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

[Bargle]

In my looking over articles from the Newspaper Archive, I've found another description of the bludgeon weapon, 'arrow shaped'. Taken in conjunction with the earlier reground ball peen hammer description, I take this to mean it was shaped like what's called a field point. Here's a couple of links if you aren't familiar with them.
http://www.crossbowextreme.com/image_manager/attributes/image/image_1/1095579095_4238620714.jpg

http://www.performancearchery.co.za/images/fieldpoint.jpg

I've also found an article where they were looking for a tool called a tie marking hammer, used by railroad workers. I found only one picture of one.
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,896140

Usually, I have no interest in autopsy photos, but this is one case where I'd like to see the ones of the head wounds just to see what they looked like. The differing descriptions we've heard of the wound's shape and/or the object that caused them is confusing. If they were made by something with a conical point, then my idea of the weapon possibly being a trench knife remains a good one. However, if the weapon was triangular in shape, then that very likely rules out a trench knife and we need to look at other things. It's very aggravating.

 

[Bargle]

I have not seen the original autopsy report, and i dont know anything about jewerly tools, so i am just speculating on the size. They said she was hit with something that left a triangle shape.
If anyone here knows for sure, has seen the autopsy report etc, can you tell me if the above pictures are to big to had been the object used.
They are from 1966 or so. thanks in advance for your answer.

As far as I know, the autopsy report hasn't been released. We have conflicting descriptions of the wounds. I don't recall seeing anything about the overall size of the wounds, so we don't really know how big it was, just that it came to some sort of a point. While a clothes iron could make a triangular wound, it strikes me as such an odd weapon in this situation, that I think it's unlikely.

 

[Winward1]

Some reports seemed all but certain the glove was, in a very OJ way, left at the scene (somewhere on the property) by the attacker. But I don't remember reading that it was conclusively linked to the crime (never read anything saying the moisture on it when it was found actually was human blood, etc.) including when everything was re-tested over the last ten years or so.

 

[Winward1]

Speaking of unsolved murders in the area, it seems a woman just a few miles south, in Wilmette, was murdered in her house some 70 years or so earlier and, like the Percy case, the case was never solved and some people (evidently not those who actually knew the family) thought the husband did it. But the house were it happened was very near the family home of Dr. HH Holmes, prolific serial killer of "Devil in the White City," book fame.

http://www.wilmette.lib.il.us/reference/record_display_public.php?id=116

 

[Winward1]

Well, investigators assigned to the case still believe there's someone out there with information on who killed Valerie:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...n-percy-mansion-0604-20100604,0,6468340.story

 

[Bargle]

Another small tidbit of information. The Percys held an open house for the neighbors every Sunday. That means lots of non-family people other than campaign workers were familiar with the interior layout. I notice Sgt. Miller says they do read the forums. If we come up with something useful, it will be looked at it seems. That's good.

 

[Winward1]

Indeed. Well, it's had a lot of publicity lately, locally, for what it's worth.

 

[Bargle]

At the end of this post will be a thumbnail link to one of the articles about the break-in at JBean's family home. I've blacked out all the personal names other than the Percys and investigators.

Over the years I've been keeping up with this case, I've seen much speculation about the reason for the large number of wounds from the attack. It's usually put down to the killer having some sort of personal anger at Valerie. While doing the cleanup and blacking out of the article below, I thought of another possible reason.
First, some background from the article.
In addition to the break-ins at the Percy and JBean homes, there were also another break-in at the house next door to Jbean's and an attempted break-in at the house across the road.
So, before the break-in at the Percys, this was how his record stood.
His 1st attempted break-in wasn't successful.
His 2nd break-in ended with the him being scared off by the private patrol.
His 3rd break-in was disrupted by Jbean's father waking up and hearing him.

Just to be clear, I'm entering into speculation from this point.
First, I think the Percy break-in was intended to be a rape or rape & murder.
The killer breaks in and goes up to Valerie's room. He's carrying his flashlight and trench knife. I think he was using a flashlight with a shoulder strap, so he had both hands free. Entering Valerie's room, he goes quickly to her side of the beds, clamps a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. He holds the knife either to her throat or in front of her face. Possibly he tells her to keep quiet and she won't get hurt.
Now remember, at this point, he's had 3 break-ins in a row go wrong. Here we are on number 4 and he's got his victim in bed at knife point, no other family/household members awake, dog hasn't barked. Everything seems to going as he wants. He's expecting her to be quiescent. Then what happens?
Valerie doesn't just lie there and let herself be assaulted. She strikes out with her hands and legs. Hard enough to leave marks from her efforts. She hits him in the mouth.
At this point he snaps. Here's his 4th break-in going wrong as well. He becomes enraged and beats her in the head, then switches to stabbing her. Over and over. Then he plays the light over her body, to see what the effects of his attack are. Valerie's moan has brought Loraine to the bedroom door. We know what happens from here on.

Anyway, that's my idea. He wasn't that angry at Valerie personally, but the combination of frustration of having yet another break-in go wrong and Valerie striking him painfully caused him to lose it and go into a brief frenzy.

 

[Luckymanuh]

I only knew of 2 of the breaks in's prior to Valerie's murder. I think he got mad that she woke up while he was in the room.

 

[Bargle]

I only knew of 2 of the breaks in's prior to Valerie's murder. I think he got mad that she woke up while he was in the room.

Also possible. We don't know why he originally broke in. That's one of the things that has made this so hard to solve. Might be something we've never considered.

 

[Winward1]

Wow, that was a long time ago. Does JBean still have family at the residence? Interesting theories, Bargle. Do you think he kept at it until he succeeded?

 

[Bargle]

Wow, that was a long time ago. Does JBean still have family at the residence? Interesting theories, Bargle. Do you think he kept at it until he succeeded?

I tend to think so, but it's not impossible he quit or switched to some other sort of crime. It's also possible that he snapped mentally after Valerie's murder and was put away. There's just too many possibilities.

 

[Winward1]

I have no intention of checking those residences out. But I'm curious as to where they are. I lived in Winnetka for four years in the late 70s and am just curious. I suspect they're in the east side of town?

 

[Bargle]

I have no intention of checking those residences out. But I'm curious as to where they are. I lived in Winnetka for four years in the late 70s and am just curious. I suspect they're in the east side of town?

The stories say they were about a mile from the Percy home, if that tells you anything. I think Jbean will have to answer this one.

 

[Winward1]

I can't speak for Jbean, but my family moved to the area the month before the murder and the last family that was on our block then has moved out. So, with few exceptions would I imagine any of the property owners from those days are not still there. If this is the case for Jbean and such, I'd love to know the addresses.

 

[Realpolice63]

I was a detective assigned to Area #1 Homicide in the early 70s. There was a rumor floating around that at the time of Valerie Percy's murder the Chicago Police Department sent a couple of their top homicide detectives to assist the locals with their investigation. It was rumored that they came to the conclusion that it would have been impossible for an outsider to have committed the crime due to the alarms and the family dogs that had free access to the entire home. It was the opinion of the Chicago detectives that the stepmother was the most likely suspect. The detectives were told thanks but no thanks and were sent back to Chicago. It was also rumored that the stepmother had severe mental issues. I would think that this could be checked out. This case has intrigued me since it happened. I hope that it will be solved before I die.

 

[Winward1]

Nice to have you chiming in, Realpolice63.

Yes, we've heard those rumors before, then, and thus the apparently well documented and very similar other break-ins in the area in the days before the homicide would be inexplicable.

As are the reports that the dog, and it was one dog, that was locked up at the opposite end of the house. Then there's the Chicago homicide investigator who said there was no crime scene whatsoever by the time the Chicago cops arrived. From what I've heard, from people who have known Mrs. Percy for more than half a century, the step-mom rumors are hogwash.

So, about those other break-ins...

 

[JBean]

My old house is a bed and breakfast now LOL. the people that bought it from my folks still own it. It was in an unincorporated area on the border of Kenilworth and Winnetka on high Ridge. I was born in Evanston, but we moved to Winnetka in about 1964 ish We lived in that house until the early 79-80 or so.

 

[delaney]

I was a detective assigned to Area #1 Homicide in the early 70s. There was a rumor floating around that at the time of Valerie Percy's murder the Chicago Police Department sent a couple of their top homicide detectives to assist the locals with their investigation. It was rumored that they came to the conclusion that it would have been impossible for an outsider to have committed the crime due to the alarms and the family dogs that had free access to the entire home. It was the opinion of the Chicago detectives that the stepmother was the most likely suspect. The detectives were told thanks but no thanks and were sent back to Chicago. It was also rumored that the stepmother had severe mental issues. I would think that this could be checked out. This case has intrigued me since it happened. I hope that it will be solved before I die.

That is what I heard also, my brother was a skokie cop back in the 70's,
it was his personal opinion also. Lots of talk about the step-mother and her mental state, that it was an inside job, rage killing. moo

 

[Winward1]

I can understand the rumors among police that would blame the step mom, or some sort of insider theory that would allow that the case was unsolvable.

But we all know that if the case is unsolvable it's likely because the local cops in this case could not have done a worse job. They completely failed to secure the crime scene. They had every reason to spread rumors in an effort to take the spotlight off of them, what they failed to do, work that was of embarrassingly poor quality. What's funny is people still talk about the step mom and not the performance or lackthereof by the police. (Ironically, one exception is a Chicago police investigator who years later noted the handling of the case in its initial hours was shockingly bad.) Had what had gone on re: the crime scene been in the news reports in the wake of the murder, there would have been hell to pay and it would have been a major scandal in itself; how could one of the wealthiest communities in the country, and a property which had recently hosted Hollywood stars and a former Vice President, be the location of such shoddy police work? The blue wall circled the wagons and took care of #1, Mrs. Percy be damned.

So where can it go from there? "Oh yeah, the step mom must have done it!" Right. As far as the dog not hearing an intruder (a not so subtle way of suggesting an insider did it); years later, just up the road from the Percy's old place, a local kid broke into a town house and gunned down two people with a high-caliber handgun. A TOWN HOUSE in a busy area of town with neighbors on either side, yet no one reported hearing anything and he was able to escape, and was not caught for months while cops with virtually no homicide experience floated theories that it was an IRA hit, or a Columbian drug cartel action, anything but a local kid on a rampage, a crime investigators should be able to solve. So, amazing stuff happens and no one hears. It happened twice in the area. It doesn't mean a certain person did it. It just means that no one (other than Mrs. Percy), and including the dog, heard anything.

In that case up the road, there was no motive other than to kill. So, the whole Mrs. Percy did it and it couldn't have happened any other way line of thinking is ludicrous. In the Winnetka crime, the killer entered the house the same way the Percy's house was broken into, a cut screen and glass pane. Random, or not so random, acts of violence happen. Trying to solve them is a challenge. Inexperienced cops who spread rumors with nothing more behind them than the rest of the theories here were only helping themselves.