ABIGAYLE, CASSANDRA, BLAKE VAUGHN - 12, 11, and 8 - (2007) / Accused: Christopher Vaughn, father Chicago IL

Vaughn tells police wife 'had a gun in my face'

By Jason Meisner Tribune reporter
4:47 p.m. CDT, August 29, 2012

One day after telling police he couldn't remember what had happened in the family's SUV when his wife and three children were fatally shot, Christopher Vaughn told investigators a different story, according to the videotaped interrogation played today for the jury at his murder trial.

Vaughn said that after he had pulled over the vehicle because wife Kimberly was ill, he got out and walked around the SUV. When he got back in, he said, his wife "had a gun in my face."

"I put my hand up," said Vaughn, sitting in a tiny interview room with two detectives while wearing khaki shorts, a blue polo shirt and sandals. He said he heard a bang and felt pain in his leg, stumbled out of the SUV and flagged down a passing motorist.

Vaughn told the story after Illinois State Police Sgt. Joe Stavola spent more than an hour playing "good cop," telling him he could relate to Vaughn's situation because of troubles in his own failed marriage.

At one point, Stavola leaned forward and said in a near-whisper that Vaughn needed to come clean even if it meant casting his wife in a poor light.

"You're the only one who can give us that closure," said Stavola, his hand on Vaughn's shoulder. "You have to tell us what happened."

Vaughn sat with his head down and silent for nearly 30 seconds. Then he told of seeing the gun in his face.

"I don't know if she was mad at me or what," Vaughn said. "It was loud, then everything was quiet. Everything was real quiet."

Earlier today Illinois State Police Sgt. Gary Lawson wrapped up three days on the witness stand, telling the jury that when he and a partner interviewed Vaughn in the days following the June 14, 2007, murders, he was more “lucid” and suddenly remembered that his wife, Kimberly, had shot him shortly after he pulled the SUV over on a frontage road near Channahon.

“He was more upbeat. He was more talkative,” Lawson said of the later interviews.

Jurors so far have watched more than eight hours of videotaped police interviews of Vaughn from the day of the killings. He told detectives he had pulled the SUV onto a frontage road near Channahon after awakening his family early that morning for a surprise trip to a water park in Springfield.

Vaughn said after he got out to check the roof carrier, he noticed his leg was bleeding and ran for help in a panic, ultimately flagging down a passing motorist, according to the earlier version in the interrogation. He told investigators he never heard any gunshots and expressed disbelief that his wife was capable of shooting the children.

In often tense questioning, detectives called Vaughn a liar, confronted him with photos of his kids and shouted expletives at him, but he did not waver from his story.

State police Special Agent Cornelius Monroe testified today that he and his partners used various interrogation techniques with Vaughn, who they felt was deliberately giving them vague answers.

"Anything that was going to benefit Chris, he was able to recall," Monroe said. "But if it was something that was going to point the finger at him, he couldn't remember."

Monroe said the tactics included yelling, swearing, lying about what the police knew and even asking Vaughn about his wife’s sexual abilities.

Vaughn's attorney, George Lenard, pressed Monroe on cross-examination why he would ask such a sensitive question of a man whose wife was just killed.

"To see if he was going to say no, and that would go into why he cheated on her," Monroe said.

Vaughn’s lawyers have blamed the killings on his wife, Kimberly, saying she was upset over his admissions of cheating.

In his testimony today, Monroe also acknowledged that he did get angry during his interrogation of Vaughn on the day of the murders.

Monroe tried to slide photos of the children toward Vaughn, but Vaughn grabbed the picture of his son and crumpled it. Monroe jumped to his feet and came around the table to confront Vaughn when Vaughn ignored his orders to leave the photos of the children alone.

But Monroe testified he was not out of control during the confrontation.

"After the photos were torn up, I may have briefly lost my temper, but I regained my composure," the burly investigator said.

This morning, jurors watched the end of the first day of questioning when Vaughn was allowed to leave the police station. He took a cab to a local motel even though detectives told him his parents had driven up from Missouri and wanted to talk to him.

“I’d rather just have a taxi,” Vaughn said on the video. Before he left, he could be heard joking with paramedics who entered the room to look at the bandages on his leg and wrist, where he had suffered minor gunshot wounds.

Vaughn, 37, is in the second week of a trial on charges he gunned down wife, Kimberly, and their children Abigayle, 12, Cassandra, 11, and Blake, 8, in a bizarre bid to start a new life in the Canadian wilderness.

Vaughn's attorneys have blamed his wife, saying she was distraught over troubles in her marriage and killed the children, wounded Vaughn and then committed suicide.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-witness-vaughn-changed-story-about-deaths-of-wife-kids-20120829,0,6423651.story

Pathologist, Wife’s Acquaintances To Testify In Vaughn Family Massacre Trial

September 5, 2012 6:32 AM

JOLIET, Ill. (CBS) — In the Christopher Vaughn murder trial, prosecutors are expected to call a forensic pathologist to the stand Wednesday.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports, also due up for the prosecution Wednesday are several people who spoke with Christopher Vaughn’s deceased wife, Kimberly, in the days leading up to the shooting deaths of her and her three children.

Maya Drake said she had met with Vaughn four or five times, during which he mentioned his wife of more than 10 years, but did not mention his children. Drake said Vaughn told her he wasn’t happy in his marriage. She said he seemed upset during one visit when he said his wife spent $5,000 on curtains.

The stripper also testified Vaughn never asked her to dance for him, but did spend time with her in the club’s VIP room. The two talked about the outdoors and poetry.

Drake said Vaughn never asked her to move to Canada with him, but had stated that his intention was to leave his wife.

“He said she was going to get everything,” Drake testified. “He said she was going to get what she deserved. She wasn’t going to see it coming.”

Drake went to police after she recognized Vaughn’s name and face on the news in June 2007. She said she “immediately” recognized him as the man she had met at the club.

Prosecutors Tuesday also showed jurors the content of a storage locker in which Vaughn kept camping gear for a new life he allegedly planned to start in the Canadian wilderness.

On June 14, 2007, Vaughn, his wife, and their three children – Abigayle, 12; Cassandra, 11; and Blake, 8, were on their way to a water park in Springfield from their home in Oswego.

Prosecutors say Vaughn shot pulled off Interstate 55 in Channahon Township and stopped on the frontage road. Then, authorities say, he shot his entire family inside their Ford sport-utility vehicle.

Vaughn’s wife was shot in the head, and each of his three children were shot twice. Vaughn himself suffered minor gunshot wounds in his wrist and leg.

Days later, Vaughn was arrested at the funeral services and charged with murder.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/09/05/pathologist-wifes-acquaintances-to-testify-in-vaughn-family-massacre-trial/

Blood evidence appears to dispute Vaughn's story

By Jason Meisner Tribune reporter
1:06 p.m. CDT, September 7, 2012

Blood evidence revealed today in Christopher Vaughn’s quadruple murder trial appeared to contradict his statement to police that he panicked and fled the scene after his wife shot him.

Kelly Krajnik, a state police forensic expert, told jurors that blood from Vaughn’s wife, Kimberly, was found splattered on the front of the fleece jacket worn by her husband when he flagged down a motorist that day in June 2007.

Kimberly’s body was found slumped in the front passenger seat with a gunshot wound under her chin and the seat belt retracted. But when police pulled the seat belt from its compartment above the door, they discovered blood splatters and smears, indicating someone had unbuckled it after the shootings.

Krajnik testified this morning that the blood on the seat belt belonged to Christopher Vaughn.

Vaughn, 37, is on trial on charges he killed his wife and three children after pulling their SUV onto a frontage road near Channahon in June 2007 during what he said was a surprise trip to a Springfield water park.

Vaughn’s attorneys argue that Kimberly, distraught over problems in their marriage, had shot and wounded her husband, killed the children as they slept in the back seat, and then committed suicide.

The Oswego father, who suffered minor gunshots to the leg and wrist, at first told police he couldn’t remember what had happened. But later he recalled his wife pointed a gun at him and fired. He said he immediately bailed out of the vehicle and stumbled up the frontage road looking for help.

The highly technical testimony comes a day after jurors got a look at emails and other documents investigators found on a laptop belonging to Christopher Vaughn.

A forensic investigator testified she found a mass of encrypted information on Vaughn’s laptop, including photos from a scouting trip he made to the Yukon, lists of the belongings he needed to bring to survive long-term, and manuals on how to hunt big game.

Also found were messages he posted to a social networking site using the screen name “Dewoodsman.”

“For anyone looking to get lost in the wilderness, I would highly recommend the Yukon,” Vaughn wrote in one post.

Information gleaned from Kimberly Vaughn’s desktop computer showed she had visited marriage counseling websites, including one that recommended ways to “turn around marriages in trouble.” She also wrote that she suffered from stress-related headaches that sometimes made her physically ill.

But Kimberly Vaughn also defended her marriage in emails to friends and online classmates. She told a story about being asked at a party how she could trust her husband when he traveled all the time.

“The main reason is Chris doesn’t put himself in the position to cheat,” Kimberly wrote. “He is not out cruising the bars. He has never really been that type.”

Two former strippers have already testified Vaughn visited clubs where they worked and spent lavishly.

One, Maya Drake, said Vaughn had told her he was going to leave his wife and she would never see it coming.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-blood-evidence-appears-to-dispute-vaughns-story-20120907,0,4144208.story?track=rss

Judge rejects mistrial request in Christopher Vaughn murder trial

By JON SEIDEL AND ERIKA WURST, Sun-Times Media
September 11, 2012 9:28AM
Updated: September 11, 2012 5:40PM

The judge in the Christopher Vaughn murder trial rejected a request for a mistrial after one of the last prosecution witnesses in the four weeks of testimony told jurors Kimberly Vaughn had to have been shot before her husband based on blood evidence found at the scene.

Kish first told jurors that Vaughn’s statement to police after his family was found dead in their SUV does not account for his blood found on various places inside the vehicle. And then Kish concluded Kimberly Vaughn was shot before her husband, contrary to what Vaughn told police, because her body was immobile when Vaughn’s blood dripped on her.

Defense attorney George Lenard objected and requested the mistrial, but Judge Daniel Rozak denied the request.

Read more: http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/news/15079532-418/expert-evidence-doesnt-show-who-shot-christopher-vaughn-his-family.html

Prosecutors Rest Their Case Against Christopher Vaughn

September 12, 2012 3:09 PM

JOLIET, Ill. (STMW) – Prosecutors have rested their case against Christopher Vaughn, the Oswego man accused of gunning down his wife and three young children so he could go live a life of isolation in the Canadian wilderness.

The jury considering Vaughn’s guilt heard from about 80 witnesses over more than three weeks. They painted a picture of a man disinterested and fed up with his life as a suburban family man and private investigator of computer forensics in downtown Chicago, and who was spending thousands of dollars at strip clubs in the days leading up to his family’s deaths.

They also heard Vaughn’s wife, Kimberly, described as a happy and optimistic homemaker looking forward to a new career after her graduation from the University of Phoenix.

But Vaughn’s attorneys have said Kimberly pulled the trigger, and Wednesday morning they called their first witness to the stand — ballistics expert and criminalist Lucien Haag of Arizona. His testimony is likely to continue after a lunch break.

Read More: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/09/12/prosecution-rests-case-in-vaughn-murder-trial/

Vaughn murder trial closing arguments expected in 1 week

September 13, 2012|By Steve Schmadeke | Tribune reporter

Closing arguments in the Christopher Vaughn quadruple-murder trial are expected to happen one week from today, attorneys said in court this morning.

Vaughn’s defense attorney George Lenard said he expects to finish his case on Tuesday. Prosecutors would then put on their rebuttal witnesses later Tuesday and then Wednesday, and closing arguments would start next Thursday morning.

“We are very close to the end,” Judge Daniel Rozak told jurors before dismissing them for the day late this morning.

Vaughn is charged with shooting his wife and three children, ages 12, 11 and 8, in the Oswego family’s SUV in 2007. The family was driving to a Springfield water park when Vaughn pulled over to a frontage road near Channahon, where the shootings occurred, Vaughn told police. He suffered minor gunshot wounds.

Vaughn’s attorneys began presenting his case Wednesday after prosecutors rested their case.

Most of the testimony this morning came from Vaughn’s sister-in-law Rachel Vaughn, who told jurors that Christopher Vaughn’s wife, Kimberly, told her about a month before the slayings about a panic attack she’d had.

Christopher Vaughn’s attorneys say Kimberly, distraught over her husband’s cheating and taking medication that can increase suicidal behavior, shot their children before turning the gun on herself.

Prosecutors allege Vaughn killed his family as part of an "exit scenario" that would allow him to live a solitary life in the Canadian wilderness.

sschmadeke@tribune.com

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-13/news/chi-christopher-vaughn-quadruple-murder-trial-closing-arguments-expected-in-1-week-20120913_1_springfield-water-park-vaughn-murder-christopher-vaughn

Christopher Vaughn’s Sister Testifies At His Murder Trial

September 13, 2012 5:32 PM
JOLIET, Ill. (STMW) – Jurors could begin deliberations late next week in the Christopher Vaughn murder trial, with the defense’s case wrapping up as early as Tuesday.

Testimony ended before noon Thursday as the Oswego man’s attorneys continued their defense and made their second motion for a mistrial in the nearly four-week trial.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Terry Keshner reports

Download: mp3_bc_-wav_carts_vaughn-kesh-v3.mp3

Vaughn’s attorneys objected to questions prosecutors asked Illinois State Police Sgt. Gary Lawson about limitations Vaughn allegedly placed on his interviews with investigators after his family was killed in June 2007. They said the question was leading, and beyond the scope of their initial questioning of Lawson.

“It’s a big issue,” Lenard said of the question asked by Assistant States Attorney Chris Regis. “He asked a leading question.”

Judge Daniel Rozak sustained their objection, but then rejected their request for a mistrial.

When jurors were brought back to the courtroom, testimony continued with Vaughn’s sister-in-law, Rachel Vaughn, taking the stand. Rachel Vaughn testified about a conversation she had with Kimberly Vaughn about two weeks before Kimberly and her children were found shot to death in the family’s SUV.

During that conversation, Rachel Vaughn said Kimberly discussed being anxious, and pointed to migraine and blood pressure medicine that she was taking as being a possible catalyst for her increasing anxiety.

Rachel Vaughn also testified that during their conversation, Kimberly told her that online classes she was taking at the University of Phoenix had recently taken a toll on her mental state. In reference to a homework assignment she almost failed to turn in, Rachel said Kimberly told her that she “freaked out.”

“Her words were that she panicked and made a big scene,” Rachel Vaughn said. Kimberly and Christopher Vaughn were at a Jeep Jamboree in Missouri where she could not access the Internet to turn in her work.

Kimberly “said she had a lot of trouble with anxiety. Part of reason she was telling me that story is she was embarrassed by her reaction. She said she knew she had overreacted, and she was overreacting to small provocation and that was something she was working with her doctor.”

Defense attorneys for Christopher Vaughn have said Kimberly was suicidal, and turned the gun on herself, her husband and her children as a result. After the judge sent the jurors home for the day Thursday, lawyers found themselves arguing about whether Kimberly Vaughn’s doctors can testify she thought her sister was bi-polar. The judge said it can only come up so defense attorneys could argue to the jury about her state of mind when she died.

Prosecutors allege Christopher Vaughn wanted to escape a life of suburban obligation and head to the Canadian wilderness, so he shot Kimberly and their three children — 12-year-old Abigayle, 11-year-old Cassandra and 8-year-old Blake — on June 14, 2007. They say he then shot himself twice, creating superficial wounds in his wrist and thigh, before flagging down a passerby on a frontage road west of Interstate 55, where the SUV was found.

Vaughn contends he was taking his family to a water park in Springfield, but pulled off the highway when his wife got sick. He said he sought a secluded area to give Kimberly some privacy. He said he got out of the car, checked the rooftop luggage carrier and returned to the driver’s seat. That’s when he said his wife shot him and he left the SUV.

Prosecutors said Vaughn got out of the car, shot his wife and children, and then returned to the driver’s seat to shoot himself so it would look like his wife turned the gun on him. Then they said he put his 9 mm Taurus pistol on the floor between Kimberly’s feet and unbuckled her seat belt.

A bloodstain pattern analyst has said Christopher Vaughn’s blood was found on Kimberly’s retracted seatbelt, on the car’s center console and on the floor beside the gun. Her blood was also found on his jacket, which prosecutors say disproves Vaughn’s statement that he was out of the vehicle when his family was shot.

Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/09/13/christopher-vaughns-sister-testifies-at-his-murder-trial/

Testimony concludes in Christopher Vaughn trial

September 19, 2012|By Steve Schmadeke, Chicago Tribune reporter

In a soft voice, Christopher Vaughn politely told a Will County judge that he wouldn't take the witness stand as testimony in his five-week murder trial came to a close Tuesday.

Vaughn, 37, is charged with killing his wife, Kimberly, 34, and their three children inside the Oswego family's SUV, which was packed for a 2007 trip to a Springfield water park. Abigayle, 12, Cassandra, 11, and Blake, 8, were buckled into their seats, surrounded by blankets and pillows when they were each shot twice — once in the head and once in the torso.

The lengthy trial has featured testimony from the exotic dancers Vaughn spent thousands of dollars on shortly before the shootings and a friend with whom Vaughn discussed leaving his family behind to start a new life in the Canadian wilderness. Vaughn, who was interested in druidism, wrote jailhouse poems in a runic alphabet that an FBI expert was called to decipher for jurors.

Closing arguments in the case are scheduled for Thursday.

During the past week, Vaughn's defense attorneys have tried to convince jurors that Kimberly Vaughn killed the children and then herself. But none of the experts they called unequivocally backed that claim, testifying only that it was possible but also just as likely that Christopher Vaughn had killed his family.

The final defense witness was Tom Bevel, a blood-spatter expert who testified that bloodstains on Kimberly Vaughn's left hand are consistent with "blowback" spatter from possibly shooting herself.

She was shot once under the chin, with the muzzle of the gun either pressed against her skin or very close, according to trial testimony. Her husband's 9 mm handgun was found between her feet with the hammer cocked.

Bevel testified that though he knew Kimberly Vaughn was right-handed, he had seen cases where people commit suicide with their weak hand.

But under cross-examination, Bevel agreed with Will County prosecutors that blood evidence left in the vehicle "does not comport with" Christopher Vaughn's statement to police that he left the vehicle after being shot. Vaughn had superficial gunshot wounds to his wrist and leg.

When Assistant State's Attorney Mike Fitzgerald asked Bevel how Kimberly Vaughn's blood got onto the back of her husband's jacket if she shot herself last, Bevel said her blood might have gotten onto it in some earlier incident.

Fitzgerald also questioned why Bevel had excised from his report the opinion that Christopher Vaughn had unbuckled his wife's seat belt. Bevel removed the sentence after he was challenged to explain it previously by defense attorney George Lenard.

Christopher Vaughn's blood was found on the belt buckle. Defense attorneys argued that it got there in a struggle after Kimberly Vaughn shot her husband.

Prosecutors have argued that Christopher Vaughn's gunshot wounds were self-inflicted.

With jurors out of the courtroom Tuesday, Judge Daniel Rozak questioned Vaughn about whether he would take the stand.

"I do not wish to testify," Vaughn told Rozak in a soft voice after twice saying, "No, thank you," when the judge asked if he had any questions or needed more time to discuss his decision with his attorneys.

Prosecutors called only one rebuttal witness, Dr. Michael Shrift, director of the neuropsychiatry program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Vaughn's defense team had sought to paint Kimberly Vaughn as troubled and taking medications for her migraine and tension headaches that increased her risk of suicidal behavior.

Shrift testified that the drugs Kimberly Vaughn was taking — Topamax and nortriptyline — are commonly prescribed together. He said there is no strong evidence that either drug increases suicide risks and no evidence that, when taken together, any risk is multiplied.

sschmadeke@tribune.com

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-19/news/ct-met-christopher-vaughn-trial-0919-20120919_1_christopher-vaughn-fbi-expert-gunshot-wounds

Closing arguments today in Vaughn trial

September 20, 2012|By Steve Schmadeke | Tribune reporter
A Will County jury could begin deliberating this afternoon after closing arguments scheduled for this morning in the murder trial of an Oswego man accused of fatally shooting his family in 2007.

The close of the Christopher Vaughn trial follows five weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses, viewing horrific crime scene photos and watching hours of police interrogation videos.

Vaughn, 37, is charged with killing his wife and three children inside the Oswego family's Ford Expedition as they were on what Vaughn told them was an outing to a Springfield water park in 2007.

All four were fatally shot with a handgun after Vaughn pulled the SUV onto a frontage road off Interstate 55 near Channahon. His attorneys have argued that Vaughn's wife, Kimberly, shot her children and then killed herself.

She was shot once under the chin, and the 9mm handgun used in all the killings was found with the hammer cocked on the floor between her feet.

Prosecutors have said the family was killed as part of an "exit scenario" by an emotionless Vaughn, who spent thousands of dollars with strippers in the days before the slayings and spoke of escaping his suburban life and family for solitude in the Canadian wilderness.

The state's closing arguments will be handled by Will County Assistant State's Attorney Mike Fitzgerald with prosecutor Christopher Regis giving a final word to jurors before they begin deliberations later today.

Vaughn faces a life sentence if convicted.

sschmadeke@tribune.com

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-20/news/chi-closing-arguments-today-in-vaughn-trial-20120920_1_springfield-water-park-christopher-vaughn-arguments

Jurors to get Christopher Vaughn murder case on Thursday

By ERIKA WURST AND JON SEIDEL Sun-Times Media September 18, 2012 9:40AM

Updated: September 19, 2012 4:50PM

After listening to more than four weeks of testimony about the fatal shootings of Christopher Vaughn’s wife and three children, the jury won’t hear the Oswego man explain why he was the only member of his family to walk away from their SUV in June 2007.

Christopher Vaughn offered quick answers to Judge Daniel Rozak’s questions when his turn came to take the witness stand.

“I do not wish to testify,” Vaughn said. With that, his lawyers rested their case and prosecutors called just one witness in rebuttal, neuropsychiatrist Michael Schrift. Then prosecutors rested their case, and the judge told jurors to return for closing arguments Thursday.

That’s when the case likely will go to the jurors after a long trial filled with gruesome crime scene photos; testimony from two former exotic dancers, and a reading of several emails by a Canadian man who received them from Vaughn. The two men allegedly planned to disappear into the Canadian wilderness together.

Vaughn is accused of shooting to death his wife, Kimberly, 34, and their three children, Abigayle, 12; Cassandra, 11, and Blake, 8, in their red Ford Expedition on June 14, 2007. The SUV was parked in a small gravel drive off a frontage road west of Interstate 55.

A man driving to work that day found Vaughn limping and bloody, claiming his wife had shot him. He had superficial gunshot wounds in his left wrist and thigh. Prosecutors say Vaughn staged the scene — to make it appear that his wife killed the kids and herself — so he could vanish into the Yukon.

http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/news/15224261-418/christopher-vaughn-murder-trial-in-final-stages.html

The Vaughn family: Christopher, Kimberly and Abigayle (right) behind Cassandra and Blake.

Jurors Convict Christopher Vaughn Of Killing His Family

September 20, 2012 1:47 PM



JOLIET, Ill. (CBS) — A jury on Thursday took less than an hour to convict Christoper Vaughn of fatally shooting his wife and three children in 2007 along an Illinois interstate.

The jury of four women and eight men got the case at 3:30 p.m. Thursday after hearing closing arguments that capped a five-week murder trial. Word that a verdict had been reached came at 4:25 p.m., followed quickly by the reading of the jury’s decision in court.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Bob Roberts reports

Download: mp3_bc_-wav_carts_vaughn-w3-thu.mp3


“This case is not just a murder – it’s an atrocity,” Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow told reporters after the verdict. “To annihilate your family – I can’t think of a more unspeakable crime. The bedrock foundation of our society is the unconditional love we have for our children, and this crime was the antithesis of that.”

Glasgow noted Vaughn did not have any visible reaction as the verdict was read.

“He was just as emotionless when the police interviewed him and showed him the pictures of his family to him,” he said. “He’s a sociopath, he’s a psychopath, he’s going to get life in prison. And after that, he’ll be on his road to perdition.”

Juror Dan Lachat said the prosecution’s evidence, as a whole, proved overwhelming. He also noted Vaughn’s deadpan appearance in court throughout the trial, but another juror, Bob Trax, said he didn’t necessarily read anything into the defendant’s lack of emotion.

“I’m not even sure all of the characteristics of a psychopath,” Trax said near the Will County Courthouse.

He summed up deliberations this way: “I just felt that collectively we did what needed to be done.”

Vaughn’s sentencing was set for Nov. 26. That is the same date another high-profile Will County defendant, Drew Peterson, will be sentenced. The former Bolingbrook police officer was convicted earlier this month of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

In closing arguments, prosecutors and defense attorneys both said Vaughn wanted to leave his family more than five years ago, but defense attorneys denied the Vaughn killed his wife and children to do so. They blamed his wife for the fatal shootings.

Vaughn, 37, is accused of shooting his wife and three children inside the Oswego family’s SUV in June 2007, after waking them up to tell them he was taking them on a trip to a Springfield water park. All four were shot after Vaughn pulled off of Interstate 55 onto an isolated frontage road near Channahon.

After a month of testimony, jurors heard closing arguments from both sides on Thursday. Prosecutors said Vaughn wanted to leave his family and live in the Canadian wilderness, and plotted to kill them and make it look like his wife was responsible.

But defense attorneys have said his wife, Kimberly, was distraught over a troubled marriage and shot Christopher Vaughn before killing the children and taking her own life.

Prosecutor Michael Fitzgerald said Vaughn’s wife and kids were obstacles in his plan to leave the family and live in the Yukon.

“Christopher Vaughn no longer wanted Kimberly, Abigayle, Cassandra and Blake in his life. They were holding him down, and he had to find a way to get out the life he was in,” Fitzgerald said. “And the way he chose was to murder his wife and kids, and make it look like Kimberly did it.”

In the defense’s closing argument, Assistant Will County Public Defender George Lenard acknowledged Vaughn wanted to leave his family, but said he’s not on trial for that. He said the evidence shows it was Vaughn’s wife, Kimberly, who shot her husband and kids, then killed herself.

He reminded the jurors prosecution witnesses said the shot under her chin could have been self-inflicted.

“That’s reasonable doubt,” he said.

Lenard said Vaughn initially told police he couldn’t remember what happened, only because he felt guilty about cheating on his wife, and believed his infidelity drove her to kill.

But Fitzgerald painted Vaughn as callous, saying he was more concerned that paramedics might ruin his clothes while treating a gunshot wound to his leg.

“He made complaints about his boots being cut up and his jacket being ruined, but has not asked about this children,” Fitzgerald said.

He also reminded jurors that Kimberly’s blood was on Christopher’s coat, and asked jurors how that could happen if Christopher was outside the vehicle when Kimberly shot herself, as he claims.

Prosecutors began presenting their rebuttal argument early Thursday afternoon, and jurors could begin deliberations later in the day.

If Vaughn is convicted, he would face a life sentence, as Illinois has abolished the death penalty.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/09/20/jurors-hear-closing-arguments-in-christopher-vaughn-murder-trial/

Christopher Vaughn Guilty: Illinois Man Convicted Of Killing Family On Road Trip

By MICHAEL TARM 09/20/12 09:56 PM ET EDT

JOLIET, Ill. — Jurors deliberated for less than an hour Thursday before convicting a suburban Chicago man of fatally shooting his wife and three children during what he told them was a road trip to a water park.

Christopher Vaughn shot his family, including one of his daughters as she clutched a stuffed animal, because he saw them as obstacles to his dream of starting a new, isolated life in the Canadian wilderness, prosecutors told jurors before they withdrew to deliberate.

Vaughn hunched forward as jurors re-entered the Joliet courtroom, but the 37-year-old computer specialist displayed no visible emotion as their verdict was read. Sitting nearby, his wife's sister smiled and cried quietly, and family members later wept as they fell into each other's arms in a courtroom hall.

"This case is not just a murder, it's an atrocity," Will County States Attorney James Glasgow said outside the courthouse. "To annihilate your family, I can't think of a more unspeakable crime."

Glasgow noted that Vaughn's two daughters and son were each shot in the chest and head, and he said the father's lack of emotion was the mark of "a psychopath."

Jury foreman Dan Lashat said jurors believed Vaughn's odd and inappropriate demeanor strongly suggested he killed his family. The jurors were later applauded by relatives of Vaughn's wife as they walked into a nearby restaurant.

Vaughn faces a maximum life prison term when sentenced Nov. 26.

The prosecution argued that he had compiled survival guides and posted wistful Internet messages about constructing a cabin and settling for good in the Yukon, cut off from the world.

Then early on June 14, 2007, Vaughn awoke his wife and children, promising a surprise trip to a water park downstate. Prosecutors alleged that he pulled the family SUV off the highway after 5 a.m. He placed a pistol under his 34-year-old wife Kimberly's chin and fired, then meticulously shot 12-year-old Abigayle, 11-year-old Cassandra and 8-year-old Blake – each in the chest and head.

Abigayle was found holding a stuffed animal and a Harry Potter book. Forensics experts said the trajectory of the bullet into Blake's chest indicated he had raised his arm up as he was shot.

During nearly a full day of closing arguments Thursday, prosecutor Chris Regis read emails that Christopher Vaughn wrote to a friend before the murders saying he longed for a life unencumbered by cellphones and other hallmarks of modernity. He cited poet Henry David Thoreau about the virtue of shrugging off obligations.

"I just want to live plain and simple," Vaughn wrote in one email.

Regis said Vaughn felt held back by four obstacles, all of which "were eliminated on June 14, 2007."

Vaughn took notes during the nearly six hours of closing arguments but displayed little emotion as he sat at the defense table, even when prosecutors displayed crime-scene photos of his wife, her head hanging back and dried blood near her nose and mouth.

In his closing, defense attorney George Lenard repeated Vaughn's contention that his wife was suicidal over marriage troubles and affected emotionally by antidepressant medication. The defense claimed she shot Vaughn in the wrist and leg, then killed the children and herself.

Lenard added later that Kimberly Vaughn may have seen the murder of her kids as a twisted act of mercy.

"(She) was of the mindset that if she was gone, they were better off with her ... `Come with me to heaven,'" Lenard said, depicting what the mother might have been thinking.

Prosecutors balked at that idea. In his closing, Mike Fitzgerald cited witnesses who testified that Kimberly Vaughn was upbeat around the time and that, just the evening before, she had fussed cheerfully over a recipe for "cheesy potatoes."

Moreover, he asked how the wife could have just grazed her husband with two bullets as he sat right next to her – yet somehow managed to put a bullet into each of her children's heads.

"No way, ladies and gentlemen," Fitzgerald told jurors. "No way that's possible."

Prosecutors called more than 80 witnesses during their three-week presentation to jurors, including a stripper Vaughn confided in about his marital troubles. She said Vaughn never asked her to dance, but that they discussed the outdoors and poetry. The manager of a suburban strip club, Scores Chicago, testified that in the days before the killing, Vaughn spent nearly $5,000 at the establishment.

A series of forensics experts testified that blood splatter, the angle of the shots and other evidence proved Vaughn pulled the trigger. An investigator described finding a magazine at Vaughn's home with an article on how to make a murder look like a suicide. And prosecutors entered evidence that he visited a gun range the day before the slayings.

They also entered emails into evidence where Kimberly Vaughn expressed admiration for her husband, in one calling him her "hero."

Several emails of Christopher Vaughn's to a friend were also read in court. In one, he wrote that his wife would "be just fine" because he planned to fake his own death so she could collect on his life insurance policy.

Jurors also watched hours of videotaped police interviews of Vaughn from the day of the shootings. In one, state Trooper Cornelious Monroe brought out pictures of Vaughn's children, questioned Vaughn's cool demeanor and added that, if his own kids had been murdered, he would be crying.

"Good for you," Vaughn replied.

Regis said Vaughn didn't display a hint of guilty conscience until he was left alone in an interview room with a crime-scene photo of his son. Video shows Vaughn staring at the picture, then pushing it away, then covering it up.

The prosecutor likened the scene to the murderer in Edgar Allen Poe's horror story, "The Tell-Tale Heart," where a killer goes mad as he starts to hear his victim's beating heart.

"That picture is like a Tell-Tale heart. It's beating louder, louder, louder," Regis said, his voice rising in indignation. "That picture is screaming at him."
__

Follow Michael Tarm at http://www.twitter.com/mtarm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/20/christopher-vaughn-guilty_n_1901833.html

So glad this murderer has been convicted. Hope you don't mind that I added several articles describing the trial and convicted.

Now let's hope he gets life in prison with no parole. Throw away the key on this sociopath.

Illinois has made bad mistakes in the past in executions but this case screams for the death penality. Why should this monster get life when four people were killed in cold blood. With three being little angels.

I for one am for getting the death penality back on the books here in Illinois.

William

Vaughn sentenced to 4 life terms for murder of wife, 3 kids, Motion for New Trial Denied

Nancy Loo, WGN Staff WGN News
12:42 p.m. CST, November 27, 2012

JOLIET, Ill.— Christopher Vaughn of Oswego will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murders of his wife and children.

Will County Judge Daniel Rozak sentenced Vaughn to four consecutive terms of life in prison with no possibility of parole for killing his wife, Kimberly, and their three children, Abigayle, 12, Cassandra, 11 and Blake, 8.

Kimberly Vaughn's family expressed relief and disappointment that Christopher Vaughn did not address the court or express any remorse.

"Since this entire process is over now and we won't be involved with an appeal, we can begin to really get with the business of grieving," Kimberly's mother, Susan Phillips, said after the sentencing hearing.

"We had no indication from this individual that he could be so evil or do such acts, but we did find out the hard way," Kimberly's father, Del Phillips, told reporters.

There was little public comment from Kimberly Vaughn's identical twin sister. Jennifer Ledbetter gave an especially emotional testimony ahead of the sentencing of her former brother-in-law. Ledbetter was in tears as she talked of the indescribable pain of losing her twin and the nieces and nephew who loved sports and school.

Vaughn showed no emotion after being sentenced to four life terms. His family refused all requests for interviews.

Kimberly Vaughn's family had great praise for the prosecutors and felt the evidence was overwhelming throughout the trial.

"What this guy did here was a diabolical atrocity," Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow said after the sentencing. "He's a heartless, soulless psychopath. That's the bottom line."

Earlier, Judge Rozak denied a defense motion for a new trial in the Vaughn case, saying he'd admonished jurors to avoid all press during the trial.

Christopher Vaughn's attorneys had said fallout from the Drew Peterson trial had left jurors prejudiced against defense attorneys.

But Rozak said any comparisons he heard between the two defense teams labelled Vaughn lawyer George Lenard as "the 2nd coming of Clarence Darrow" while the others were like a rerun of Mo Howard in "Disorder in the Court" he said, referring to Peterson's defense team "antics."

http://www.wgntv.com/news/wgntv-judge-denies-motion-for-new-trial-in-vaughn-case-20121127,0,943831.story

Husband sentenced to four life terms for executing his three children and wife during trip to waterpark - so he could start a new life in Canada

• Vaughn showed no emotion with his sentence that has no possibility of parole
  
• His lawyers claimed his wife, Kimberly, had killed the children, shot Vaughn and then committed suicide
  
• But prosecutors say Vaughn planned the murders because he saw his wife and children as obstacles to a new life
  

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 23:11 EST, 27 November 2012 | UPDATED: 07:28 EST, 28 November 2012

A Chicago man who fatally shot his wife and three school-aged children in the family's SUV as they drove to an Illinois waterpark has been sentenced to four life terms in prison for the heartless murder.

Christopher Vaughn, 37, was sentenced on Monday two months after jurors found him guilty of mercilessly killing his 34-year-old wife Kimberly and their children aged 8, 11 and 12 in June of 2007.

‘Our hearts ache with the knowledge that they were priceless to everyone but the one man who should have loved them more than their own life,’ Kimberly's twin sister Jennifer Ledbetter told the judge striking a rare moment of perceived emotion from Vaugh, the Chicago Tribunereports.



Locked away: Christopher Vaughn, 37, has been sentenced to four life terms in
prison without parole for the murder of his wife and three children in
June of 2007

Family annihilator: Vaughn is pictured with his wife Kimberly, 34, and
children (left to right) Cassandra, 11, Blake, 8, and Abigayle, 12

It was in the early morning of June 14 that prosecutors said Vaugh surprised his family with a trip to an area waterpark before pulling off the road and placing a 9mm Taurus pistol under his wife's chin and firing.

He next turned to each of his three children buckled in the back seat and fired at each of them, once in the chest and once in the head.

Prosecutors said Vaugh dreamed of starting a new life in the Canadian wilderness and his family was the obstacle stopping him.

Shortly after 5 am his wife, his 12-year-old daughter Abigayle, 11-year-old daughter Cassandra and eight-year-old son Blake were found dead.

Abigayle was found holding a stuffed animal; Blake's wounds indicated he had raised his arm – to shield himself.

With his life sentences the judge gave no possibility of parole. Vaughn was eligible for the death penalty when the case began, but Illinois has since abolished capital punishment.


Escape: Prosecutors say Vaughn saw his wife and children as obstacles standing
in the way of his flight to Canada to live in the wilderness

Vaughn did not make a statement in court but turned and quietly looked at his attending family as he exited the courtroom.

Vaughn, who lived with his family in a spacious Oswego home, faced a mandatory life term for the killings. But the hearing in Joliet gave relatives a chance to confront him and to convey how much pain he caused.

'We had no indication from this individual that he could be so evil that he could do such acts but we did find out the hard way,' Kimberly Vaughn's father Del Phillips said at a following press conference.

The 2007 murders started out as a death penalty case, slowing the pace to trial. But Illinois has since abolished capital punishment, making life in prison the maximum penalty.

Vaughn murdered his family members, prosecutors say, because he saw them as obstacles to his dream of a new life in Canada. He posted wistful Internet messages about building a cabin and settling in the Yukon cut off from the world.


No emotion: Like with his conviction, pictured, Vaughn was expressionless as he heard his sentence on Monday




Tragedy: Prosecutors said Vaugh surprised his family with an early morning trip
to a water park before pulling off to the side of the road and shooting
each one of them from left seen Abbi, Sandi and Blake



Accused: Vaughn's lawyers claim his wife Kimberly killed the children and then committed suicide

'He was held back by four major obstacles,' prosecutor Chris Regis said. 'Those four obstacles were eliminated on June 14, 2007.'

Regis read emails Vaughn wrote to a friend before the murders saying he longed for a life unencumbered by cellphones and other hallmarks of modernity.

He cited poet Henry David Thoreau about the virtue of shrugging off obligations.

'I just want to live plain and simple,' Vaughn wrote in one email.

At trial, defense attorneys told jurors that Vaughn's wife was to blame, saying she was suicidal over marital strife. They suggested she shot her husband in the wrist and leg, then killed the children and herself.

Vaugh's defense attorney added later that Kimberly Vaughn may have seen the murder of her kids as a twisted act of mercy.

'(She) was of the mindset that they if she was gone, they were better off with her ... "Come with me to heaven,"' Lenard said, depicting what the mother might have been thinking.

Prosecutors balked at that theory, asking jurors whether it seems reasonable that a woman who disliked guns could have shot her husband twice, only grazing him each time, but fatally shot each of her children with a marksman's precision.

In his closing, Mike Fitzgerald cited witnesses who testified that Kimberly Vaughn was upbeat around the time and that, just the evening before, she had fussed cheerfully over a recipe for 'cheesy potatoes.'

Moreover, he asked how the wife could have just grazed her husband with two bullets as he sat right next to her -- yet somehow managed to put a bullet into each of her children's heads.

'No way, ladies and gentlemen,' Fitzgerald said. 'No way that's possible.'

They contended that Christopher Vaughn shot himself to make it look like his wife carried out the attack, and told jurors that Vaughn showed little emotion after the shootings and was more interested in his damaged clothing than the fate of his family.

A jury took less than an hour to convict the suburban Chicago computer specialist of carrying out the horrific execution.

Vaughn showed no emotion as the verdict was read while family members of the victims cried and hugged each other in a hallway outside the courtroom immediately afterward.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2239561/Christopher-Vaughn-sentenced-life-terms-brutal-slayings-children-wife-SUV.html#ixzz2DWcM0Fon

This is one of those cases that defy belief. how could a man so evil masquerade as a normal husband and father.

I shutter to think of the horror and fright those precious children felt as they watched him murder their mother, then one by one execute them.

The POS even wanted the world think his wife was the monster.

Unbelievable. I hope his fellow convicts punish him daily. Even most convicts have a moral code.