097


edit: Okay, I've searched a little more and have seen that topic mentioned here, but not the name of Timothy W. Drescher.

 

[Winward1]

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=9402379

 

[Winward1]

I don't know if this has been discussed, but, according to the story linked below, Valerie had dinner that evening at home with two young men who worked on the campaign, Tully Friedman and Timothy W. Drescher. This article says they left "early", but there are other stories that have them leaving at around 10 PM. There are also articles on the web that mention another dinner guest, James Mann.

edit: Okay, I've searched a little more and have seen that topic mentioned here, but not the name of Timothy W. Drescher.

One of the people mentioned as being there wasn't there. That was just inaccurate reporting. That may be noted in the book.

 

[Luckymanuh]

For all of you local in Chicago.....Channel 7 News at 10pm tonight....I-Team is doing a special report on Valerie Percy's murder. From the preview I saw they know who did it. This will be interesting!! Be sure to watch or record! I will post later for those not local who they say it is.