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

[Dreamnine]

I'm reading Glen Wall's book again this week - see if anything new occurs to me.

I've just finished reading Leonard Levitt's book on the Martha Moxley case which did have some similarities with Percy, although a suspect was finally convicted.

 

[ophion1031]

I'm reading Glen Wall's book again this week - see if anything new occurs to me.

I've just finished reading Leonard Levitt's book on the Martha Moxley case which did have some similarities with Percy, although a suspect was finally convicted.

Hey there Dreamnine! Did you ever read Louise Thoresen's book? I have posted a great deal of info on William Thoresen on another forum if you'd like to check it out - http://zodiackiller.boards.net/board/28/william-thoresen-iii

 

[Dreamnine]

Hey there Dreamnine! Did you ever read Louise Thoresen's book? I have posted a great deal of info on William Thoresen on another forum if you'd like to check it out - http://zodiackiller.boards.net/board/28/william-thoresen-iii

Thanks - I didn't know of that forum.

 

[Winward1]

Hey Dream, not sure if you saw it but a chapter was added to the book after the FBI documents regarding Thoresen turned up about 14 months ago.

 

[Winward1]

For those interested in Thoresen's possible involvement in this case, you may remember that an attempted burglary, in 1965, of a house that was about 50 feet outside of Kenilworth was believed by the cops to have been committed by the Percy killer because there was the same unusual method of entry at that residence and at Percy's.

I have suspected it was Thoresen because the would be burglar was in the process of trying to steal guns (he had a long history of being in area homes without permission, theft, and in early '67 was indicted on charges relating to the over 70 tons of weapons he had hoarded, mostly military, and the bayonet discovered near Percy's that matched the victim's head wounds.) Also, though, because the suspect was seen fleeing in a red sports car. It took some doing but I finally found this, a story on Thoresen that mentions his red sports car:

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Whit...ellaneous II Arms Caches/Misc II-Arms 007.pdf

 

[Winward1]

http://www.timesofoman.com/News/40050/Article-Crime-files-Who-killed-Valerie-Percy

Got an alert for this article on the 17th. I am sure ran because of the anniversary of Valerie's murder. I find it funny how the murderer's height is taller in this article. All the others put him at 5ft 6inches or a little shorter, if I remember correctly.

Also funny how it talks about the family looking on when the doctor was examining the victim when the doctor's own account reveals the only other people present in the victims room were cops and he had to scout around to find Percy a few minutes later.

No surprise there as it seems based on ancient info. No mention whatsoever of information that has surfaced regarding this case in the last year or two, Thoresen, etc. They must not have the internet in Oman.

 

[Dreamnine]

Hey Dream, not sure if you saw it but a chapter was added to the book after the FBI documents regarding Thoresen turned up about 14 months ago.

Yes, but I can't download the new edition from Amazon without paying again - I'm stuck with the one I bought.

 

[Winward1]

That is unfortunate, however, when you get a different machine/new device I think the most recent copy will automatically download to that.

 

[Dreamnine]

That is unfortunate, however, when you get a different machine/new device I think the most recent copy will automatically download to that.

Thanks, I'll try that - I got a new phone recently but haven't put the Kindle app on it yet - just have it on my tablet.

 

[Richard]

From the Social Security Death Index.

Name: William Thoresen
State of Issue: Illinois
Date of Birth: Saturday October 09, 1937
Date of Death: June 1970
Est. Age at Death: 32 years, 8 months

William Thoresen III was shot to death by his own wife who was later acquitted of murdering him.

Some LINKS regarding William Thoresen III:

January 23, 2014 (KENILWORTH, Ill.) -- The ABC7 I-Team has new information about a suspect in an old crime. Not just any case, but what has been called America's No. 1 murder mystery.

In 1966, who killed the daughter of Charles Percy, who was about to become a U.S. senator? It certainly is Chicago's most enduring crime question.

The victim Valerie Percy would have turned 70 years old this year. She was killed at age 21, as she slept in her family's Kenilworth home during the 1966 U.S. Senate campaign. The police case is still open, but FBI records obtained by the I-Team and a new investigative book point to a prime suspect....

... Four years later, Thoresen was shot and killed by his wife, who beat the murder charge by telling jurors her husband had admitted killing several people.

"You have a highly violent person confessing to murders he was never convicted for any of those crimes but all those people disappeared," ...

http://abclocal.go.com/story?section=news/iteam&id=9405395


http://archives.chicagotribune.com/...e/lead-is-given-to-1965-death-in-lake-forest/

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=257803&st=15

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Whit...ellaneous II Arms Caches/Misc II-Arms 037.pdf

 

[pleasestandby]

A September 16, 1972 newspaper article from the Madison Capital Times shows that detectives theorized a link between an August 21, 1972 Portage, Wisconsin stabbing, the 1972 stabbing/murder of Sally Kandel of Carol Stream, IL and the 1968 Christine Rothchild stabbing/murder in Madison, WI. A detective theorized that the killer may have hitched rides on freight trains. (I think it's also possible the killer may have worked as a railroad employee)

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm176/pleasestandby2/rothschildsimilar2_zpskthxc6je.jpg

A May 29, 1968 article from the Madison Capital Times states that police conceded there might be a link between the Christine Rothchild stabbing/murder and the 1966 Valerie Percy murder. The article states that each girl was found with a piece of cloth tied around their necks.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm176/pleasestandby2/rothschildsimilar3_zpsepfi9yed.jpg

 

[pleasestandby]

It took some doing but I finally found this, a story on Thoresen that mentions his red sports car:

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Whit...ellaneous II Arms Caches/Misc II-Arms 007.pdf

A July 10, 1968 Manitowoc Herald Times article showing a possible link between Percy, Rothschild and Eastern Michigan State University co-ed Joan Schell, last seen getting into a 1966-67 red Pontiac with a black top.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm176/pleasestandby2/thoresen_zpskwmunpth.png

 

[MURDERER_SERVANT]

Here's a good read from someone who knew Valerie personally

http://mrslinklatersguidetotheuniverse.blogspot.com.tr/2014/01/degrees-of-separation.html

 

[Bargle]

A May 29, 1968 article from the Madison Capital Times states that police conceded there might be a link between the Christine Rothchild stabbing/murder and the 1966 Valerie Percy murder. The article states that each girl was found with a piece of cloth tied around their necks.

Just to keep from a false idea getting started, Valerie did not have a piece of cloth tied around her neck. The newspaper got it wrong. Still, an interesting article. Thanks for the links, Pleasestandby.

 

[ophion1031]

Here's a good read from someone who knew Valerie personally

http://mrslinklatersguidetotheuniverse.blogspot.com.tr/2014/01/degrees-of-separation.html

This was already posted a little earlier. I spoke to the author of this blog briefly last year, but she didn't really have much to say that she hadn't already talked about in her blog. Nothing worth mentioning, really.

I have a weird theory about Thoresen possibly being involved with the Zodiac Killer's murder of S.F. cabbie Paul Stine, and I have been looking for other unsolved murders from locations that he was at during the times of the murders. Not much has come of that yet.

 

[ophion1031]

http://www.timesofoman.com/News/40050/Article-Crime-files-Who-killed-Valerie-Percy

Got an alert for this article on the 17th. I am sure ran because of the anniversary of Valerie's murder. I find it funny how the murderer's height is taller in this article. All the others put him at 5ft 6inches or alittle shorter, if I remember correctly.

"As the investigation continued there was a flurry of excitement when an 18-year-old Arizona youth told police in Tucson that he had been paid $75 by a stranger "to kill anyone in the Percy home." The youth later admitted he had made the story up."

This is very interesting. Thoresen had paid people to kill for him many many times, although the only time this was successful was in his brother Richard's murder, which was committed by a man named Dale Stoddard (who Thoresen later killed). William Thoresen lived in Tucson. And his brother's murder was almost one year to the day before Valerie's. Perhaps he was in Chicago a year later, paying respects to his brother. I have a timeline on Thoresen somewhere. I remember he was in Chicago very close to the date of the Percy murder, but can't place him there on the exact date.

"The youth later admitted he had made the story up." Hmmm reminds me of a similar story. To the best of my knowledge, Thorsen and some friends used to light dynamite outside of a radio station in Tucson as a prank on the station's DJ. Someone (I forget who... I think it was a new acquaintance of Thoresen?)told police that Thoresen was behind the explosions, but later told police that he had made it up. Why? Because he was scared to death of Thoresen.

 

[Winward1]

I recall Thoresen's wife saying he paid Stoddard to kill Richard Thoresen, but not hearing elsewhere that Thoresen paid others to kill. Seems most of the time he did the killing himself.

 

[pleasestandby]

Bargle wrote:

Career Home Invasion Burglars / Suspects / Mob Connections, Etc.
Frederick "Freddie" J. Malchow
Harold James "Jimmy" Evans / Evens
Francis Leroy Hohimer
Danny Malchow
Robert Stanfield
Harold Wayne Hohimer (brother of Francis H. Owned car lot. Was a gambling addict)
Norman Jackson
Mark Allen Smith (Convicted Murderer of No Less Than 12 )
Leo Rugendorf (gave burglary job assignments to Hohimer, Malchow etc.)
William Jackson
"Fat Nello" Sammarco (Fence to the break-in gang.)

The October 12, 1960 issue of the Appleton Post Crescent shows that two members of the gang, William J. Jackson, 26, and Frederick J. Malchow, 33, were suspected of 15 house burglaries in Appleton, WI, but were only charged with vagrancy.

The May 9, 1961 Kenosha Evening News shows that three inmates, Frederick J. Malchow, Chiago, Gerald Kersten, Appleton, WI, and Gordon Rusch, Black Creek, WI, escaped from the Outagamie County Jail, located in Appleton. William J. Jackson remained behind.

Does anyone know why Malchow and Jackson were in Appleton in the first place, other than to commit the burglaries?

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm176/pleasestandby2/valerie%20percy%20malchow_zpszz43lsp6.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm176/pleasestandby2/valerie%20percy%20malchow2_zpsibjom7vp.jpg

Also, was William J. Jackson one of the three or four men named as having entered the Percy home the night of her murder? Does anyone know how Jackson died or whether he's still alive?

 

[pleasestandby]

I believe the killer of Valerie Percy was Frederick James Malchow.

His own gang fingered him. He admitted to investigators he had cased the Percy house on a trip to Chicago.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm176/pleasestandby2/malchow%20inter_zps0do6uwg0.jpg

The MO used in his burglaries was the same as the Percy burglary. He was a burglar. He was a serial rapist. When he escaped from the Outagamie County jail while he was being investigated for burglaries there, where did he end up? Buffalo, New York, where he was arrested at his mother's house. When he again escaped from jail the second time, he was there for two rapes and burglaries in Wynnewood, PA; one the daughter of a prominent family. This is when he met his end off the railroad trestle in June of 1967 with part of one of the handcuffs still attached to his wrist and his chest caved in. A fitting end for a monster.

Two interesting points never brought up on this forum:

1) Frederick Malchow was arrested in Buffalo, NY for rape August 11, 1950, when he was only 23 years old. He had driven three juveniles to Hamburg, NY where he bound, gagged and raped them. So, obviously, he's a serial rapist.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm176/pleasestandby2/malchow_zpsg2gphqp0.jpg

2) When he escaped from the Outagamie County jail in 1961, one of the escapees was Gordon Rusch. Gordon Rusch was from Black Creek, WI, 15 miles north of Appleton, WI, in Winnebago County. Rusch instigated the jail break by having a Huber Law prisoner slip some hack saw blades under his cell door.

On Wednesday, December 18, 1963, Florence C. Kilsdonk, of Route 1, Black Creek, was found stabbed eight times in the chest, throat and back of neck with jugular vein slashed (ultimate cause of death), wrist slashed and bludgeoned about head. Found at 2:30 pm,, she had been dead about 8 hours. Definitely overkill. $200.00 still nearby on dresser, untaken. Weapon never found. Her two month old baby unharmed on the table beside her. Murder still unsolved.

How well did Frederick Malchow know Gordon A. Rusch? Did he ever visit Rusch at his home? How close did Rusch live to Florence Kilsdonk at the time? Did Rusch know Kilsdonk? (Rusch years later was charged with attempted homicide in 1969 for shooting his estranged wife in the back during a DD with their children present)

Whether Frederick Malchow was in Black Creek, WI when Florence Kilsdonk was murdered is unknown. The way she was killed is very similar to Percy's.

Another inmate said Hohimer told him Malchow and he killed Valerie

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm176/pleasestandby2/hohimerconf_zpsivjmn8co.jpg

 

[Winward1]

Good work. Malchow was definitely a bad guy. Always good to see new info on these characters. Still, he doesn't really fit Mrs. Percy's description (Malchow, light hair, description, dark hair) and murder wasn't a known M.O. of his. He was definitely a home invader but really the only reason to suspect him is hearsay by convicts, at least one of whom was also an accomplished home invader that said the best time for them to work was around 1 to 2 a.m. (Percy murder was at 5 a.m.)

On the other hand, it fits William Thoresen to a T., as does what almost surely seems to have been the weapon in this case, an unusual weapon for a jewel thief (if not anyone) to have been carrying outside of a battlefield or boot camp. Thoresen is also a very good fit for the other two other incidents tied to the Percy case, in ways no one in Malchow's gang or their associate (Hoheimer) is.