IL IL - Starved Rock State Park Murders of three women, 4 Mar 1960

[rob525]

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.

 

[Richard]

LIFE Magazine February 17, 1961​

Pg… 43 ARTICLES: The Case of the Overlooked Clues: Dogged Work of Two Small–Town Cops in Illinois Finds Starved Rock Murder Suspect. By Michel Silva

This article contains many photos and details of the case against Chester Weger

 

[Richard]

From: Daily Illini, 15 February 1961​

State Probes Starved Rock Killing In Effort To Send Weger to Chair​

OTTAWA , M . ( JP ) — Chester ( Rocky ) Weger , accused of slaying three women , listened unemotionally Tuesday as the prosecution began io fit together small pieces of a case ; t hopes will send him to the electric chair . Weger; 21 , a cool , wiry man , is on trial in Circuit Court on a charge of murdering Mrs. Lillian . Getting , 50 * in Starved Rock State ; Park . She and the wives of ¦ ¦ two other Chicago business executives; Mrs. Frances Murphy, 47 , and Mrs. Mildred Lindquist, 50, went out for a hike in the park March 14 , I 960. They never returned. Their battered bodies were found in a cave two days later...

Henry Woolford, who was in charge of an Illinois Youth Camp at Marseilles, testified that he and a group of boys were enlisted in the search for the missing women. Found by Hunters - He related how the hunters waded through heavy snow and came upon the bodies in a cave in St . Louis Canyon on March 16 . Woolford pointed out the cave in a dead-end canyon on a map in the court room.

Sgt. Michael E. Frankovich of the state police , who took part in the investigation of the crime told about the appearance of the bodies in the cave . Earlier , William Dummett, a deputy sheriff who also is a photographer, had testified about at least 30 pictures of the cave and slaying scene. The jury of seven women and five men was absent at the time.

Judge Leonard Hoffman upheld a defense objection to the photographs, saying the prosecution was premature in seeking to have them introduced as evidence at this time. Defense attorney John McNamara argued the photographs were inflammatory to the jury and prejudicial to the defendant. Introduce Photograph Hoffman said however that later in the trial he might permit States Atty. Robert E . Richardson to introduce one photograph of the slaying scene, provided the state establishes that the pictures have probative value. The photographs showed the bodies of the victims, their clothing, and general scenes of the lonely canyon in which the women met their deaths .

Weger, a handyman at the lodge, admitted the slayings in a statement made Nov . 17 . But he retracted the admission later . But Judge Hoffman has ruled that it can be used as evidence...

LINK:

Daily Illini 15 February 1961 — Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections

Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections

idnc.library.illinois.edu

 

[Richard]

From what I have read. His confession / reenactment was pretty detailed.

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.

Below is a link to the complete text of the appellate ruling on Weger's appeal, dated 1962. It details the facts in the case and covers all of Weger's complaints regarding the conduct of the trial - in particular the inclusion of his confession as evidence. Great consideration was given to the specifics of his confession, to his claims of threats made, and also other evidence presented at trial which corroborated his confession.

The last paragraph of this long discussion is the appellate court's final ruling.

LINK:

The PEOPLE v. Weger

The PEOPLE v. Weger - 185 N.E.2d 183, 25 Ill. 2d 370

law.justia.com

 

[Gloomy Bear]

I'm of the opinion he is definitely guilty but he is still covering for the son of the lodge owner, who may have also been involved. Now he is claiming complete innocence because he's old and wants the support and company of his family, who are convinced he's innocent.

 

[ReallyRose63]

60 years ago...

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

 

[Richard]

Bumping this thread up. This March will mark 62 years since these three women were murdered.

 

[Gunther Toody]

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.

 

[ilovewings]

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.

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.

 

[Betty P]

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.

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.

 

[Gunther Toody]

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.

It's much more than the hair, Betty.
Even his confession is suspect. John C. Reid who developed the Reid method of interrogation was a Chicago cop. Initially, many police departments jumped on board using his tactics, for eliciting confessions, until it was later found out that too many false confessions resulted from his methods. Consequently, several departments dropped his interrogation techniques.

Then there is motives and means. Weger is a small man, and it is difficult to picture him overpowering three women in fear for their lives.

The hair found on one of the women belonged to one of three brothers, who were from Ottawa, Il, a nearby community. The son of the owner of Starved Rock stated that he saw the women talking with five men at one point of their visit.

 

[Trebor5591]

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.

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.

 

[Gunther Toody]

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.

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.

 

[ilovewings]

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.

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.

 

[Gunther Toody]

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.
But before doing so, I encourage the casual reader to check out this podcast transcript titled "The Tale Of The Twine" and its relationship to the twine allegedly used in the murders and its possible link to the lodge.

Corruption, Conspiracy, or Incompetence Blog Series: The Tale of the Twine — The Andy Hale Podcast

The Tale of the Twine is the first in the “Corruption, Conspiracy, or Incompetence” Blog Series

www.andyhalepodcast.com

 

[Gunther Toody]

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.

EP 8: The Tip (the Smokey Wrona story)

Podcast Episode · The Starved Rock Murders with Andy Hale · 04/14/2022 · 42m

podcasts.apple.com

 

[Gunther Toody]

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.

EP 8: The Tip (the Smokey Wrona story)

Podcast Episode · The Starved Rock Murders with Andy Hale · 04/14/2022 · 42m

podcasts.apple.com

Another podcast from Hale details the motives for murder.

 

[cenazoic]

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.

I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other, but as a counterpoint to this specific argument, see the current Rex Heuermann (LISK) threads. Part of what ties him to the victims are transfer hairs from his wife and daughter, who were out of town during (all?) of his verified murders.

 

[Richard]

Police investigators determined that the rather rare 20 strand twine used to bind the Starved Rock murder victims was a match to twine used to bind the victim of an earlier unsolved rape case.

That rape victim picked Chester Weger out of a line up as the person who had raped her.

Wager was convicted of murdering Frances Murphy and sentenced to death. Because he had received the death penalty, Prosecutors decided to not charge Weger with the other two murders or the rape.

On appeal, he was given a re-trial in the Murphy case. Weger was again convicted, but because one of the twelve jurors refused to vote for the death penalty, he was sentenced to life without parole.

 

[acutename]

never heard about this case before. If you were truly innocent, would you ever confess and describe how you killed the victims? Also, how would you imagine that you could rob 3 guests at the lodge you were working at and they would not just recognize you? was he supposedly wearing a mask/disguise?