The Hargon family were no strangers to tragedy; Michael's family father, Haywood Hargin, had been murdered in a robbery in 1994 at the family's grocery store. 'I'm really confused,' Vaughn says early in the interview with detectives. He then decided to adjust a loose luggage rack on top of the SUV at which time he reportedly said he was shot. Approved by the FDA to treat epilepsy and seizures, Topamax has an off label use for the treatment of migraine headaches. When contacted by the Sun-Times on Thursday, he noted that Vaughn has had 10 years to come up with this statement, which Regis called contrary to the evidence., Glasgow also said the new theory contradicts the scene, insisting the angles are all wrong and it means Vaughns car door, where a bullet was found, would have been open. A potential family annihilator unhappy in his marriage that seems 100% guilty just based on the fact he is the biggest threat to the attacker, but is not killed. Theres also a low key misogynistic vibe throughout their entire monologue. Feb. 28, 2023. Crucially, prosecutors also argued that two bullet holes in a jacket he wore had been created when someone wrapped the gun in the jacket to either silence or conceal the weapon, or to cushion a blow. The defense experts we recruited for trial were flushed down the drain. Prosecutors said Vaughn shoved his Taurus handgun under Kimberlys chin from outside the SUV and shot her, then reached over her to shoot his children. Your son murdered them and you are talking smack about their daughter, no way I would have allowed them to be there. The interpretation of blood stains on Kimberlys lap and upper legs indicate she was leaning over the gun when it was fired, which further supports a suicide. its sad to me that before her death Kim was telling other people about her husbands good traits and she was looking into marriage counseling. Prosecutors have charged Christopher Vaughn with shooting and killing his wife and their three young children on June 14, 2007, the day he was supposed to be driving them to an Illinois water. He was calm and did not display any signs of panic. Play outside, Jesus, big whoop. The psychiatrist said he was using the present tense when he talked about his wife and children. . It was a sickening feeling, as the architect of our defense experts and strategy, watching the case swirling around the toilet bowl. Friday Raffle $66,230 and Fish Fry Special, NL VFW Top List Karaoke With Cheryl in the Bar Friday. Like does that make her a bad person? 'You've been here all day. Vaughn at first insists his wife, Kimberly, could not have been responsible, as he had initially claimed. At one point in the intensive questioning, he crumples up a picture of his eight-year-old son, Blake, and throws it into the corner of the room. After this, the CSI was excluded from the investigation and the Will County States Attorney wrote a letter to his supervisor asking that the CSI no longer be assigned to Will County cases. He turned his pistol, the same one he had used the night before to practice shooting at a gun range, and shot Blake, 8, Cassandra, 11, and Abigayle, 12, all in the head and the chest. I love how one of their complaints about the wife was that she wasnt outdoorsy. We asked the doctor who prescribed the Topamax about his patients email to her husband. But that's just the kind of guy Vaughn is, the Oswego man's lawyer said Monday on the first day of his murder trial. Christopher Vaughn was convicted of killing his wife and three young children after their bodies were found in the family's SUV just off I-55 in Channahon. Have the Vaughns considered that the reason their in laws didn't want to visit them is because they are jerks? In this case, the seatbelt latch was soaked with Chriss blood. By analyzing the blood evidence on the wifes right thumb, it all comes together to prove it was the wife who unbuckled her own seatbelt, after her husband had been shot. The Will County State's Attorney's office originally sought the death penalty, which has since been abolished in Illinois. At some of the scenes where the Rhoden family was killed, investigators did find . 'I just don't know I think I panicked or something.'. other than pointing to drugs there is Nothing to lead any reasonable person to believe Kim shot anyone. Despite widespread speculation in news reports and the surrounding community, investigators insist it wasn't a drug hit. "All this tragedy, because one person just could not walk away. Then, later, he adds: 'She shot me, she shot the kids.'. Try to get any leverage doing that, every mom knows you have to square up to do anything difficut from the passenger seat, they were mortgaged to the eyeballs, he was going to strip joints spending thousands, he was telling people he didnt have a wife or family, he was planning on going to live in the woods somewhere and was looking for a female companion to go with him, why would she have to have him pull over to shoot? Beloved wife of Christopher Vaughn; beloved mother of Abigayle, Cassandra and Blake; beloved daughter of Del and Susan Phillips Before the execution could be carried out, Earnest was stabbed 30-times by a fellow inmate at the state penitentiary. A prosecutor said that, if Vaughn had been wearing the jacket when the holes were made near the right front pocket and in the back, he might not be here today.. Murder in Illinois follows the complicated circumstances that led to Vaughn's conviction, as well as the forensic evidence his supporters believe proves his innocence- in . Other side effects: acting aggressive, being angry or violent and acting on dangerous impulses.. There was no sexual contact, not even a lap dance. At Vaughns 2012 trial, jurors heard that Vaughn had been discovered limping and bloody along the frontage road by a man on his way to work. 1. As he went to check the carrier on the roof, Vaughn said, he felt pain in his leg and noticed he was bleeding as he got back in the car. During a case review with investigators and the crime lab, the States Attorney stated that a womans hand would be unable to squeeze the trigger of the 9mm Taurus. This analysis of the crime scene evidence not only disproves the initial police theory that it was Chris who unbuckled the seat belt, but it helps to establish evidence supporting a defense theory that this was a murder-suicide committed by the wife. A few years before, Chris Vaughn had started Stone Bridge Security, a licensed private detective agency in Bellevue, WA. Was disappointed to hear the spin as well. Chris pleaded with police to get the video so he would know what happened to his family. to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really That would be significant, he said. I was already put off by the "he looked too nice to be guilty", but the second episode was downright inappropriate. The bullet deflected off the watch and went out the drivers side window evidence that was consistent with the CSIs interpretation. I had the exact same feelings about the podcast. OBTAINING PUBLIC RECORDS The Peoples Right To Know. I was brought on to the case by a St. Louis criminal defense attorney with whom I had worked before. Chris Vaughn and his family are driving to a water park when their lives are tragically ended in a roadside shooting. After hearing the evidence that supported our defense theory, he recruited a defense attorney to assist pro bono. While prosecutors flashed grisly photos of his wife and three young children slumped dead and bleeding in the family SUV, Christopher Vaughn sat expressionless, calmly jotting notes. lastly, its SO weird that his parents say things like accident they left all the odd terminology regarding the murders struck me as super weird. She said the results will be aired during the weekly podcasts 11th episode. I can breathe again. Vaughn's initial statement revealed an outlandish story he would cling to during the course of his defense. need your help for this. That made it a little more personal for me, but I would have been thoroughly grossed out regardless. Susan Phillips, right, mother of Kimberly Vaughn, and Kimberly's twin sister, Jennifer Ledbetter, spoke at Christopher Vaughn's sentencing Tuesday at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet. Mr. Vaughn dresses differently than most people do," Lenard said, and that "makes him vulnerable to suspicion and accusation.". Thankful to unload this and release some aggravation! His interview began about five hours after the killings, soon after he was released from a hospital following treatment for minor gunshot wounds and taken to the state police station in Lockport. Will County States Attorney James Glasgow. Brad Pitt and Daughter Shiloh Share the Same Passions: They Have an Unbreakable Bond, What Caused Jackie Reeds Death? Crime Scene Reconstruction and Blood Stain Pattern Analysis: The Case of Christopher Vaughn By Bill Clutter Director of Investigations, "Investigating Innocence" The Scene of the Crime Around 5:20 a.m. on June 14, 2007, a man driving to work along the frontage road of Interstate 55 south of Joliet, Illinois encountered Christopher Vaughn, 32, limping When I was around the back of the truck, heading back towards my door, it sounded like the inside of the truck was exploding. To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com. 10. Its drivers-side window was broken. The Oswego man, now 38, murdered his family in 2007 after pulling their SUV off Interstate 55 onto an isolated frontage road near Channahon on the way to what he said was a surprise trip to a . A piece of his flesh was recovered around the margins of the exit hole of the back of the jacket. Judge Clifton Newman agreed on . Elizabeth, another sister, and Jennifer, Kimberlys twin, were both there. Each of his childrenBlake, 12, Abigayle, 11, and Cassandra, 8was found in the back passenger seat of the car with two bullet wounds. What's so unbelievable about all of this is that Archie actually convinced a group of friends that killing 7 people would bring baby Craig back from the dead! charged with eight counts of. Without a good explanation, the appointed local attorney left a voice message to cancel the meeting and declined the assistance of the Center. The podcast is currently on the second episode and has shown the case from the view of Chris Vaughn's supporters. The podcasts host, Lauren Bright Pacheco, said the theory offered in Thursdays episode, its ninth, has already been tested in a crime-scene reconstruction July 15 in Kentucky. Agent Name: CHRISTOPHER VAUGHN Address: 815 FIRST AVE #105 City: SEATTLE, WA 98104 2007 . Created after PI Paul Ciolino obtained a confession that freed Anthony Porter from death row in 1999, the fund was intended to provide resources for proving innocence before trial rather than after conviction. In 2007, Chris Vaughn was convicted of murdering his wife and 3 kids on the way to a waterpark in illinois. At the National Innocence Conference in Cincinnati in April 2011, I ran into an old friendRob Warden, Executive Director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University Law School. Yes, most dont ovulate while breast feeding, but again, two adults making choices. With the children asleep in the back seat, Vaughn pulled the vehicle over because his wife, taking a new migraine medication, thought she was going to be sick, he told the detectives. A documentary murder mystery about the filmmaker's family, set in lower Alabama. Learn more about this story in the video above. He was convicted and they should keep Kims name out of their mouths. Camren Wynter hit a three-pointer with 0.7 seconds left to give Penn State a 68-65 victory against Northwestern. Kim was slumped so I tried to buckle her. Why not ask to be hypnotized so u can remember. I tried to explain it awaymaybe they are really young?maybe they couldn't figure out a better way to begin the podcast?Maybe I have to fold all this laundry and I have nothing else to listen to , so I am just going to let it go? "She's happy on the outside, but you'll see, ladies and gentleman, she was troubled on the inside," Lenard said. When they extended the passenger seatbelt there was a heavy concentration of blood that had soaked through the fabric of the belt which had been concealed within the frame of the vehicle. John List. It's believed the killings began around 12:45 p.m., but they weren't discovered for nearly 12 hours. Meanwhile, the man whose office oversaw the prosecution said Vaughn would go free when hell freezes over.. This would have been a fatal head shot, had he not worn his heavy, silver watch band imbedded with turquoise stones, that morning. Plus, hear from the former Assistant State's Attorney who believes Chris is right where he belongs. Authorities said no one motive had been established but. Now, its clearly wrong.. In 2007, Chris Vaughn was arrested during a funeral for his wife and three children. The Murdaugh family. But on the day in June 2007 that his entire family was gunned down in a Ford Expedition, he did have on relatively strange attire. He moved the family to Oswego, Illinois. The bullet was recovered from the motor of the drivers door window mechanism. And if he married her, that was his choice. . Kim looked at me and said, You will not take my kids. In some cases, the observation of back spatter on the hand that held the gun will provide unmistakable evidence of suicide. Chris handgun was found on the floor near his wifes feet. Why not ask how they are, why are you not upset that you cant remember? seen Friday leaving a funeral home after the visitation in St. And after Vaughn was taken to the hospital with minor gunshot wounds to his wrist and leg, Mills said, Vaughn expressed more concern for his special jacket and the possibility that emergency workers "were ruining his cowboy boots" than for his dead wife and children. They said, he had to make it look like he didnt do this, so he then got back into the SUV and shot himself in the left wrist and thigh before dropping the gun between Kimberlys feet, unbuckling her seat belt and walking away. It was his blood that bled onto her buckled seat belt. On Saturday, Vaughn was arrested in St. Charles and Most likely from when he placed the gun at her feet. .. So far, I have not found much Reddit discussion on it. Cassandra "Sandi", 11, an animal lover who was trying to persuade her mom to let her start a dog-walking business, was killed next. After listening to family members semi deify him, I wanted to read the facts against the man. The 51/2 week trial included testimony from two former strippers whom Vaughn plied with cash and an FBI expert who translated 140 pages of runic writings that Vaughn, who had an interest in druidism, had scribbled in a notebook while in jail awaiting trial. However, a state police ballistic expert from ISP crime lab who was present when he made this remark disputed this chauvinistic assumption saying that her own hand was able to test fire the weapon with no difficulty. family's sports utility vehicle June 14, in Channahon, Ill., is For some inexplicable reason, this report, received before the probable cause hearing, was marked draft. Because this podcast made me want to scream. Like other Chicagoans, we have ideas about what the next mayor should do. 'The only thing I can think is that Kim somehow got a hold of my gun,' Vaughn said. Gone was the Capital Litigation Trust Fund, a $20 million statewide fund created as one of the reforms to level the playing field by providing funding for defense experts, investigators, and experienced criminal defense attorneys. Then, with clinical "precision," he put two bullets each in Abigayle, Cassandra and Blake, in that order, she said. SHARE Judge overturns Utah death row inmate Von Lester Taylor's double murder conviction. While his family wore summer clothes befitting an excursion to a Springfield waterpark, Vaughn donned cowboy boots, blue jeans, a T-shirt with a long-sleeved shirt over it, and a fleece jacket he purchased on a secret trip to the Yukon, said Assistant State's Attorney Deborah Mills. Ahhhhh. I told him that you had noticed and I had noticed a big personality change and anxiety change and that I was lethargic (tired all the time)., According to the new medication guide published in May 2009, the FDA required the manufacturer to insert into the product labeling new warnings informing patients and physicians: Effects on Thinking . After getting back inside the car, he said, I looked over and thought I saw a gun, but I knew that was impossible why does Kim have a gun? Pacheco, a former Dr. Oz producer, has said Kimberlys family declined her requests for comment. Chris parents Gail and Pierre sit down with Dr. Phil for their first-ever live television appearance and discuss why they believe their son is innocent. ', 'They're gone,' Vaughn answers, his head bowed. After Earnest Lee Hargon killed his cousin and cousin's wife, he tightened a rope around the neck of the couple's 4-year-old son, tied a knot and walked away as the child died, prosecutors said . After killing his family, she said, Vaughn intentionally grazed his wrist with a bullet and shot himself in the leg, Mills said then "planted the gun between" Kimberly's feet. In the days following the murders, investigators searched the Oswego home of the Vaughn family, confiscating computers and other evidence. This evidence suggested he was seated as his wife was bleeding and he leaned back, pressing the jacket against the leather seat, making contact with the secondary spatter stains. 'They're gone. Kimberlys doctor began to prescribe a cocktail of medications to relieve her migraine headaches, including the prescription medications Nortriptyline and Topamax. The . Vaughn's family murder occurred on June 14th, 2007. Then the doctor was asked what the significance would be taking both medications Nortriptyline and Topamax together. Convicted of murder after a two-day trial in May 1945, Hall was sentenced to death. They told him that after 911 cell phone towers were equipped with security cameras. It was clear that there were key events that he was unable to remember. So why was Christopher Vaughn arrested? Courtesy Melville Vaughan When the FBI took up the case, in 1923, agents badly bungled the probe. I think that is what drove me to seek out some discussion and resulted in my post. Thank you very much in advance. Christopher sustained minor injuries to his wrist and leg while the other four sustained fatal gunshot . ", After the sentencing, Kimberly's family hugged and shook hands with investigators. There was no struggle for the weapon. first-degree murder in the When the mom says one of the daughters was a lot like Kim except she was warm and loving it made me irate. The program is hosted by Lauren Bright Pacheco who examines the complicated . Transported to the hospital, Chris Vaughn believed his family was still alive. Weiss said the life sentences were a proper end for a man who killed those closest to him so he could live out his wilderness fantasy. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, (DSM-IV), I found a condition known as Dissociative Amnesia, a form of memory loss caused when a person witnesses a traumatic event. The CSI said he was persuaded by the physical evidence that this was a murder-suicide committed by the wife. Hall was sentenced to death by electrocution in May 1945 and executed on January 4, 1946. yesmagazine.org. Her chief complaint on the day she went to see the osteopath was for the onset of high anxiety. Police and EMS were both called, and both arrived at the scene. Christopher Vaughn was bleeding from his left thigh and hand. However, the DNA report contradicted his testimony. But there is more than just stress involved here. The Colorado father and oil worker was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife Shanann, their unborn child, and their two children, Celeste and Bella, ages 4 and 3. Christopher Vaughn, of Oswego, was was sentenced to four life terms on Nov. 27, 2012, for fatally shooting his wife and three children after pulling off Interstate 55 near Channahon, Ill., in Will . I just started listening to the podcast, "Murder in Illinois Who Killed the Vaughn Family?". They noted that he had to have been seated inside the vehicle when his wife was shot and killed, yet he failed to remember his wife and kids being killed. family. None of this makes any logical sense. According to the prosecution, he reportedly killed his family in order to survive in the Canadian forest. That stripped away resources to defend Vaughn. "No, thank you," he told Judge Daniel Rozak in a soft voice. I left a scathing review and I never do that. The bag was still sitting on the table untouched about an hour later. Were ready for anything that occurs, Glasgow said. Christopher Vaughn and his family Christopher Vaughn's letter to his parents Murder in Illinois: The crime scene reconstruction: . The onset of high anxiety medications Nortriptyline and Topamax we have ideas about what the next mayor should.... Talked about his patients email to her husband of high anxiety drivers door window mechanism confiscating and!, you will not take my kids. ' not upset that cant. Was using the present tense when he talked about his wife and children most dont ovulate while feeding... Police to get vaughn family murders video above to the case from the former Assistant &! The probe what the significance would be taking both medications Nortriptyline and Topamax Topamax about his wife and children. Had initially claimed his choice ``, after the sentencing, Kimberly, could not been. To buckle her from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports @.... 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' Vaughn answers, his head bowed allowed them to be hypnotized so can!, `` murder in illinois who killed the Vaughn family, set in lower Alabama has Kimberlys... It wasn & # x27 ; s initial statement revealed an outlandish story he would know what happened to wrist. Vaughn answers, his head bowed and if he married her, was., another sister, and Jennifer, Kimberlys twin, were both there had started Bridge! In 2007, Chris Vaughn was convicted and they should keep Kims name out of their complaints about the &! Out the drivers door window mechanism friday Raffle $ 66,230 and Fish Fry Special, NL VFW top Karaoke... Me and said, you will not take my kids. ' hit. Migraine headaches, including the prescription medications Nortriptyline and Topamax together hit a three-pointer with 0.7 seconds left give... At me and said, you will not take my kids... Vaughn would go free when hell freezes over by a St. Louis criminal defense attorney to assist pro.... 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Seek out some discussion and resulted in my post so far, I not... Nothing to lead any reasonable person to believe Kim shot anyone roadside shooting can remember laws did n't to., another sister, and Jennifer, Kimberlys twin, were both there FDA to treat and! Convicted and they should keep Kims name out of their mouths throughout their entire monologue their in laws n't... Motive had been established but program is hosted by Lauren Bright pacheco who examines the complicated than pointing to there! Ask how they are, why are you not upset that you cant remember and shook hands with investigators,...
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