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

[Bargle]

In September 1966, I had just turned 20 and was still living with my parents and the old gentleman who lived next door was discussing the event the evening after it happened and said right away, "The (step)mother did it", so this was a theory day one. Although possible, I think it is much more likely that an intruder went there for the purpose of killing Valerie. The question is, why?

Exactly. No obvious motive for killing Valerie has been one of the big stumbling blocks in solving this one. Makes it hard to know where to look if you don't why it happened.

 

[Luckymanuh]

I feel with this murder it had nothing to do with Valerie. It was all the killer. The mood struck him and he went on a hunt. I saw Sharon out that night and followed her home. The rest is history.

Us normal people should not even try to understand why a person kills another person. I would never want to get inside a murderers head. Scary place indeed.

 

[Winward1]

Three reasons that indicate it wasn’t Mrs. Percy, or domestic violence:

1. Significant defensive wounds. Looks like whoever did it took some good shots in the month. Cops didn’t see any injuries on Percy family members, or signs they’d been in a fight and they were there 7 minutes after the call.

2. Percy himself called Chicago’s Sup. of Police, 20 minutes after the slaying. Why would he call in the experts if he thought someone in his family did it?

3. There’s no reason to believe any of the Percy’s would have motive to commit the crimes that preceded and are linked to this murder.

 

[Luckymanuh]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-valerie-percy-murder-unsolved-50-years-20160906-story.html

It has been 50 years! RIP Valerie

 

[meanmaryjean]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-valerie-percy-murder-unsolved-50-years-20160906-story.html

It has been 50 years! RIP Valerie

I remember this like it was yesterday. Incredible that someone could a) murder the daughter of a soon-to-be US senator and b) get away with it.

 

[STANDREID]

Does anyone know if the people in the household were asked to take a polygraph test?

 

[Luckymanuh]

Yes I think they all did or at least everyone was questioned.

 

[Luckymanuh]

I remember it also. I was only 9 years old but I remember how things changed as far as doors and windows being locked at night. Even though how this killer got in none of that would have mattered. Plus just months early Richard Speck had murdered the 8 nurses. I remember my Mom saying, "If a Senator daughter is not safe in her own home none of us are".

 

[STANDREID]

Yes, 50 years ago today. Several of the principals are still alive so the killer could be also. In addition to Speck, you also had the vanishings of three young women just east of Chicago a few months earlier so the area was a dangerous region in 1966.

 

[Luckymanuh]

Is that the 3 Indiana girls?

 

[STANDREID]

Is that the 3 Indiana girls?

Yes, at Indiana Dunes State Park. Senator Paul Douglas, the guy running against Percy in the election, made it his mission to save the Indiana Dunes when he was in the U. S. Senate so he had a connection with both murder cases in a coincidental sort of way.

 

[Betty P]

Does anyone know if the people in the household were asked to take a polygraph test?

I don't think anyone in the family tested. According to this book, the two campaign workers who had been there for dinner took poly exams. One passed, the other was inconclusive.

https://books.google.com/books?id=F...e percy murder polygraph lie detector&f=false

It also mentions three other campaign workers who used to come to the house, but were barred and one dismissed for drinking.

The campaign worker who had the inconclusive poly exam was Calvin Fentress III, son of Calvin Fentress, Jr. The father was the CEO of Allstate Insurance and probably a close friend of Charles Percy.

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/19/o...-jr-dies-at-75-led-allstate-insurance-co.html

I still think the robber/mob guy theory is a red herring. It's such an unusual situation, attacking in the middle of the night with people at home.

 

[Betty P]

As info, here's a link to a post Windward wrote back in 2011 about the people close to the family who were considered suspects. A good refresher.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...-Percy-21-Kenilworth-18-September-1966/page32

But at the time of the Percy murder and Wacker break-ins, Calvin Fentress lived just three minutes south (and on the same road, Greenbay) of Wacker’s house. So it just as easily could have been him. I'm not sure if investigators ever connected those two facts. They may have been so focused on the gang burglary motive because the gang had worked in the area prior to the murder. In ’66, Fentress was reportedly living Lake Forest, ostensibly at his parent’s house. (The Fentress and Wacker residences are still there, quite near each other though they are in different towns.)

Other information appears to make Fentress suspicious; a former Percy campaign worker said Fentress was around 5'10 or 11", or as close to two inches in height of Mrs. Percy’s description of the killer. The same source said Fentress was “very slim.” As such, he could have gotten in and out of the partially blocked door easily. I obtained this info first hand. As far as I know it has not been published before.

If it were the young Fentress or similar family friend, it's unlikely anything will ever come of the investigation. Wealthy, powerful people sometimes protect each other in these situations and they may have convinced themselves there's nothing more to be gained from pursuing it. Well, you know what F Scott Fitzgerald said about the rich. They are very different from you and me.

Hope that doesn't sound too callous. I'm sure the Percys suffered and still do from this loss.

ETA: Not only was Calvin Fentress III's father CEO of Allstate Insurance, his mother was the daughter of the former chairman of Sears Roebuck. In Chicago, it doesn't get anymore powerful than that.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=107055099

 

[pleasestandby]

I don't think anyone in the family tested. According to this book, the two campaign workers who had been there for dinner took poly exams. One passed, the other was inconclusive.

https://books.google.com/books?id=F...e percy murder polygraph lie detector&f=false

It also mentions three other campaign workers who used to come to the house, but were barred and one dismissed for drinking.

The campaign worker who had the inconclusive poly exam was Calvin Fentress III, son of Calvin Fentress, Jr. The father was the CEO of Allstate Insurance and probably a close friend of Charles Percy.

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/19/o...-jr-dies-at-75-led-allstate-insurance-co.html

I still think the robber/mob guy theory is a red herring. It's such an unusual situation, attacking in the middle of the night with people at home.

According to the Dec 24, 1966 issue of the Sterling Daily Gazette, Calvin Fentress III was appointed to Charles H. Percy's Washington staff as executive assistant to the senator.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm176/pleasestandby2/fentress_zpsyq5jlvyf.jpg

 

[Winward1]

All of the young men who worked or were otherwise close with Valerie were investigated in full. If I recall correctly, somewhere in the area of 40 took polygraphs. Mrs. Percy took at least two.

 

[Betty P]

All of the young men who worked or were otherwise close with Valerie were investigated in full. If I recall correctly, somewhere in the area of 40 took polygraphs. Mrs. Percy took at least two.

Thanks for that information.

I think I'll give up on this case for a while. Everything is too ironclad, all the loose ends tied up so tightly with no resolution. There are things about the case the public isn't aware of, IMO.

All the possible scenarios for a total stranger committing this murder with the entire family in the home, just feet away, dog not barking, leaving without identifiable evidence even though he was seen by the step mother is highly improbable. The family disappearing shortly after, inaccessible to police. Not impossible, but it would be extremely rare for this to be some stranger.

It almost sounds like the Jon Benet Ramsey case.

Also note the CV of one of the other campaign workers who was there that night. He was cleared as well, but he certainly has some unusually powerful connections.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tully_Friedman

 

[Winward1]

Thanks for that information.

All the possible scenarios for a total stranger committing this murder with the entire family in the home, just feet away, dog not barking, leaving without identifiable evidence even though he was seen by the step mother is highly improbable. The family disappearing shortly after, inaccessible to police. Not impossible, but it would be extremely rare for this to be some stranger.

It almost sounds like the Jon Benet Ramsey case.

Also note the CV of one of the other campaign workers who was there that night. He was cleared as well, but he certainly has some unusually powerful connections.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tully_Friedman

Actually, the whole family wasn't home. Three of the five children/step children were home. There were powerful connections, sort of. Percy himself had no power other than being a successful businessman, which was far from unusual in Kenilworth. He had lost the only election he'd run in. He certainly had connections in the GOP, for what it's worth.

But he said if he lost the election that he was in at the time, he would have quit politics, and we know there was a sympathy vote of one percentage or another that helped him on the election day. The cops actually knew where the family was when they left. Campaign staffers put themselves between the family and the cops. The local cops or Chief apparently permitted or tolerated this to some degree, to the chagrin of at least on Chicago detective, perhaps because of their inexperience or inexperience having the national news media cover their every move.

Dr. Hohf was miffed at being excluded from coroner's inquest and wrote that things seemed weird in the house. But, judging from his account of that day, written a few days later, which is otherwise excellent, it appears he seriously underestimated the time that he snoozed after waking up initially and getting Percy's phone call. It may have been stated here previously but it was enough time for at least one, if not two, cops to arrive, the Winnetka Fire Dept to get to the house (and perhaps leave.)

I suspect two cops were there before Hohf (he even mentioned this), which allowed Wolf to escort Hohf back to Percy's house, which means Roddy, the second cop to arrive at Percy's that day, had to be relieved at his post at the police station by the Chief. So it may have been a half hour or so before Hohf was there (Roddy also chased a motorcyclist and pulled him over for a minute or two beforehand.)

IMHO there's little reason to doubt the bayonet was the weapon. So as I may have said before, 16 inch old military knife, intruder smashes his way into home, dozens of investigators work full time and turn up no likely suspect. Sounds like a random psycho to me.

 

[Betty P]

Actually, the whole family wasn't home. Three of the five children/step children were home. There were powerful connections, sort of. Percy himself had no power other than being a successful businessman, which was far from unusual in Kenilworth. He had lost the only election he'd run in. He certainly had connections in the GOP, for what it's worth.

But he said if he lost the election that he was in at the time, he would have quit politics, and we know there was a sympathy vote of one percentage or another that helped him on the election day. The cops actually knew where the family was when they left. Campaign staffers put themselves between the family and the cops. The local cops or Chief apparently permitted or tolerated this to some degree, to the chagrin of at least on Chicago detective, perhaps because of their inexperience or inexperience having the national news media cover their every move.

Dr. Hohf was miffed at being excluded from coroner's inquest and wrote that things seemed weird in the house. But, judging from his account of that day, written a few days later, which is otherwise excellent, it appears he seriously underestimated the time that he snoozed after waking up initially and getting Percy's phone call. It may have been stated here previously but it was enough time for at least one, if not two, cops to arrive, the Winnetka Fire Dept to get to the house (and perhaps leave.)

I suspect two cops were there before Hohf (he even mentioned this), which allowed Wolf to escort Hohf back to Percy's house, which means Roddy, the second cop to arrive at Percy's that day, had to be relieved at his post at the police station by the Chief. So it may have been a half hour or so before Hohf was there (Roddy also chased a motorcyclist and pulled him over for a minute or two beforehand.)

IMHO there's little reason to doubt the bayonet was the weapon. So as I may have said before, 16 inch old military knife, intruder smashes his way into home, dozens of investigators work full time and turn up no likely suspect. Sounds like a random psycho to me.

I understand, of course, the entire family wasn't home. But the father, step-mother and sister were all sleeping in rooms along the same hallway. Anyone casing the area prior to the crime would have known there were others in the home. Very risky crime, very rare, especially to enter and walk through the house, up the stairs, down the hall and into the right bedroom without awakening anyone, including the dog.

The step mom hears noises, but doesn't investigate. Meanwhile the killer is walking down the hall shining a flashlight. She doesn't hear him or see the light? Finally, she hears moaning. She goes down the hall (without turning on any lights), while the father remains in bed asleep. She doesn't awaken him, rather unusual for a woman getting up in the middle of the night after hearing a prowler. She sees the man, but doesn't see his face, even after he runs out of the room, past her in the hallway and down the stairs. She doesn't turn on any lights, even though the killer is still in the bedroom with the daughter. The father still is asleep. The perp runs back downstairs to the back of the house, goes out the door (which is difficult to reach because it's behind a piano) and runs away undetected. Then she wakes her husband and triggers the alarm.

Most women, if they hear strange noises in their home in the middle of the night, turn on a light first, then go investigate, turning lights on as they go. I keep a flashlight in my night stand.

It's just extremely rare for an attacker to do that - enter a large, well guarded home full of sleeping people to brutally attack a woman, then leave almost no evidence behind.


Hundreds of potential suspects investigated and ruled out. Case remains cold, all files locked up for more than 50 yrs. very few details revealed to the public. IMO, if the files are opened and reviewed with fresh eyes, the case will likely be solved.

 

[pleasestandby]

...The step mom hears noises, but doesn't investigate... Finally, she hears moaning...

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. I'm assuming that a half million dollar house has solid wooden doors and not the el cheapo hollow core doors. Even then it would be pretty hard to hear through two doors.

I also can't shake the fact that someone called the head/fence of a mob-run burglary gang (with some members also being rapists and who had committed rape/burglaries in the past) some months before from the Percy home and later one or more of the gang admitted casing the home at one time in the past and the members all ended up accusing each other of the murder. If none of them were involved how did they end up blaming each other rather than flat out denying they were involved?

In fact, one of the gang (Malchow, I believe) had committed a burglary in the neighborhood some time before using the same burglary technique used in the Percy B&E.

 

[Betty P]

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. I'm assuming that a half million dollar house has solid wooden doors and not the el cheapo hollow core doors. Even then it would be pretty hard to hear through two doors.

I also can't shake the fact that someone called the head/fence of a mob-run burglary gang (with some members also being rapists and who had committed rape/burglaries in the past) some months before from the Percy home and later one or more of the gang admitted casing the home at one time in the past and the members all ended up accusing each other of the murder. If none of them were involved how did they end up blaming each other rather than flat out denying they were involved?

In fact, one of the gang (Malchow, I believe) had committed a burglary in the neighborhood some time before using the same burglary technique used in the Percy B&E.

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.