Vaughn is accused of gunning down his wife, Kimberly, and children, Abigayle or 'Abbi', 12, Cassandra or 'Sandi', 11, and Blake, in the family in SUV in June 2007. Christopher Vaughn and his family were driving from Oswego to Knights Action Park in Springfield in 2007, but they never made it. The woman is struggling with migraines and in online school. Kimberly, and three kids, Abigayle, Cassandra and Blake. Even more compelling evidence supporting a murder-suicide came over a year after Chris was arrested when the Food and Drug Administration recommended a black box warning for a risk of suicidal behavior for the medicine Kimberly was taking to treat her stress-induced migraine headaches. The bullet passed within a fraction of an inch over his penis and scrotum, entered the top of his left leg and exited through the side seam of his jeans. I am in the middle of the 9 part podcast about the Vaughn family murders. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 'Today I lost everything,' Vaughn says on the video, later referring to how tired he is. Chris pleaded with police to get the video so he would know what happened to his family. He is at Menard Correctional Center, one of the most violent prisons in Illinois. 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. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Key experts were never called to testify. Then, see some truly haunting murder scenes from the streets of old New York. The contact wound under her chin was a classic sign of self-infliction. He didnt like his life and this was his choice on how to remedy that. A member of Kimberlys family declined to speak to the Sun-Times. The Will County board denied a completion budget and appointed a local attorney. Each of the murders resulted in a life sentence for 46-year-old Vaughn. ", Steve Schmadeke and Chicago Tribune reporter. I just started listening to the podcast, "Murder in Illinois Who Killed the Vaughn Family?". Judge Clifton Newman agreed on . . This report was sent to the lead detective several days before he took the grand jury witness stand. Kim fired at me. Be forewarned that some of the. 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. I really couldnt believe what I was hearing. Christopher Vaughn, of Oswego, Illinois, is seen in his police interview declining to even say the names of his murdered three children and wife. 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. 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 Springfield water park. 'Theyre dead. The familys SUV was shot up on its route to a water park in Springfield, Illinois, killing all four occupants. In some cases, the observation of back spatter on the hand that held the gun will provide unmistakable evidence of suicide. Im fully aware it wont make a difference, but it felt like therapy so why not? The tragic incident took place on what should have been an exciting day at a local waterpark for the . To this day he maintains no memory of what occurred that tragic day 20 years ago. On the way, Kimberly started to feel sick, so he got off I-55 around Channahon and took the quiet frontage road. NL VFW Friday Fish Fry. Vaughn at first insists his wife, Kimberly, could not have been responsible, as he had initially claimed. But at one point in the tape, a weary and disheveled Vaughn is seen saying: 'I couldnt have done this; she couldnt have done this.'. Vaughn was charged with their murders. To keep creating There were two holes in his jacket. 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. 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. After murdering his entire family . [1] All four members of the family were shot in their SUV while on the way to a Springfield, IL waterpark. There's circumstantial evidence that he was unhappy and wanted to leave his family, his story is sketchy as hell (he knew what happened at first, and then he had amnesia? Were ready for anything that occurs, Glasgow said. The two detectives leave Vaughn in the interview room for hours between discussions, alternating between courteous questioning and intense interrogation. 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. During his second inspection of the vehicle, Haag attached a laser to the end of the dowel rod and was able, with the tip of his finger, to demonstrate that the shot that struck Cassandra had been fired from the passenger seat, Kimberly was seated. At one point, Sergeant Gary Lawson asks Vaughn what he thought the person who had killed his family deserved. They told him that after 911 cell phone towers were equipped with security cameras. . Christopher Vaughn, whose wife and three children were found fatally shot in the family's sports utility vehicle June 14, in Channahon, Ill., is seen Friday leaving a funeral home after the visitation in St. Charles, Mo. Well, episode three continues the victim bashing. 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. The bullet deflected off the watch and went out the drivers side window evidence that was consistent with the CSIs interpretation. . 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. Vaughn shot them all on a secluded section of the Interstate 55 frontage road just outside Channahon, Mills said. I had the exact same feelings about the podcast. She was right handed. His wife, Kimberly, 34, was in the front passenger seat, slumped over the center console with a single contact gunshot wound under her chin. The defense experts we recruited for trial were flushed down the drain. But Thursday, Waukegan defense attorney Jed Stone told the Sun-Times he recently signed on as lead counsel for Vaughn and has been looking down a number of avenues, all of which lead to actual innocence. Stone and another longtime investigator on the case, Bill Clutter, said they will start by seeking clemency for Vaughn this year from Gov. He also said there is no question [Vaughn] was wearing that jacket when he was shot contradicting the theory that Vaughn had wrapped the gun in the jacket. Five years later, Chris was convicted of murdering his family and is now serving four life sentences. He did this so he could later claim Kimberly shot him and the three children before turning the gun on herself, and that he was lucky enough to be the only one to leave the SUV with his life, Mills said. Prosecutors will continue playing portions of interviews with Vaughn today. The bleeding man told the truck driver that he believed his wife had shot him. Like other Chicagoans, we have ideas about what the next mayor should do. Lol, Gave up early on as the host seemed to be going seriously Sarah Koenig on Mr Vaughn, Im not going to take anyone seriously if they hit me with the very silly he didnt have a killers eyes crap. Flipboard. Out of all the True Crime ive seen and read about, somehow this one has slipped me. Sept. 5, 2021. The psychiatrist said this nuance of detail would be difficult to fake. Then, the surviving husband and father revealed that he had been getting threats. The case took another turn on Sept. 7, 2021, when PEOPLE reported that members of Alex's law firm had confronted him about missing money on Sept. 3 . .In this bonus episode I look at a letter written by Chris Vaughn; a man convicted and sentenced to four consecutive life terms for the murders of his wife, Kimberly, and children, Abigayle, Cassandra, 00:14:34. After she enrolled in her online class, Kimberly began to experience migraine headaches that her doctor attributed to stress. When Vaughn's family was killed, he lost his three young children and his wife, making him the sole survivor. Updated 11/27/12 - 4:05 p.m. CHICAGO (CBS) -- An Oswego man has been sentenced to life in prison for the horrifying murders of his wife and children . "Mr. Vaughn likes writing poetry. Vaughn got out of the family SUV to look at the luggage rack on the roof. I have read some of the flood of news articles following the Chris Vaughn trial. She slumped toward the drivers seat and a river of blood flowed onto the center console, causing secondary spatter stains on the side of the drivers seat adjacent to the center console. 'Murder in Illinois' also explores the details of Chris Vaughn's family. Vaughn's wife and children were never mentioned in the writings, but there was a reference to one of the exotic dancers. 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. (By Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune), Investigators collect evidence from the Vaughn I was brought on to the case by a St. Louis criminal defense attorney with whom I had worked before. in the shooting deaths of his wife, Christopher only sustained minor wounds to his wrist and leg, compared to the other four who all suffered fatal bullet wounds. Though Vaughn claimed not to remember details of the shooting, he contended that he pulled the Expedition off the highway when Kimberly said she was feeling sick. 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. According to the prosecution, he reportedly killed his family in order to survive in the Canadian forest. 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 . The fact it was either him or his wife that was the shooter. 'I just don't know I think I panicked or something.'. He allegedly killed his family so he could live by himself in the Canadian wilderness. After listening to family members semi deify him, I wanted to read the facts against the man. Will the strippers get two episodes to tell their story? But not all entrance wounds produce back spatter. . His defense team argued that Kimberly had killed the children and then herself. 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. Why is her dad responsible for the teen pregnancy?! He spent over $4,000 on one stripper during two visits a week apart. The back side of Chriss jacket had a transfer stain in a straight line just under the right shoulder blade extending down to the waist of the jacket. Chriss 9mm Taurus handgun was found on the floorboard near her feet. Doesnt make him some kind of hero. His insurance agent told me she had suggested they take out a life insurance policy as part of sound financial planning. . After the killings, Vaughn staggered off and flagged down a motorist who called the police. His . 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. said she always spoke highly of her family. 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. 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? It was a lonely life for Kimberly. There was no sexual contact, not even a lap dance. A camera near the ceiling captures Vaughn fidgeting with the hospital gown he is wearing and sipping water from a blue paper cup as he calmly recalls awaking the children at 4am and telling them to get in the SUV for a surprise trip to a water park in Springfield. List used a revolver and a semi-automatic handgun to end the lives of his wife, Helen (46); his mother, Alma (84); and his children, Patricia (16), Frederick (13), and John Frederick (15). His wife Kimberly and their three children were killed, and he is an American man who was found guilty of the crime. I just started listening to the podcast, "Murder in Illinois Who Killed the Vaughn Family?". Emma Reynolds 'They're gone. Kimberly Ellen Vaughn, 34, and her three children, Abigayle Elizabeth Vaughn, 12; Cassandra Ellen Vaughn, 11; and Blake Philip Vaughn, 8; all of Oswego, were found shot to death in an SUV in far southwest suburban Channahon Township. 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