All language subtitles for The.Murders.at.Starved.Rock.S01E01.WEBRip.DD5.1.x264-OPUS.en

(birds singing)

David Raccuglia:
I always loved Starved Rock.

My father used to take me
hiking on the trails.

It's called Starved Rock
from some sort of tribal war.

One tribe surrounded the rock,
and the other tribe couldn't

get down at the top
of the rock,

and they starved them to death.

(Interviewer speaking)

I think everything
in the Illinois Valley
is possibly a myth.

So, you know, you never know.

Narrator:
And now, we visit
Starved Rock State Park

on the south bank
of the Illinois River
in the south county.

Visitors who fled the city
seeking peace and quiet
and beauty and comfort

are richly rewarded
in this wonderland

of strange
and beautiful sights.

(intense music playing)

David:
LaSalle is a sleepy
little town.

This town was completely
not prepared.

Things like this
just didn't happen.

People didn't lock their doors.

They weren't afraid
of violence.

Narrator:
This is truly
a winter wonderland.

But that was before three women
were murdered violently.

Reporter 1:
March 16th was the date.

The three Chicago women
had been found dead

in a state park
90 miles from Chicago.

Reporter 2:
Police say the women
were beaten to death,

and their bodies dragged
into the cave about a mile

from the main lodge
of the state park.

Do you think that this,
uh, person could still
be here in this area?

He could possibly be.
We're checking out, uh,
that, uh, possibility.

Reporter 3:
His men have no
leads on anybody

in this brutal triple slaying.

(exhales deeply)

In March of 1960,

I was only seven months old,

but the Starved Rock murders...
was with me

from the first day
I could form a memory.

LaSalle County,
it's about a hundred miles

southwest of Chicago.

It's a very isolated
little community,

so when the murders happened,
it was mayhem.

All of a sudden, people were
putting double and triple locks
on their doors

out of their fear that
this madman was loose.

But as shocked as the town was,

they were even more shocked

when a local man
was charged with the crime.

Reporter 1:
Chester Weger was sentenced
to life in prison

after being convicted
of murder back in 1961.

As a kid, when I used to hear
the name Chester Weger,

fear used to come into my body

because my grandmother,
she had this massive scrapbook

filled with newspaper
clippings, magazine articles

from all over the world,
of Chester Weger.

He looked like
the movie actor James Dean.

He had incredibly cool hair,

the epitome
of bad boy '50s youth.

At the same time,
I used to lay in bed

terrified that Chester Weger was
gonna climb through the window

and kill me...

because my father
was the prosecutor

who put Chester Weger
in prison for life.

Chester Weger
became my boogieman.

Reporter 1:
At the age of 43,

Weger has spent the bulk
of his adult life behind bars.

Reporter 2:
Locked up 14 years before
the Sears Tower was built,

Chester Weger, Illinois'
longest serving inmate.

Reporter 3:
For 45 years, Weger
has insisted he's innocent.

Reporter 4:
Each year, Weger goes
before the parole board

hoping to be released.

Reporter 5:
He still insists that
he had nothing to do

with the murders
of the three women.

David:
My grandmother,
she used to tell me,

"If he ever gets out of jail,

he's gonna come
and kill us all."

Reporter 1:
New at ten, Chester Weger...
the infamous Starved Rock...

The Starved Rock killer
is about to be freed.

Announcer:
Limited time only at the Igloo.

It's OMG good.

Find it today at the Igloo.

Carryout available,
on Route Six, West Peru.

Announcer 2:
Rod and Jeremy
in the morning

on Classic Hits 103.9,
WLPO, LaSalle.

Rod (on radio):
It's 9:05, WLPO news is now,

and I wanna take
your calls and texts.

I'm thinking it through
on Chester Weger's, uh, case.

Now, he is a convicted killer.
My opinion is that he did it.

Uh, yours may be
different than mine.

That's okay, you're respected
around here for your opinion.

WLPO and it's Phyllis, uh,

with the first comment
about this matter.

-Good morning, Phyllis.
-(Phyllis on phone):

Caller 2:
I knew his sisters,
I knew Chester.

I'm sorry, he is guilty.

Caller 3:
I think that he should
have a new trial.

Uh, all these years it's always
been in question and that.

- Yeah.
-Jeremy: Well...

Rod:
Uh, pick up the phone
or turn the radio down, please.

815-223-3093.

Steve Stout:
Sixty years later,

people are still scared
of going to Starved Rock.

When I started writing
my book in the '80s,

my friends from Chicago said,
"The reason we don't go

to Starved Rock is because
you once had a murder there."

I said, "The reason
I don't go to Chicago,
'cause once you had a fire."

Bad things happen
in good places,

and that's what
happened that day.

Reporter 1:
Three women, close friends
and neighbors in Riverside,

had gone to the park Monday
for a winter vacation.

Their bodies were found
this morning about a mile

from the main lodge
of the state park.

The victims were 50-year-old
Mrs. Lillian Oetting,

50-year-old
Mrs. Mildred Lindquist,

and 47-year-old
Mrs. Frances Murphy.

The three women left
a total of nine children.

Kathy Etz:
I don't think we talked
a lot about my grandmother

when I was a kid.

I think it was just
extraordinarily painful,

so I just didn't bring it up.

I know from my aunts
and my mom, obviously,

what made my grandmother
really special,

but one of the real tragedies

is people ask me,
"What was she like,"

and I'm like, "I don't know
what she was like."

I don't know what
made her special 'cause
I never got to meet her.

I mean, the photo
that really kills me...

it's, actually, this one.

Here's my mom
so excited to get married,

and just thinking that
nine months later her...

she was gonna learn
this horrible thing,

and her mom was gonna be gone.

It... I don't know.
When I look at this photo...

it really upsets me.

My grandmother was going away
with two women,

uh, spend a few days
at Starved Rock hiking.

Steve:
They parked their car
at the lodge,

checked into their rooms.

They left most of their
possessions in those rooms.

They had lunch, decided
to take an afternoon walk.

They left the lodge.

They spent some time
taking pictures of themselves

in front of the ice fall
in St. Louis Canyon.

And they never returned.

(phone ringing)

Kathy:
One of the husbands
called the inn to say that

he hadn't heard from his wife

who was supposed
to have phoned him.

Steve:
That night there was
a tremendous snowstorm here

that really shut things down.

(phone ringing)

Wednesday, they called again,

and they said,
"This is not right.

They would've called by now.
What's goin' on down there?"

So, they went into the rooms.

Kathy:
The beds had not been slept in,

the luggage was intact,
undisturbed.

Steve:
They went out,
looked at their car,

and it was covered with snow.
It hadn't moved.

They knew at that moment

they had three people missing
at Starved Rock State Park.

Rod: Phil on the WLPO
River City Ways text line says,

"Can you imagine
if he didn't do it?

"There's a miscarriage
of justice

that he spent
his whole life behind bars."

Jeremy:
But you have to believe
in the justice system,

especially when people
of, of such high character

as the attorneys
who tried this case...

David:
This murder that
happened in 1960

has left this town
completely divided.

It's like anything,
everybody has their opinion.

It took me a long time,
it took me years,

several years,
to find my footing with this.

A man behind bars
in Illinois since 1960

is looking to the governor
for clemency tonight.

David:
In 2003, a good friend of mine

sent me a newspaper clipping,

and it said that there was
an appellate court defender

who was opening
Chester Weger's case,

trying to prove his innocence,

and that he was
wrongfully convicted.

Reporter 1:
His attorney, Donna Kelly,

argued that her client
should be pardoned.

For Chester "Rocky" Weger,
the pardon hearing may be
his last bid for freedom.

She was accusing my father
of, of making inaccurate claims

about Chester Weger's case,

and, you know, it was funny
because that really hit me,

and I realized that...

I wonder if that was true.

Growing up with this case,
my father was my hero,

so reading this news article
with all these accusations,

that made me very, very angry.

My mother passed away
when I was nine years old.

My father raised
my sister and I with the help
of my grandmother.

I was treated very well
in LaSalle by a lot of people

because Anthony Raccuglia,
my father,

put away
the Starved Rock murderer.

And, at the same time, I was
treated sometimes very poorly

because many people
in this town believe

that my father put away
an innocent man.

I had friends that couldn't
come over to my house,

and I used to get in fights,
like physical fights,

over defending my father
for handling this case.

I remember running
home to my father,

and he hugged me and said,

"I'm telling you, you have
nothing to worry about.

Chester Weger was guilty.
I put a guilty man in prison."

And that made me feel good,
you know,

knowing that my father was
on the right side of the law.

But could it be possible that
Chester Weger was innocent?

There was something
to get to the bottom of.

Crew Member:
All set. Sound speed.

David:
That was the one
thing that sent me

into forward motion
in making a film.

I bet you love this, right?
I come to your office,
and disrupt your whole day?

Well, it's the only time
I get to see you, though,

is when you're...
want something, you know?

-David: Well...
-At least that's an opportunity
for me to get to talk to ya.

You know I have a lot
of questions.

I've been calling you,
and talking to you about it.

Anthony Raccuglia:
My question is,
why are you doing this?

I know you were always
obsessed with this case.

Do you remember how disturbed
you were that, maybe, he would
get out of prison,

and come and harm the family
and harm you,

and how you wanted to sleep
with me almost every night?

You'd be waiting for me
when I came home?

Isn't it a little bit ironic
that now you're doing

a documentary as to whether
or not this man is innocent?

There just isn't any doubt
that the man was guilty.

It's just the story.
I wanted to tell the truth.

I wanted to go all the way
back to the beginning,

and exhaust all urban legend,
and try and just tell the story

as it, as it really happened.

I came back to LaSalle.

-Crew Member 1: You rolling?
-Crew Member 2: Yeah.

-David: Oh good. Shit.
-Crew Member 3: These people
think he's innocent.

David:
And one of the first things
I did was get all of the data,

all of the trial transcripts,

everything from
the investigation that existed.

-Crew Member 1:
Is that all right?
-Crew Member 2: Yeah.

David:
I was able to get
a lot of people

from the case
because of my father.

The Starved Rock murder
gave him some fame.

And my grandfather spent

45 years as an alderman.

So, I interviewed
several prosecutors.

Oh yeah, you don't
have to be too smart,
you just use common sense.

That'll solve a lot
of questions.

David:
Journalists of the day.

(dogs howling, barking)

And I wanted to go
to where real information was,

and that was on the street.

(country music playing)

There was a big festival
called the Burgoo Festival.

There's hundreds
and hundreds of people.

We just put it out there
that we were gonna be in town,

and we had lines of people
wanting to talk to us.

Person:
If Weger did it,
I must've been his accomplice.

There's no way that one man
could have contained them women.

David:
The people who believed
in his innocence

were very passionate.

I don't care what anybody says,
I'll never believe it.

Sensible? Not always.

(Interviewer speaking)

The man is innocent as can be,

and, uh, and I'll go
to my grave believin' that.

He wasn't bigger than a fly.
How in the hell...

You ever get three women
that's mad, and try
to tie 'em all three up?

David:
The other 50% of the people

couldn't have believed
in his guilt more.

-Yeah, I think he's very guilty.
-Guilty.

Sometimes people's nature
is just evil.

David:
The community
is incredibly passionate.

It's almost political.

I don't think a country boy
can do something like that.

David:
I talked to anybody
that would give me a story

about Chester Weger.

Person:
I do think Steve Stout's book

is the primary reason today

people are convinced
Chester's guilty.

David:
Growing up in this area,
when you hear the words

"Starved Rock," you think
of Steve Stout.

-I, personally...
-Well, that's nice to say.

David:
Well, in my father's home,

there's a photograph that
you did of the canyon, framed...

I love the park,
and I'm very proud

to have people
think about the park,
and link me with it.

I respect the park.
I call it "my park."

I would never hurt my park.

It's just an amazing place.

That's what attracted
the three women

into St. Louis Canyon that day.

You know, Starved Rock
is named from violence,

and that day it, it really
lived up to its name.

Bill Danley, a reporter at the
LaSalle Daily News Tribune,

he was there at the time
the bodies were discovered.

David:
We have six minutes
of tape on this tape,

and we have to change.

Either way, I'd like you
to tell the story.

I was 29 years old at the time,

and about, uh, eight years into

a 15-year newspaper career.

On that morning, sometime early,
we'd got a, a report

that three women were missing
at Starved Rock Lodge
at the park.

We drove down to the mouth
of the St. Louis Canyon

and started walking in.

And you come around
into what is the bulb
of that canyon,

and right in front of you
in the wintertime is a truly
majestic frozen waterfall.

Like a giant pipe organ,
you know, in an ice land
of some kind...

and the fresh snow,
and it looked just so pristine,
like a calendar picture.

And then, you turn,
and right here,

you know, is the carnage.

Eye-level in front
of us were the bodies
of those three women.

Nobody was expecting that,
and I'm telling you,

it hit 'em like with the force
of a physical blow.

And I think the thing
that, that made it seem
so profane was the fact

they, they weren't lying
where they had fallen...

not willy-nilly,
they had been put on display

with their legs spreadeagled,
their underclothes torn away.

Philosophically,
I thought I was opposed
to the death penalty,

and I'm here to tell ya
on that day, in that canyon,

I crossed that barrier
because I looked at that scene,

I thought, if the man,
the person who did this,

and could be brought to justice,
and the only way

he could get what he
had comin' to him was
for me to throw the switch,

I would do it in a heartbeat.

And I guess I haven't changed
my mind all these years
on that subject.

These women were not
just murdered,

they were brutally beaten,

almost to the point
of decapitation.

Eyewitnesses of this,
they were never able
to get it out of their minds.

Bill:
You just kinda grit your teeth,
and you take the pictures,

and you'd write the stories
and you do the thing, but...

you still go home,
and dream at night, you know?

So, that was where
the investigation got underway,

and, immediately, the decision
was made the state police
would take charge.

Anthony:
There was a competitive edge
to this investigation.

The state police,
the sheriff's office,

and Harland Warren trying
each to solve this crime.

Harland Warren:
I, uh, had no education
in solving criminal cases.

But... you gotta
have common sense,

and the only reason
I had common sense was

because I was born and raised
on a farm in Serena Township.

I've never met anyone
that reeks of another era
more than Harland Warren.

(laughs)

He has that conservative,

1960 kind of style about him.

When he starts tellin' the case,
he closes his eyes, and...

See, uh, about 12:30

on a, a Wednesday,
the 16th of March,

I was at the club.

I had my lunch,
and I was playin' gin rummy.

I mean, who plays gin rummy
at a club at lunch?

He had an edge about him.

A deputy called me that they'd
found the bodies of three ladies
that were missing,

and they'd pick me up,
and take me out
to the St. Louis Canyon.

State police were
already there,

and gathering up the evidence
and everything.

Bill:
They came in with
like flame throwers,

and they started
melting the snow...

and they were
gathering little bits
and pieces of evidence.

And when I was standin' there,
I stepped on something hard.

So, I leaned down,
brushed some snow away,

and here was a tree branch.

I produced the club
as a possible murder weapon,

and the autopsies found bits
of wood taken from the faces

of the three ladies.

Reporter 1:
They did recover
the murder weapon,

a tree limb that was used
to savagely beat the women.

Harland:
And there was also broken
binoculars and the, uh, camera.

Bill:
The murderer had attacked them
with that camera.

That was, uh, another
murder weapon.

They didn't seem to leave
much doubt about that.

Reporter 1:
Then there was the twine used

by the killer to tie
up his victims.

Steve:
Tied up, disrobed,

like it was a rape.
A rapist did this crime.

Reporter 2:
You will be looking for a sex
criminal of some type,

- I would imagine?
-That's right, I think
he would have to be.

John Drummond:
Authorities also found several
pictures had been taken

by the victims apparently
minutes before the murder.

One photo gave an initial
impression of a stranger

lurking in the background,
perhaps the killer.

Ray Eutsey:
We found what we think
is a, is a picture of a man,

possibly the assailant,

and, uh, we think
we have valuable evidence.

John:
There was still plenty
of police work to be done.

From LaSalle County,
John Drummond, CBS2 News.

My name is John Drummond.

That's spelling D like in David,
R as in Robert,

U-M-M-O-N-D.

I'm a former reporter
at Channel 2

in Chicago, Illinois,
WBBM television.

Well, there are those
who call me "Bulldog."

I had bulldog perseverance,
and so on.

That's how I got the name.

In March of 1960,
there was a major, major story.

One of the so-called
crimes of the century.

Murders didn't happen
down there,

and the three women that were
slain from suburban Chicago

were all prominent,
and they were inundated
by media.

Life magazine sent a crew
down there to cover that story.

The Chicago Tribune
stayed at the lodge

trying to get updates every day
on what was going on.

Who was the killer or killers,
whoever it was?

Why were they slain?
Were they assaulted sexually?
Were they robbed?

These were the questions
that people are asking about.

Reporter 1:
At the main lodge,
we talked to

LaSalle County Sheriff
Ray Eutsey.

Do you think this could've
been done, Sheriff, by one man?

I suppose one man
could have done it.

Reporter 1:
Do you think there could
be more than one man

involved in this crime?

That's a, that's a possibility.

David:
I really wanted to know
who they were thinking of.

Why, what was the motive,

everything I could
pull together,

starting with
the investigation.

Harland:
The three, uh, ladies

had been down by the waterfall,

and we had the photograph
of Mrs. Oetting and Mrs. Murphy

standing in the snow.

We figured out that it
was the Billy Goat Trail.

So, at least we knew
which trail they took

to go down to St. Louis Canyon.

Well, the Billy Goat Trail
came from the lodge.

Steve:
The police believed the killer
might have saw the women

leave the lodge,
and took a hike into the woods

right on their path.

Anthony:
The rumor mill
was heavy from day one

about lodge employees
being questioned.

There were people that thought
that maybe it was the Spiros
family that was involved.

David:
You know, Nick Spiros was
the Starved Rock Lodge owner.

He was concerned that it was
going to affect his business.

John:
And people said,
"I'm not goin' down there

to Starved Rock anymore.
No, no way, no way."

Bill:
The husbands put up
a reward of $30,000,

and then, Nick Spiros
at the lodge added five grand.

David:
He was trying to turn
some of this into a bit

of marketing, rewards.

"I'll take the first polygraph."

Bill:
The state police sent a couple
of lie detector operators

to run all the lodge employees
through lie detector tests.

David:
So, George Spiros was
the son of Nick Spiros.

He was someone who was suspect.

He was given a polygraph test.

He, basically,
said he had an alibi,

but he did say that he
saw employees of the lodge

with the women.

They looked
at the male employees,

people that had
criminal records,

anyone who looked suspicious.

Steve:
Chester Weger and a friend
of his, Stanley Tucker,

who worked in the kitchen,
so, of course,
they were suspects,

like almost everybody
at the lodge was a suspect
at the time.

Almost everybody in Illi...
Illinois Valley was a suspect.

David:
People were interested
in that reward.

Letters were pouring in,

they were following up
on everything.

Harland:
The state police figured
it was the Mafia,

but the Mafia didn't have
a damn thing to do with that.

(chuckles)

David:
There was an asylum escapee.

That's where the madman
that was on the loose came out.

You know, all of these leads
ended up nowhere.

Bill:
When I looked at that scene,
I had no doubt

it was a sex crime.

Thing is, when they
examined the bodies,

they didn't find any sperm.

That was a puzzle.
They couldn't figure it out what
the hell was taking place there.

They couldn't figure it out.

Spring came and went,
summer started,

and the investigation
seemed to just bog down.

Reporter 1:
The authorities had
few clues to go on.

Person:
They could see some man
in the background,

but never turned out that way.

Reporter 1:
Apparently, Mrs. Oetting
had failed to wind

the camera completely,

resulting in a double exposure.

The photos were of no help
in finding the killer.

Steve:
For eight months
the crime went unsolved.

People were so scared.

People wouldn't go
to the park, the lodge.

They pulled their kids
in at night.

Everybody was scared to death.

Who could've killed
these three women?

-David: Are you rolling yet?
-Crew Member: Yeah.

You know what,
what I opened my book to?

Habeas corpus.
Ya ever hear of habeas corpus?

David:
I have. What is, what is,
actually, habeas corpus?

Harland:
It means, whatever you're
looking for, you found it.

David:
Just look in the book
a little bit

like you're reading, Harland,

for a few...
just for a couple minutes here.

Sure.

Harland:
Time went on,
but we didn't have a suspect.

And The Chicago Tribune

blamed me for bungling
the evidence.

I thought, "Well, hell,
as long as I'm the goat,

"uh, maybe, I better
look into this thing,

see if I can find anything."

So, I went
to the sheriff, Eutsey,

and I said, "I would like
to have you assign Wayne Hess

"and Bill Dummett
to me exclusively.

No publicity or anything,
just let us go."

Hess was a gentleman,
a police farmer, a great guy.

Dummett was a different
type of person,

but he was just
a hard-nosed policeman,

and that's 1960,

and they were the classic
good cop, bad cop.

Made a good team, I thought.

"...is the evidence gathered
at the scene of the crime."

I'd sit by the hour
in my private office
with all the evidence,

and I thought, "Well, what is
there here that's a solution?"

So, kind of, absentmindedly

I picked up some
of the knotted cord

that was removed
from the wrists
of the three ladies...

and I started counting
the number of strands,

and it came out to 32.

I called Mr. Spiros,
and I said,

"Maybe this string
came from the lodge."

So, I went to the lodge
at night when there'd
be no one around.

Finally, I got out
to the kitchen,

and here was a butcher block
with a cone of cord.

And here on a coat hanger
was a ball of cord.

I snipped off a piece,

went back to my office
in the middle of the night,

and I start counting.

The cone of cord is 20,
and the ball of cord is 12.

Well, and I start
loosening the knot.

It turns out
there were two strings.

What's 12 plus 20? 32.

So, I got in touch
with John Reid,

polygraph people,
internationally known.

And they sent down
Steve Kindig,
one of his operators.

Steve set up his polygraph
in the two-room cabin,

and Dummett and Hess started
bringing in the employees.

One of the individuals
brought in

identified himself
as Chester Weger.

Chester Weger's
a dish washer in the kitchen.

"Chester, do you carry
string like this?"
"Well, yes, I do."

"I'd make little cats
in the cradle,

set snares and traps
for animals in the park."

Harland:
Usually, Steve only spent
about 15 minutes with people.

Half an hour went by,

three quarters
of an hour went by.

In about an hour,
Steve came out.

His face white as a bedsheet.

He says, "He's the one."

He says, "I'm 100% sure."

Now we had our suspect.

David:
So, here it is right here.

This is where Chester Weger's
family home was.

They were big coon hunters.

I'm sure this is
coon hunting heaven right here.

You do realize we may get...
Somebody'll call the police.

-Crew Member: Yeah.
-And I'm not kidding you.

-Crew Member: Yeah.
-I know that...

So, in the making of this film,
my whole goal,

I, I, I don't know if this is
cathartic or what the reason is,

I just wanted to talk
to Chester Weger in person.

I needed to sit across
from him and talk to him.

That was very important to me.

I wanted to figure out

Chester Weger as a man,
what is he like

because he scared the shit
out of me most of my life.

So, I wrote Chester a letter.

He never responded.

I wrote him a second letter,
he never responded.

Of course, having the last name
Raccuglia didn't help,

so I started collecting
and gathering all these stories

about him as a person.

You know, there's a lot
of stories, believe me.

My aunt Theresa,
my father's sister,

went to school with Chester.

She had a lot to say
about Chester Weger.

Person:
That's right. Okay.

We're all here tonight
to work on our class reunion.

Chester Weger was a member
of our class for two years.

Theresa Raccuglia Ellerbrock:
He never really talked much.

What I remember of him
is the fact

that we would walk out
the front door of LP,

and he'd be in the tree
eating his lunch,

and he, he'd make sounds at us.

We'd hear this "whoooo" sound
coming from a tree.

Well, it was him, he was up
in the tree eating his lunch.

He was creepy, reclusive, loner.

He had trouble with his wife
when he was married
with two kids.

-Oh my god.
-I didn't even know he had kids.
-There were a lot of stories...

There were a lot of stories
that came out that way that I,

that I was told that I'm not
going to repeat at this point,

but, um, yeah.

So, I, uh, you know,
whatever ya think, ya think.

We, we heard that,
we believed it.

So, it may be that, uh, Chester
had a problem of some kind.

There was always rumors
to that effect.

David:
I've heard Chester
had a criminal past,

the rape, when he
was 12 years old.

-Juvenile. Juvenile records.
-Juvenile records.

I think that's another, uh,
nail in his coffin, so to speak,

that proves to you that
he was entirely capable.

I have no doubts in my mind,
you know, that Chester

assaulted the victims
who were killed here.

They didn't find any sperm,
but, maybe, he was shooting
blanks or something.

I don't know the answer.

Anthony:
I think he had a propensity
to do these kinds of things,

and this, of course,
was the major reason why
this case was finally solved.

David:
In 1959, seven months
before the actual murders,

there was another rape that
happened in Matthiessen Park,

which is a park
right next to Starved Rock,

very close to the Weger home
as well.

Nothing came of it for months.

Anthony:
There was a letter
that we saw that came

from a teacher
by the name of Sue Ocepeck.

She, actually, in my opinion,

is the unsung hero
of this whole thing.

From September 'til March.

Sue Ocepeck:
45 years ago,

a student of mine

in my first year of teaching,

um, told me

about having been raped
in Matthiessen State Park.

She was a teenager.

Her and her boyfriend,
they were on this path,

and this guy came out,
he had a rifle.

He told her to tie
her boyfriend's hands.

And she figured when he got
the wallet, you know, then,

then he'd let 'em go.

But he didn't.

And she said she'll
never forget his face
as long as she lives.

All the time that
he was raping her,

he rolled a bullet in his mouth.

Deputy sheriffs who had talked
to them did not believe
their story,

and I couldn't understand,
why wouldn't they believe
the story, you know?

I later found out
that those officers

were Dummett and Hess.

The next thing that happens,
one of those moments
that you remember forever,

I was standing there ironing,
and I had the radio on.

Reporter 1:
Early in the afternoon,
about 1 PM,

they got a tip that
three Chicago women
had been found dead.

Reporter 2:
Their bodies were found
this morning in a cave

in Starved Rock State Park.

At least two of the women
apparently had been raped.

I was just covered with chills,
and, and I, actually, just felt

like a bolt down my back.

Now he did it, you know, this...
Maybe it's the same person.

We both just hugged
each other and cried

'cause we just kinda knew,
she thought so right away, too.

She told me that the rapist

had used twine
to wrap their wrists.

I said, "I just have
to write a letter.

"I have to tell them it might
have been the same person

who then was still free
to commit murder."

Dummett:
Well, then after this,

I took a whole bunch of photos.

I went to this gal's house,

and, all of a sudden, she said

that Chester raped her.

She had busted out crying
and yelling and screaming

and everything else.

David:
And so Dummett and Hess
brought Chester to a lineup.

And James Supan,

who was the boyfriend
of the rape victim,

also identified Chester

as the person who
raped and robbed
that day in the park.

So, Chester was brought back
into the interrogation room,

and confronted
with three crimes.

They said,
"Now we have you on these two,

you might as well admit
to the Starved Rock murders."

Steve:
He was faced with jail time
for the rape, robbery.

He knew he was going to jail.

He was caught.

Steve:
And when his mom said,
"Son, tell the truth,"

she walked out of the room
and that's when he did it.

(David speaking)

Sounds like an old Cagney movie,

but that doesn't disprove
it didn't happen.

Harland:
Around midnight,

finally, Chester broke down
and confessed.

Reporter 1:
23-year-old dish washer
Chester Otto Weger

has confessed that he killed
three prominent Riverside women

last March
in Starved Rock State Park,

one of the most brutal crimes
solved suddenly

after eight long months
of investigation.

The confessed killer claims
that his mind was on robbery,

not murder last March.

-Bill: Chester Weger.
-Director: Go ahead, Bill.

Chester Weger, well,
he got an itch

Killed three women
with a white oak switch

Yes, Chester Weger,
hound of hell

Played it cool,
he did not tell

Until his mother shed a tear

Told him,
tell the truth, my dear

Then Chester bowed
his head in pain

Gulped and said,
I done it, Wayne

(laughs)
Gonna start over.

Forgot the lines.

(murmuring lines)

Steve:
Chester Weger wakes up
in the morning

after his confession,

and they ask him if he would
go down to the canyon
for a reenactment.

He was put on a metal leash,
drug around this canyon,

and he explained,
to dozens of reporters,

how he committed
the Starved Rock murders.

Reporter:
Sheriff's deputies take
the place of the women

as Weger reenacts the crime.

Steve:
He saw the women
come down this way.

Reporter:
He says he tried to grab
the purse of one woman,

and found it was a camera.

The three women were cowed
into letting him tie them up,

to give him a chance
to get away, which they did.

So, when he turns
to leave the canyon,

one of the women broke
free from their bonds,
ran out behind him,

and started beating him
in the back of the head
with a pair of binoculars.

Reporter:
Mrs. Murphy came after him.

He then picked up a broken limb
of a tree and clubbed her.

Steve:
He picks up a frozen tree log,

he turns and he hits her,
she goes down.

He instantly realizes
he has to go back,

and do damage
to the other two women

to prevent identification,
and that's just what he does.

Reporter:
So, he clubbed
them to death, too.

Steve:
He rips up their clothes.

He says he wanted to make
it look like it was a rape,

a rapist did this crime.

He wanted money.
That's all he wanted
was money, green paper.

It's all about green paper.
That's what he wanted.

Kathy:
You know, I liked thinking
that my grandmother

was the feisty one,
you know, who...

You know, 'cause, again,
the way we understood the story,

you know, you should
just lie there.

Don't stand up and go,
you know, if...

I don't know.
I liked thinking that
she was this feisty lady

who would stick up
for her friends.

(Reporter speaking)

Oh, yes, he, uh,
at times he, uh,

showed a lot of sadness,

shed a few tears
from time to time.

He signed every page
of his confession.

He didn't sign at the end.

Every single page
of this confession,

and this is the real deal here,
has his signature on it.

David:
After the reenactment,

he confessed again
to multiple people.

Not once, not twice,
not three times, nine times.

But within 24 hours,

he recanted the confession,
he said he didn't do it.

He said, "I'm gonna sign
the confession,

and I'm gonna prove
my innocence in the courtroom."

David:
You've covered everything
I need covered.

My goal is to...

I'm doing, I'm,
I'm doing exactly...

I'll be interested in your goal.

I'm doing exactly what you're
asking me to do...

If you weren't the son
of Mr. Raccuglia,

I would question your motives.

-I know you know he's guilty.
-Ask me.

I know you know he's guilty.

I know the old man
knows he's guilty.

What is your... point of view?

Because I certainly
wanted to know if
you're the Free Chester...

part of the Free Chester Weger
movement,

and that's what
most documentaries do.

They search out a injustice,
try to correct this.

There was not
any injustice in this case

until the LaSalle County
Appellate Defender's Office
reopened it,

and that's the injustice.

Do I believe if he's innocent
or if he's guilty,

and also, as a filmmaker,
I don't wanna answer.

I just wanna keep pointin'
the camera...

Oh, right, I'm, I'm
talking as a son.

One second, let us
get that underneath ya.

-Okay.
-All right.

I remember going to my father,

and telling him that

I didn't wanna go to college.

I wanted to be
a hairdresser.

That was a big pill
for my father to swallow.

My father really wanted me
to be an attorney.

He didn't want me
to waste my intellect.

My sister became a judge.

I, personally, was a little bit
of a hippy at heart.

I wanted to be
in a creative field,
see the world.

Ultimately, he came to me,
and he said,

"Look, you wanna be
a hairstylist,
you need to be the best."

I moved to London, England,
I opened salons.

I did hair shows,
I worked for product companies.

You know, I had an incredibly
great career that brought me
all around the world.

But then, Donna Kelly decided

that she was going to reopen

Chester Weger's case.

It just hit me.

I had to know why
he signed that confession.

This film became more than just,

"Oh, I'm gonna make a film."
It became an obsession to me.

I give my father
a lot of credit because
he wasn't against it,

but he thought it was a waste
of time and money

'cause my father
believes in his guilt.

Anthony:
Frankly, arrests should've been
made much earlier than that.

I was surprised
that Harland Warren waited
until after the election.

That would've really helped
getting himself back in office

because the big issue
in that campaign was
the Starved Rock murder.

Harland:
My opponent ran ads that
I was bungling the evidence.

But then,
if we'd brought him in,

and got the confession
before the election,

they'd say,
"Oh, the state's attorney,
in order to save his hide,

forced a confession
out of him."

So, for that reason, we waited
'til after the, the election.

Of course, I was soundly beaten.

(chuckles)

Steve:
A case that he solved,

he never got
to try it in court,

but he laid out a great plan
for the next state's attorney,

Robert Richardson, a good man.

But he'd never handled
a criminal case before,

and Tony Raccuglia,
his first assistant,

fresh out of law school,

so we had two guys
in charge of prosecuting

the most important criminal case
of 1960 in America,

never tried a criminal case.

Imagine the pressure they felt.

Yes, it is.

David:
The first time
I walked into this courtroom

when I was making
this documentary,

I had a stack of photos,

and I was looking at this room,
and I was looking
at these little tables

where my father tried the case,
with no experience.

And there were
people everywhere.

People couldn't wait to get in.

It was like
a Bruce Springsteen concert.

Anthony:
While it was a great deal
of responsibility,

I also, selfishly, looked
at it as a way to prove

that I was capable of doing
trial work at 26 years of age.

There were magazines
and newspapers
from all over the world.

Bill:
Chester's conduct
during the trial,

and during other
public appearances

really seemed quite strange.
He seemed to be enjoying
the notoriety.

John:
At that time, he was known
as Rocky Weger, not Chester.

Rocky Weger, ex-Marine
they always billed him as.

I think he had the "Rocky"
tattooed on his arm
if I recall.

He gave that impression
with that swagger,

that type of tough guy
with the little duck tail.

Oh yeah, he was not eating
humble pie in those days,

I don't think.
No, no, no, no.

Bill:
They'd be leading him
to the courtroom,

and the guys would
shout questions.

"Rocky this" and "Rocky that,"
and he loved it.

He, kind of, enjoyed being
the center of attention.

Anthony:
He was the star.

He was gonna be the person

who would make or break
the evidence in the case.

David:
In the trial, my father
didn't really have

a lot of huge evidence

besides the scratches
and the suede jacket.

The suede jacket was a big part
of the prosecution's case

because of blood spatters
that were found
of human strain.

It was spattered human blood

by repeated blows
in a bloody area,

and I hit heavy on that.

That was one of the keys
to this case, and the scratches.

We did bring in a number
of kitchen employees
from the lodge,

and they all said that his face
was pretty badly scratched.

And then, of course,
Stanley Tucker
was a friend of Chester,

colleague at the lodge.

Stanley Tucker also said
that Chester Weger

had scratches on his face
at the time of the murder.

Anthony:
That afternoon, the comments
in the kitchen were,

"Your face looks like you were
in a fight with a cat,"

and his answers were that,
"I cut myself shaving."

There is absolutely no way

that those types of scratches
could've come from shaving.

Anything you can tell us
about how you're gonna
conduct the trial?

Well, as much as I can
tell you at this time is

that Chester will take
the stand in his own defense.

Anthony:
Chester Weger was a very cocky,

very assured man,
who was of the impression

that he was gonna
beat this rap.

I sat with Bob Richardson,
and he said to me,

"I don't wanna
cross-examine him.
I don't think I can.

You're gonna have
to cross-examine Weger."

David:
My father had
never tried anything

near the Starved Rock murders.

He was 26 years old.

But he was superhuman
in a lot of ways.

I can, I can only
picture him in his 20s

with something to prove.

Anthony:
In those days,

you could put your nose
right up to the witness.

Sort of the rough
and tumble trial days,
and that's what I did.

I got within nose to nose
of him, and I said,

"You killed three women."

And that set the tone
for my cross-examination.

My goal was to make
his answers so unreasonable,

so ludicrous,

that the jury
would have to believe

that what he was telling me

in response to my questions
were lies.

I said to him,

"Chester, if you really
believe you're innocent,

why did you confess?"

He said that Dummett
and Hess told him,

if he didn't confess,

they would do something
harmful to his wife.

And then, I reversed gears
and said,

"But your alibi is

"that you were writing
a love letter to another woman

who you said you were
in love with at the time."

And he had no answer for that.

I mean, he, he
didn't have an alibi.

The alibi that he presented
was that he was alone,

alone writing a letter,
which can be verified
by no one.

Through questioning Weger,
I wanted to show

that the confession was
corroborated by other evidence.

So, I would say to him,

"How did you know
about the red airplane?"

(airplane flying over)

Steve:
The key to the whole confession
is the airplane.

After he had killed
the three women,

he moved the bodies
up to a little overhang,
a cave-like area.

Uh, Hess and Dummett ask him
a very important question,
"Why'd you move the bodies?"

-(airplane flying over)
-He hears a sound.

And he looks up,

and he's seen a red and white
airplane flying over.

He thinks it might be
one of the Illinois
State Police planes,

so he intentionally moves
'em into the cave here

to prevent any
aerial identification.

So then, I said,
"Well, I guess we better find
that red and white plane,"

so go out to the Ottawa Airport.

There was a red
and white plane.

Steve:
They call the pilot.

The pilot confirms he flew
over Starved Rock State Park

on March 14th.

If Weger wasn't here, how did
he know about the airplane?

I don't see any way
to explain that.

In fact, there was a carving
that they found in the cave...

said, "Rocky."

They called him Rocky.

Anthony:
We had the circumstantial
evidence,

we had the confessions,

and we had truth on our side.

Chester Weger
was given a fair trial,

and was convicted,
not by Tony Raccuglia,
not by Harland Warren,

but a jury of 12 peers.

We argued
for the death penalty,

and then, the jury
came back with life.

We couldn't tell the jury
that if he got life,

it wasn't life,
that he could be out
in 11 years with parole.

(Reporter 1 speaking)

Reporter 2:
You don't call this lucky?

No, sir, I don't.

Reporter 2:
Well, who framed you, Chester?

Anthony:
I'm always contacted
by the parole board

when Chester Weger
applies for parole.

What do I want to say?

And, of course, I wanna say
I never wanna see Chester Weger
walk the streets.

Kathy:
You know, growing up,
I think we felt some safety

that he would be in prison
for his whole life,

and then we learned
that there was gonna be
a parole hearing,

and it was outrageous.

Just seemed unfathomable
that they would let him
out of prison.

I mean, he murdered three women.

How, how could he ever
be let out of prison?

He was given a life sentence.

That's just not right.

Rod:
...might be able to stay
in the studio.

I'm Rod Thorson,
and live on WLPO

is attorney Anthony Raccuglia.

Tony, now we know you've
been a staunch advocate

for keeping Chester Weger
behind bars.

Uh, he comes up
almost every year now,
doesn't he, for parole?

Anthony (on phone):
Yeah, this thing really
disturbs me because

the fact of the matter is,
he's 74 years old.

There's a lot of 74-year-old
people that kill people.

Right after
the verdict came in...

-Rod: Hmm.
-Anthony: Now, I'm not
interested in being

a part of a revenge
situation from Mr. Weger

if he gets out of prison,
me or my family.

-Rod: Right.
-Anthony: So, you know,
the truth is, keep him there.

David:
Think it was three years
into the making,

I received a letter
from Chester Weger

saying he would allow
me to interview him,

and then, I would have to
go through the process

of filming in
Menard Correctional Center.

And, you know,
Menard is not, uh, an easy...

It's not like...
You don't walk in, and...
with cameras and a crew.

There's a lot
of criminals there

that have committed
mass murders.

It's a very rough prison.

This is everything
I worked for.

I really was ready
for that interview.

But when that date finally came,
I was in panic.

There's a guy pointing
a rifle at me up in the tower,

and I didn't sleep
the night before,

and the, the closer
I got to the prison,

the more panicky
I started to get.

I mean, I-I'll have
to be very honest,

I think it was, probably,

one of the most
fearful moments I've had.

You know, it wasn't that I was
scared he was gonna harm me.

I kinda wanted him
to like me, I guess.

I wanted him to trust me.

Chester was put
in this little side room,

and one of my producers
said, "He's ready."

I was going to film
my boogieman, Chester Weger.

The one thing I remember is
the look on Chester's face.

Chester, I'm glad you, finally,
decided to talk to me.

How has, how has your life
been the last 46 years?

How, how have you survived
being in prison knowing that...

all that you know
in regards to your...

Let me, let me say
that one more time.
I'm sorry, I said it terribly.

I couldn't talk at first.

I was stumbling with my words,

and I-I'm sure he could sense,
you know, the nerves.

I, I was very, very nervous.

How has your life been
being in prison?

I don't know,
I, I come to the penitentiary,

and when you first
come in the penitentiary,

it's, it's, it's
kinda scary at first,

but I got, I've got used
to it, you know?

I go through every day
living one day to the next,

knowing I'm innocent, or...

trying to prove my innocence.

That's what I've
always known, uh,

and I know that someday
that people will realize this,

and I will be out of prison.

David:
Why did you decide now
is a good time to talk to us?

My mother died in 2000.
I lost my father in '96.

My kids, you know,
they, they had no father.

My wife died.

David:
The confession is
why you're in prison.

Why did you sign it?

(Chester speaking)

At least people will know
what they've done to me.

If I have to die in prison...

people at least know
what they've done.

I said they, they can't
hurt me no more.

They done all they
could do to me.

The only thing
I can do now is die.

They took everything I had,
everything I ever wanted.

David:
I expected this man
to be arrogant and mean,

and I really saw
the humanity in him.

I never killed these people.

David:
I was emotionally distraught
for Chester Weger.

And the first thing I wanted
to do was speak to my father.

I said, "Dad, come on."

Do you really believe that I
would ask for the death penalty

if I didn't think
they were guilty,

and didn't have the evidence
to convince me they were guilty?

Well, I mean, I think
you believe in your heart

that he was guilty,

I mean, I...
People are wrong.

If there's information that
might make this man innocent,

I wanted to expose
it to the world.

Cameraperson:
Perfect, Chester, right there.

David:
This very tidy case that
my father told me about,

a man confessed,
he went to jail,

turned out to be a ten-year
rollercoaster ride for me.

(pensive music playing)