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

[Winward1]

He had a flashlight.

 

[human]

He had a flashlight.

Think about walking around your house at night with a flashlight. Of course, you may live in a mansion for all I know

He would have to be a bit circumspect when using the flashlight.

Where do doorways lead to? Closet, other room? Upstairs, basement?

My house is very average, but even in the day time, people want directions to the bathroom.

 

[Luckymanuh]

Winward, long time! Thanks for posting the link to the new ebook. I ordered it and can't wait to start reading. Hoping there is some new info to add to my research.

 

[Winward1]

Good to see you up here again, Lucky. Oh yes, there is a lot of new info in it.

 

[Winward1]

Well, Percy's area was also targeted by home invaders. Perhaps pros know how to get around. They pay attention to where hallways and doors lead and get out with the goods. Maybe some home invasion killer did the same.

 

[Bargle]

If the news article drawings are correct (big if), from the back porch, you can see straight through the living room to the base of the starway. If you already know where Valerie's room is, directly above the living room, all you need to do at the top of the stairs is head back to the left rear corner of the house and that would be Valerie's room.

I think it is possible the killer had either done some previous surveilance of the house or waited till he was sure everyone was off the ground floor, then shined his flashlight through porch window.

All speculation, I know. Still, I don't think it would be too hard. I wish we had some interior pics from that time. The extensive remodelling after the Percys moved out makes it hard to tell how things were at the time of the murder.

 

[Luckymanuh]

I will have to agree with Bargle but what if the murderer was outside watching Sharon who was out that night. And watched her go into the house and lights that were turned on. Just a thought.

 

[bessie]

I think that's a very good thought, Luckymanuh. Surveilling the house beforehand makes sense, too. I haven't finished Wall's book yet, but the suspect he writes about was a nutjob who was breaking into neighbors' homes as a teenager. He, or someone like him, would be brazen enough to enter the home to have a look around prior to the murder. JMO

 

[Bargle]

Also a possibility, Lucky. So many unknowns with this case.

 

[Winward1]

One is that the family financed their own investigation, which produced a "plausible theory" as to the perpetrator of the crime, according to Sharon Percy.

When asked who that was (in recent years) she wouldn't elaborate, which makes one tend to believe it wasn't the old Malchow gang/State PD theory.

Now there's a book that discloses someone, until now not publicly named despite all of the publicity regarding this case over the years, who for all intents and purposes seems to have a likely link to an extremely unusual murder weapon (at least as used in a civilian slaying), and Percy's old 'hood, and who was as scary and nuts and violent as they come.

Then you have a very exclusive area, multi-millionaires galore with little violent crime, and a father who was a three-term senator. I can say from experience that people in this area do not like to think that one of their own was behind any crime, let alone a young woman butchered in her bed.

So the unknowns remain. Is WT the "plausible theory" Sharon wouldn't disclose? He seems quite plausible, if not the probable, killer in this case.

 

[STANDREID]

I don't hold out much hope that this case will ever be solved. There is no real evidence other than a single eyewitness and her description could have been wrong. It is possible there could be some DNA on Valerie I suppose but that's pretty doubtful. Any possible fingerprint is long gone. About all that's left is a confession and even that would have to be verified in some way to weed out attention seekers.

 

[STANDREID]

I would rate it as the third biggest IL unsolved case after the Tylenol Poisonings and the Grimes Sisters Murders

 

[Winward1]

Not really (as for "no real evidence.") A bayonet that was recovered 800 feet from the crime scene that the pathologist said matches the victim's head wounds (including the triangular bludgeoning wounds.)

The cops, including a big city detective who investigated thousands of homicides in his career, said they couldn't think of one other case where a bayonet was used to murder a civilian.

You have a psychopath suspect who was raised a block from Percy's house and arrested six months after the crime for possession of 70 tons of military weaponry including numerous bayonets.

Documents written to him by his sibling reveal a penchant for said psycho to return to Kenilworth, where he was "always causing trouble."

Entry to the house was by someone who seemed to care not whether he was heard (and he was), which resulted in him being seen by a witness. That was reckless by any sane person's standards and the witnesses description matches the psycho's hair color, build and height (the last considering he was described as leaning over a bed.) The doctor who saw the crime scene said whoever did it was psycho.

The psycho was later shot five times by his wife, who said he'd confessed to successfully plotting another murder on Chicago's North Shore (which included Percy's neighborhood) and personally committing two other murders, including one in the spring of '66. She also said he attempted to kill his parents and make it look like a murder suicide. That took place in April '66 (IIRC) and is documented in police records.

The wife was exonerated for his killing. There is no doubt the murders and attempted murders he is said to have confessed to did occur, only he was not arrested for them which indicates his was either very lucky or clever or both.

 

[STANDREID]

Supposedly Martha Tabram was killed with a bayonet but it seems like a very awkward murder weapon when not attached to a rifle. It just gives me some pause.

 

[Winward1]

Fair enough, but that might depend on the bayonet. The one Valerie was killed with has bludgeoning device at its end, which means it was also designed for hand to hand combat.

 

[Winward1]

I'm not familiar with a large number of cases, but, IIRC, I read somewhere that one of the murders connected to one of the Manson family members was said to have been committed with a bayonet. If so, that's more fodder for a psycho as killer theory in this case, eh?

 

[Winward1]

I see that Michael Skakel (Moxley murder convict) has been granted a new trial.

Hard not to think of the similarities of that case and the Percy case:

Young white female victims
Murdered at home
Unusual murder weapons (baynet and golf club)
Victims bludgeoned and stabbed
Crimes committed in Nation's wealthiest, most crime free areas
Cases were/are long unsolved
Connections to national political figures (Skakel's Aunt was married to Robert Kennedy. Percy's Dad became a US senator.)
Locals discounted killers being from the immediate area (except those who believed Percy case was domestic violence, for which there was no evidence.)

So Skakel, who lived across the street from Moxley, was convicted. And now we know of William Thoresen III, who was raised a block from Percy and whose parents still lived in that home at time of Percy murder.

IIRC, no prints in Moxley case. Handle of golf club was missing. But club was same as set Mrs. Skakel had owned and an iron from it was missing. I believe I read that the set was very high end and not common.

No prints in Percy case but cops said bayonet was a highly unusual murder weapon and Thoresen was caught with numerous bayonets not long after Percy murder.

 

[Betty P]

Not really (as for "no real evidence.") A bayonet that was recovered 800 feet from the crime scene that the pathologist said matches the victim's head wounds (including the triangular bludgeoning wounds.)

The cops, including a big city detective who investigated thousands of homicides in his career, said they couldn't think of one other case where a bayonet was used to murder a civilian.

You have a psychopath suspect who was raised a block from Percy's house and arrested six months after the crime for possession of 70 tons of military weaponry including numerous bayonets.

Documents written to him by his sibling reveal a penchant for said psycho to return to Kenilworth, where he was "always causing trouble."

Entry to the house was by someone who seemed to care not whether he was heard (and he was), which resulted in him being seen by a witness. That was reckless by any sane person's standards and the witnesses description matches the psycho's hair color, build and height (the last considering he was described as leaning over a bed.) The doctor who saw the crime scene said whoever did it was psycho.

The psycho was later shot five times by his wife, who said he'd confessed to successfully plotting another murder on Chicago's North Shore (which included Percy's neighborhood) and personally committing two other murders, including one in the spring of '66. She also said he attempted to kill his parents and make it look like a murder suicide. That took place in April '66 (IIRC) and is documented in police records.

The wife was exonerated for his killing. There is no doubt the murders and attempted murders he is said to have confessed to did occur, only he was not arrested for them which indicates his was either very lucky or clever or both.

Found some interesting articles about him. This theory seems to fit. It appears he left town shortly after the murder, got in trouble in Tucson, Las Vegas and was living in CA when he was killed by his wife. He was an heir of the Great Western Steel fortune, his net worth was said to be around $70 million at the time of his death in 1970.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IUUyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2bUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=860,5846339

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Z_1XAAAAIBAJ&sjid=C_cDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1766,814805


He seems a likely suspect. The upper classes have a long history of ignoring mental illness among their ranks and covering up serious crimes. John Hinckley, the Anheuser Busch heirs, etc. No one in the Percy family or LE would have even thought of investigating this guy back then, though they had to know of his problems.

ETA: This article says he tried to push his mother out of a second floor window once. After his death, they found 50 lbs of marijuana in his home. His autopsy showed he had numerous injection marks on his arms and legs, apparently into some heavy duty drugs back then (1970). Not surprising, he could afford whatever he wanted.

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

 

[Betty P]

Photo of Thoresen at these articles

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Whit...ellaneous II Arms Caches/Misc II-Arms 009.pdf

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Whit...ellaneous II Arms Caches/Misc II-Arms 023.pdf

Wife's testimony about his violent behavior, etc. here

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Whit...ellaneous II Arms Caches/Misc II-Arms 040.pdf

I'm definitely downloading the book.

 

[Winward1]

IIRC, Thoresen tried to push his wife out of a window of the New York Hilton in the latter 1960s.