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

[pleasestandby]

Yeah, the family's account still doesn't sit right. IMO, the killer turned out to be someone they knew, a neighbor or campaign worker, etc. Rather than go through the process of an arrest and trial in the midst of his senate campaign, or to avoid a media circus for their town, themselves and another influential family, they chose to cover it up and live with the sorrow.

Has there ever been any definitive proof that a call was made from their house to some gangsters? I'm still giving more than 50/50 odds that line of investigation was a red herring.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?12874-IL-Valerie-Percy-21-Kenilworth-18-September-1966&p=12429573#post12429573

Police Study Call
From Percy Home
CHICAGO (U PI) - Illinois
State police said Wednesday a
toll call was made from the
suburban estate of Sen. Charles
H. Percy, R-Ill., to a Chicago
meat market owned by reputed
crime syndicate figure Leo
Rugendorf about 4 and a half
months before Percy’s daughter
Valerie, was slain in the home
on Sept. 18, 1966.
Lt. Gerald Schilling of the
state police said investigators
knew of the call several months
after the slaying, but could not
“ finalize” the lead to the Rugendorf
market, a reported front
for a nationwide jewel - theft
ring.
He said investigators did not]

Mount Carmel Daily Republican Register December 28, 1973

 

[Winward1]

The idea that it was a campaign worker or someone connected to the family but was not followed through or covered up because of her father's political aspirations or wealth or power is a weak theory for two reasons: 1, it ignores the three other crimes linked to this case (it's cherry picking only this crime, e.g. why would the campaign worker, spurned lover, etc. been trying to burglarize and commit home invasions at other area residences?) and 2, there were a ton of investigators involved from the get go, which means for some sort of bending of the law to have taken place a really large conspiracy of people involved in politics and law enforcement would have been required. What was their motive? Were they all Republicans and Percy supporters? (seems unlikely with many Chicago cops.)

Leo R. seems really, at the end of his life, to have been out to get Hohimer or one of those other guys, maybe that and try to grab one last bit or publicity or notoriety while a dying old crook.

 

[Winward1]

As far as Mrs. Percy being able to hear Val moaning, keep in mind there are details the cops don't disclose. Included are elements of the layout of the house. This case was no exception.

 

[Winward1]

http://www.saukvalley.com/2016/09/16/from-our-archives-shock-at-death-of-percys-daughter/ammyt1a/

 

[Bargle]

She doesn't awaken him, rather unusual for a woman getting up in the middle of the night after hearing a prowler.

She didn't think she was hearing a prowler. She thought one of the children was ill.

What I can't understand is how she heard breaking glass with her bedroom door closed and then heard moaning not only with her bedroom door closed but also with Valerie's bedroom door closed.

We don't know the doors were closed. They may have been partly or completely open. Some people sleep with their doors open. I don't, but my late father did.

 

[pleasestandby]

We don't know the doors were closed. They may have been partly or completely open. Some people sleep with their doors open. I don't, but my late father did.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1906&dat=19660901&id=l8khAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IJ4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=3139,736829

"The Percy’s bedroom door was closed. Asked how the mother could have heard sounds with the door closed, (Kenilworth Police Chief Robert M.) Daley said that in the quiet of the night she would have heard them." The Fort Scott Tribune - Sep 1, 1966

Other news articles state that Mrs. Percy opened Valerie's door and then slammed it shut after seeing the intruder who was wearing a black/white checkered shirt or jacket that didn't cover the forearms. That would make both doors closed at the time of the breaking glass and the moans.

 

[Betty P]

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?12874-IL-Valerie-Percy-21-Kenilworth-18-September-1966&p=12429573#post12429573



Mount Carmel Daily Republican Register December 28, 1973

Thanks for the link. Why would someone from the Percy family contact a place of business with known mob connections? Why would they call a meat market located so far from their home, when there were others much closer to their home?

 

[Winward1]

I don't think the Percys contacted businesses themselves. They had at least 3 servants, including a chef. Also, I think that call reportedly came from the farm house that was on their property, not their residence.

Some of the criminals linked to this case had their own businesses that generated legitimate revenue. Hohimer had several, including a barber shop, IIRC. Rugendorf had the meat market. I guee he also plotted to hijack planes: http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1970/10/17/page/66/article/leo-rugendorf-arrested-in-hijack-plot

 

[Winward1]

I don't think the Percys contacted businesses themselves. They had at least 3 servants, including a chef. Also, I think that call reportedly came from the farm house that was on their property, not their residence.

Some of the criminals linked to this case had their own businesses that generated legitimate revenue. Hohimer had several, including a barber shop, IIRC. Rugendorf had the meat market for when he wasn't being a cheap crook:

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1970/10/17/page/66/article/leo-rugendorf-arrested-in-hijack-plot

 

[pleasestandby]

Thanks for the link. Why would someone from the Percy family contact a place of business with known mob connections? Why would they call a meat market located so far from their home, when there were others much closer to their home?

And why would these burglars/fences/mobsters/rapists fall all over each other to accuse each other of the crime? Why didn't they just deny it when confronted by the police? Why are police officials still stonewalling after 50 years to open the records in this case? Why was the crime scene cleaned up within 24 hours of the crime? Why did the family flee to California right after the crime to keep from being questioned? Why was the dog locked up on this specific night? Why was the alarm turned off on this specific night? How come the cotton glove with the leather palm that was found that matched fibers found on the broken window and in Valerie's bedroom was never tested for DNA and why wasn't that information released if it was? Why is everyone afraid to admit that government officials can be involved in organized crime, especially in Chicago, the most corrupt city in the US? Why are several police investigators who investigated this crime convinced that it was either Malchow or Hohimer (or both) who committed this crime?

Post #779:

In February of 1973, Leo Rugendorf, underling of mob boss and enforcer "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio, walked into the Chicago FBI office and told agent Vincent L. Inserra that Francis Leroy Hohimer, a notorious career home invader, was responsible for the break-in and murder of Valerie Percy and that Hohimer had admitted the crime to him.

Hohimer had awakened her and beat and stabbed her to death to silence her. As further proof, he stated that Hohimer had placed a phone call from the Percy residence sometime prior to the time of the murder to Rugendorf's Twin Foods Products Company in Chicago, when Hohimer was actually casing the Percy residence.

Twin Foods was a hoodlum-dominated enterprise and Chicago hoodlum mobsters Sam Battaglia, Milwaukee Phil Alderisio, Albert "Obie" Frabotta and Marshall Caifano held a financial interest in the company along with Rugendorf.

Rugendorf claimed that Hohimer spoke to him from the Percy residence and that a check of the phone records would reveal this fact and place him at the scene of the crime.

Hohimer had previously ratted Rugendorf out on a home invasion case.

Alderisio soon gained a reputation for brutality. By the end of the decade, Alderisio was working under Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik, the Outfit's financial expert, as a bagman delivering payoffs to Chicago judges and police officials.

From the book C-1 and the Chicago Mob by Vincent L. Inserra.

The records need to be released. What are they hiding?

 

[Bargle]

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1906&dat=19660901&id=l8khAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IJ4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=3139,736829

"The Percy’s bedroom door was closed. Asked how the mother could have heard sounds with the door closed, (Kenilworth Police Chief Robert M.) Daley said that in the quiet of the night she would have heard them." The Fort Scott Tribune - Sep 1, 1966

Other news articles state that Mrs. Percy opened Valerie's door and then slammed it shut after seeing the intruder who was wearing a black/white checkered shirt or jacket that didn't cover the forearms. That would make both doors closed at the time of the breaking glass and the moans.

I stand corrected. Teach me to go from memory on things about this case. There's just too much stuff. Apologies.

 

[pleasestandby]

I stand corrected. Teach me to go from memory on things about this case. There's just too much stuff. Apologies.

NP. One reason that the Kenilworth attorney gives for not releasing the records is that much of the evidence released by the investigators was made up in the event that if the real killer ever confessed then the investigators would know if he was telling the truth and wasn't making a false confession. So even those 'facts' may not be true.

Personally, I think that's a 'crock' of a reason not to release the records. IMO, if the police release a bunch of false evidence about the crime, they only make it that much harder to solve, which might be what they want.

 

[STANDREID]

Personally, I think that's a 'crock' of a reason not to release the records. IMO, if the police release a bunch of false evidence about the crime, they only make it that much harder to solve, which might be what they want.

Yes, withholding evidence might have some value in weeding out false confessions for maybe the first 20 years after the crime but, beyond that, I think it becomes counterproductive.

 

[pleasestandby]

.

http://www.ganglandchicagohistory.com/2010/02/featured-article-2-bad-career-move.html

"And everyone who was anyone knew that the all-powerful Outfit had been preying on and extracting a street tax from professional burglars throughout the Chicago area for many years...

...The Outfit not only extorted burglars, but they found new recruits among the city's most gutsiest burglars. These were daring men who operated under the cover of darkness. They made perfect Outfit guys.

Instead of paying a street tax, some burglars would take it out in trade. They would carry out enforcement work, including syndicate-sanctioned hits. Once they crossed that line, however, the Outfit owned them...

...Death awaited all burglars who refused to pay their street taxes. There were rarely any second chances."

Now, since the Mob controlled all burglaries in Chicago and received a street tax on all burglaries (under penalty of death if the tax wasn't paid), there's a 99% chance that they knew about the Valerie burglary and who committed it. Whether it was a syndicate-sanctioned hit remains to be seen. I don't know whether Charles Percy was on any anti-Mob governmental task force in the past that went after the Mob, but it's possible that this was payback. If not, and it was just your run-of-the-mill street-taxed burglary, then someone higher up in the Mob still must have known who did this burglary.

Because the Hohimer/Rugendorf gang fell all over each other accusing each other of the burglary and there was a call from the Percy house to their 'lair', tells me someone in that gang probably did this burglary. Could they have accused each other because it wasn't a Mob-sanctioned burglary and none of them wanted to be the one killed for it?

 

[pleasestandby]

Yes, withholding evidence might have some value in weeding out false confessions for maybe the first 20 years after the crime but, beyond that, I think it becomes counterproductive.

I agree.

 

[Betty P]

NP. One reason that the Kenilworth attorney gives for not releasing the records is that much of the evidence released by the investigators was made up in the event that if the real killer ever confessed then the investigators would know if he was telling the truth and wasn't making a false confession. So even those 'facts' may not be true.

Personally, I think that's a 'crock' of a reason not to release the records. IMO, if the police release a bunch of false evidence about the crime, they only make it that much harder to solve, which might be what they want.

If most of the information released was false, then we really can't assume much of anything about this crime. All the details about cutting glass, evidence of a break-in, similarities to screen and glass cutting at previous area break-ins, all of that could be false information from LE.


Dr. Hohf's account and that of neighbors who witnessed some activity may be the only real information about the case in the public domain.

Perhaps we should look at the case in a different light based on their accounts. Start with eyewitness accounts of non-family members and go from there.

 

[pleasestandby]

If most of the information released was false, then we really can't assume much of anything about this crime. All the details about cutting glass, evidence of a break-in, similarities to screen and glass cutting at previous area break-ins, all of that could be false information from LE.

It sure doesn't help. What a dumb investigative technique. Lies on top of lies. Fifty years later and they still cling to that line of reasoning for not releasing the records. They're hiding something.

Here's Mrs. Percy's account of what happened in the Chicago Tribune, 10/14/1966, at the inquest:

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1966/10/14/page/1/article/mrs-percys-murder-story

 

[Betty P]

It sure doesn't help. What a dumb investigative technique. Lies on top of lies. Fifty years later and they still cling to that line of reasoning for not releasing the records. They're hiding something.

Here's Mrs. Percy's account of what happened in the Chicago Tribune, 10/14/1966, at the inquest:

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1966/10/14/page/1/article/mrs-percys-murder-story

It reminds me of the advice our own WS LE member Rich Kelly has offered. If you're looking at a cold case investigation and it's discovered that some of the information and/or evidence has been falsified or changed in the past by LE, you have to go back and start looking at the case from the beginning. You can only go with real evidence.

 

[Luckymanuh]

If most of the information released was false, then we really can't assume much of anything about this crime. All the details about cutting glass, evidence of a break-in, similarities to screen and glass cutting at previous area break-ins, all of that could be false information from LE.


Dr. Hohf's account and that of neighbors who witnessed some activity may be the only real information about the case in the public domain.

Perhaps we should look at the case in a different light based on their accounts. Start with eyewitness accounts of non-family members and go from there.

Years ago on another forum the daughter of a Dr Piriollo(sp?)Posted and confirmed their house had been broken into the same way before the Percy home was days or a couple weeks before. So that is fact.

 

[Luckymanuh]

My personal opinion it makes no sense at this point for KPD and ISP not to release files. The killer more than likely dead. I just think important files or evidence is missing.