Sept. 5, 2021. While Vaughn might come off as cold-hearted or callous, Lenard asked jurors not use the accused quadruple-murderer's demeanoror eccentricitiesagainst him. But what we see on the left thumb is seepage of blood from the wound, creating large patterns of passive blood drops. But that's . He said Thursday he wants to find out when Vaughns memory returned. In August of 2012, five years after his arrest before his family's funeral in June 2007, Christopher Vaughn's murder trail began. He allegedly killed his family so he could live by himself in the Canadian wilderness. A Drug Hit. Christopher Vaughn, of Oswego, Illinois, is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of his wife and three children on June 14, 2007. Autopsy photos of her left thumb show patterns of passive drops of blood in the location where it would be expected, if she had pulled the trigger. in the shooting deaths of his wife, 07-CF-1308 Prepared by Bill Clutter, Private Investigator GSR AND BLOOD ON BOTH HANDS CONSISTENT WITH SUICIDE At 9:00 a.m. 6/14/07 CSI Robert Deel administers Gunshot Residue Analysis on the He brutally murdered them in June 2007 The sergeant tells . The long-dormant Vaughn case has resurfaced through an iHeart Radio podcast, Murder in Illinois. An episode on Thursday offered a new theory of what happened in the Vaughn familys SUV while it was parked in a secluded area along a frontage road near Interstate 55 and Bluff Road. I have read some of the flood of news articles following the Chris Vaughn trial. 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 away from the Ford Expedition he had been driving. Funding his defense reverted back to Will County. Shortly after Chris Vaughn was discovered limping down a highway with two gunshot wounds in the early morning hours of June 14, 2007, his wife and kids were found in their SUV shot to death. At one point, Sergeant Gary Lawson asks Vaughn what he thought the person who had killed his family deserved. CAUTION, CRIME SCENE PHOTOS! 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Learn more about this story in the video above. Prosecutors said Vaughn had hoped to disappear into the Canadian wilderness, pointing to emails hed exchanged with a Canadian man hed met online. You have entered an incorrect email address! The bleeding man told the truck driver that he believed his wife had shot him. "When you first opened the door, it looked like they all should be sleeping," he said. . Prosecutors will continue playing portions of interviews with Vaughn today. Vaughn murdered his family members, prosecutors say, because he saw them as obstacles to his dream of a new life in Canada. February 15, 2007 (Thursday) . I dont know the family, but Kimberly baby-sat my husband and his brother when they were little. Her father is expected to take the witness stand Tuesday. He recommended we retain ballistics expert Lucien Haag. The three children were each shot once in the head and once in the torso. Christopher Vaughn is accused of murdering his wife and three kids in 2007. . charged with eight counts of Vaughn was convicted of killing (from left) Blake, 8; Cassandra, 11, Kimberly, 34, and Abigayle, 12. 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. SHARE. 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. I fell back out the door preparing to make another attempt. Vaughn got out of the family SUV to look at the luggage rack on the roof. The jury returned the verdicts Monday, a few hours after hearing from prosecutors and lawyers for the former cattle truck driver. The lab was unable to find his fingerprints on the article. Kim looked at me and said, You will not take my kids. Your son murdered them and you are talking smack about their daughter, no way I would have allowed them to be there. In discussing his fantasy to trek into the wilderness, he suggested he could fake his own death so his stay-at-home wife could collect on his three and a half million dollar life insurance policy. Her eyes later flashed in anger and she seemed to look at Christopher Vaughn as she spoke of "the betrayal by a man we welcomed into our lives and loved as family.". . He looked back over his shoulder at his family before being led from the courtroom after the sentencing. @iheartradio needs to pull this disgrace of a podcast and issue an apology to the Phillips. I cannot believe his mom blames the other grandmother for subsequent pregnancies. She was one of Susans three daughters with Del, an attorney. The bullet was recovered from the motor of the drivers door window mechanism. There was no bruising around the margins of the skin. 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. Both medications were detected in the toxicology testing conducted at autopsy. After hiding a handgun under her chin, Kimberly Vaughn was shot in the head. He described to the police how he and his family left their home at around five in the morning to go to a water park in Springfield. Had he known this he would have taken her off the medication right away. Flipboard. So far, I have not found much Reddit discussion on it. The bag was still sitting on the table untouched about an hour later. Was he responsible? The ISP crime scene investigator documented in his report that the bullet that struck Cassandra, seated in the middle between her two siblings, exited through the back of her seat and lodged in the rear cargo seat. She said the results will be aired during the weekly podcasts 11th episode. On June 14, 2007, the Vaughn family from Oswego loaded up the family vehicle and headed for Springfield, IL to spend the day at Knight's Action Park. Kimberly, Christophers spouse, and their three kids were discovered dead inside the SUV, though. Eight months later, a jury deliberated 30 minutes before finding Chris guilty. Vaughn's family did . He replied, Well, it would increase the risk of suicidal thoughts.. None of the evidence they say prove his innocence has been discussed so its pretty frustrating to listen to the constant derision of a murder victim and her family. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Friday Raffle $66,230 and Fish Fry Special, NL VFW Top List Karaoke With Cheryl in the Bar Friday. After the killings, Vaughn staggered off and flagged down a motorist who called the police. the Murderpedia project stay alive. I have read some of the flood of news articles following the Chris Vaughn trial. He spends much of the gruelling 12-hour interview with his face in his hands or down on the table. So why was Christopher Vaughn arrested? 'They're gone. family's sports utility vehicle June 14, in Channahon, Ill., is Husband and father Chris Vaughn was found limping away from his SUV along a highway with two non-fatal gunshot wounds during the early morning of June 14, 2007. deaths. He had re-secured the strap on the topper, got back into the vehicle, noticed that his leg was bleeding, but had no memory of being shot. "No, thank you," he told Judge Daniel Rozak in a soft voice. Very little back spatter would occur with the bullet entering the soft underside of the chin. 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? The familys SUV was shot up on its route to a water park in Springfield, Illinois, killing all four occupants. He said that when he was told at the hospital he had been shot, he was incredulous because there was no one else around and his wife didn't own a gun. Meanwhile, the man whose office oversaw the prosecution said Vaughn would go free when hell freezes over.. In 1991, she received her high school diploma from St. Charles West. Interviewed by detectives, the only memory Chris had was that Kimberly wanted him to pull off the highway because she was feeling nauseous, a symptom of her stress-induced migraine headaches. I have no problem delving into the evidence if theres something substantial pointing to a wrongful conviction, but the vitriol and complete lack of decency I kept hearing just became too much to take. Transfer stains occur when an object, like a thumb, comes into contact with a bloody object. Evidence will show that Vaughn planned to take off and live in the Yukon wilderness, Mills said, and that before going "he wanted to be without any obligations.". After listening to family members semi deify him, I wanted to read the facts against the man. I am interested in reading up on the case. Murder in Illinois is a true crime podcast that examines the 2007 case of Chris Vaughn who was arrested and convicted of the murders of his wife and three children. first-degree murder in the In 2007, Chris Vaughn was convicted of murdering his wife and 3 kids on the way to a waterpark in illinois. Compared with what I knew about Kimberly, yes, that would be a big change. 'An eye for an eye.'. The psychiatrist said he was using the present tense when he talked about his wife and children. Raw and intimate, HBO's new four-part docuseries Murder on Middle Beach follows new filmmaker Madison Hamburg as he attempts to solve the murder of his mother Barbara, who was attacked in her own front yard in Connecticut in 2010. One symptom of experiencing a traumatic event is the freeze-response. His statement to police I froze is exactly what may have happened. Each of his childrenBlake, 12, Abigayle, 11, and Cassandra, 8was found in the back passenger seat of the car with two bullet wounds. 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