September 2, 2021 • 41 mins
Written words have played a variety of roles throughout the history of this tragedy. They’ve been used to insinuate, accuse and incriminate but they also offer insight and revelations potentially resulting in new evidence.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Murder in Illinois is a production of iHeartRadio. The words
the pen is Mightier than the Sword were first written
in eighteen thirty nine by an English novelist and playwright.
It's an interesting concept, the power of words to defend,
(00:23):
to inspire, or to wound, especially now in a time
in which technology enables us to fire off texts, shoot
each other emails, and attack one another on social media
or online posts. It's something I thought of often as
I set out to write this podcast. The Vaughan family
had already experienced written outrage in many forms after Chris's arrest, trial,
(00:47):
and verdict. As we neared the release of our first episode,
potential response weighed heavily on everyone involved. The first article
about this podcast to go live was the local Patch
website in Shanahan where the tragedy occurred, and with it
came reader comments like these Jim from Joliet, lock me
(01:10):
in his cell with him. He'll remember who did it
real quick. Wally, also from Joliet. Unless the Vaughan family
is saying Chris is guilty, they really need to shut up.
And Phil from Wheaton, Illinois reference is another man convicted
of killing his family in his post. Let's lock him
(01:31):
up with Chris Watts and they can swap stories of
how they each murdered their children and wives while we
slowly burn down the place. I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco, and
this is murder in Illinois, okay you. After Chris Vaughn's
(02:22):
wife and three children were found dead, speculation as to
Chris's guilt started immediately on message boards and reader comments
beneath news articles. Here's Gail's sister Rose.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Passing judgment on people hiding behind a screen and putting
words and texts on the Internet without knowing truths, not
knowing whole story, only seeing parts that have been manufactured
in a lot of different areas.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
That's a hard one.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
There's a lot, and it's billed over in person on
a deeply personal level.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
When this all took place, even though I don't live
anywhere near Missouri, but this is where our original family started,
I had to put my children of protectiveness.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
At their school.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
So I had two middle schoolers and I had to
go and talk to the principal because there were parents
that were just being I was stocked. I had people
in our driveway constantly. I had reporters. We have a
long driveway, like a three quarter of a mile driveway,
(03:37):
and there were people parked everywhere. I called the police,
but the police wouldn't do anything.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
After Chris's arrest, many viewed the extended Vaughan family as
guilty too. By relation. Gail Vaughan was particularly targeted as
the woman who mothered the man accused of killing, the
mother of his three kids and his children. Some were
even motivated enough to express their thoughts in calls or
(04:02):
letters they mailed to her home.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Oh pretty much, How could you be the mother of
a killer?
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Why did you even give him birth?
Speaker 4 (04:14):
There was a gentleman that texted and said that in
his opinion, Chris was guilty and he needed to be
stripped and sent to Canada in the middle of the
winter and see if he can survive there. And just
a lot of why Chris was even here, Why are
(04:37):
you defending your son?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
He did it?
Speaker 6 (04:40):
And we received that stuff, but there again, our lawyers
told us not to speak the public, so we never
even gave a comment to any media person at all.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
The letter started coming shortly after the tragedy.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
It seemed like it was about a week. The letters
started coming after the funeral I got a number of
hate mail that just said vile things. I got a
couple letters from religious people that wanted to save Chris's soul.
(05:14):
Many of them were very, very hateful.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Here's an excerpt from one that she's capped for fourteen years.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
There was no return address, it has been typed, it
was not signed, and it's dated June twenty sixth, twenty seven.
Mister and missus Vaughan, as a resident of Aswego, Illinois.
(05:43):
I am sickened at the news of the heartless, cruel
act your son inflicted on his wife and beautiful children.
Following the news story from the moment it broke, I
had no doubt in my mind of your son's guilt.
His story made absolutely no sense from the very beginning.
(06:05):
What kind of sick mind would put two bullets through
each one of his children's bodies at such close range
and then kill his wife. I can't even begin to
imagine the scared thoughts running through those children's minds as
this punk riddled their bodies with bullets. Matter of fact,
(06:28):
Chris is such a coward he couldn't even put a
bullet through his own head, which is where it belongs.
We are delighted in the fact that he was arrested,
and now Kim and his precious children may rest in
the comfort of God's peace. It would have been highly
unfair for the souls of those murdered that Chris be
(06:48):
given the opportunity to attend their burial. Congratulations to the
law enforcement personnel who made his arrest early in the morning.
We are now left with having to playing to our
little children why the dad of Kim's three children killed them.
The children in this community do not understand, and frankly,
(07:10):
neither do the adults. Chris thought he was so cool
that he could get away with this horrific crime. I
look forward to the day he is found guilty for this.
Only a cold hearted, psychopathic mind would kill his children
and wife, and I would be disgusted and ashamed of
(07:31):
my son. May the souls of Kim, Abby, Sandy and
Blake rest in peace. Hell awaits those so cruel.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Written things would also play heavily and to the time
Galen Rose spent cleaning and clearing out the Vaughan family's
os we Go home after the tragedy. In Chris's office,
Rose discovered a written list on his desk.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
In his office.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
He had an amazing book collection that was right next
to where he sat, and you could tell that he
used them quite often because there were markers and napkins
whatever marking places. And the books were amazing to me
because these are all my loves, David Throw, Walt Whitman, Emerson,
(08:21):
Edgar Allan Poe. There were just amazing books that he had,
and they weren't like they were on the top shelf.
They were right next to his desk, and because we
were cleaning everything out, they would take out annie markers
or names or anything like that. I took out a
piece of paper that was in one of those and
it looked like it was newer than later older, and
(08:44):
it struck me because the note was I'm looking at
my notes. It was a new Year's resolution list from
Chris written in his hand, and what it said on
it was he wrote about being a better reader, a
better listener. Nothing on the list was selfish or one sided.
(09:09):
Everything he wrote was about being better to be better
for others, and I think that speaks mountains with his demeanor.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
In Abigail's room, Gail would discover a journal with a
single handwritten entry. It offers tender and revealing insight into
a young girl's life and family. Later, when we would
meet in person, Gail would share it with me.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
This is what Abbie wrote, Read that, I mean it's touching.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Today was Valentine's Day.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
My box won the contest on the best Valentine's Box.
That's how I got this notebook and all the other stuff.
I like the stickers best. I got a lot of
candy today. I'm going to try to save it. I
want Sandy and Blake to be jealous because I have
more candy than them, but probably going to eat all
of their candy in like two seconds. Sometimes Sandy saves
(10:08):
hers two sometimes she eats it. Blake, well, he eats
his in five seconds and then he complains to Mom
that we have more candy than him. He can be
whiny sometimes, and Sandy can be bossy. I don't know why,
but pain is only a four letter word. Pain seems
(10:29):
like it should be a bigger word. Everybody hates pain,
so why is one big thing so darn stinking small.
It seems like it should be a seven or eight
letter word, doesn't it. I don't think I've ever written
this far before, but I just don't write, but I
know I figured out it is the only way to
express my feelings without getting mad. I am an artist.
(10:52):
I am cursed with the gift of art. Unfortunately it
came with a couple of extra things. Anger, frustration, patience.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
And of course a gazillion other things.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I just picture the thing I'm drawing in my head
and draw. Here comes the bad part. I always mess up,
like make mistakes, not just in drawing, but in other
things too. I have to have everything perfect. I have
a neatness problem. It's crazy, is it not. But think
of all the great artists you know of all of
(11:27):
them went through a lot of anger and frustration that
they made their mistakes.
Speaker 7 (11:33):
Right.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Well, that's how I am.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
I am always angry.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
When I think it's going to be a good day
and it's nice and sunny out, I always get angry
because of people yelling or fighting. I don't get why
I have to be like this. I am. I don't
want to be. I want to write more, to have
(12:00):
more stuff to tell you, but I'm so tired. It's
like when you're breathing and you want to breathe in
all the way, but you just can't. It's like part
of your breath is lost in some other dimension where
no one else but you have the key for. But
the bad part is you lost the key, lost the
key to your breath. I'm really tired now. I've written
(12:21):
for like five pages so far.
Speaker 7 (12:23):
Weird.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I think mom might be in my room again.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I'm really really tired. I don't know why, though, it
seems like my eyelids are begging the top ones to
come down together. Well, I think that's enough writing for now. Anyway,
I have a headache.
Speaker 7 (12:40):
Abby.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
What's the data that it is the February the sixth.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
February fourteenth, two thousand and six.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
I mean, that's pretty profound for that's but the.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Subject of pain and the fighting and the hollering. Yeah,
I always say that's what I picked up. Yeah, I
always get angry because of people yelling or fighting. And
this is interesting too. I think my mom might be
in my room. I think my mom might be in
my room again. I was there, so I don't know,
(13:19):
but that was just eerie. Now, I do know that
Kim told Chris he could not go into those girls'.
Speaker 6 (13:25):
Room, any of the kids rooms, any of their rooms.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
I reached out again to Abigail's closest friend at the
time of her death, Alexa and shared the journal entry
with her. Here are her thoughts.
Speaker 8 (14:00):
Yeah, after reading it, it seemed like she was kind
of I wouldn't I don't know how to say, like
crying out for help a little bit, or she was
in pain, but she was trying to figure out how
to navigate through it while writing, like she was wise
beyond her words or her years, like when she said, so,
(14:20):
why is this big thing? So darn's tinking small? It
seems like it should be a seven or eight letter word,
doesn't it. And then she started going into just reading,
writing and being tired, and it kind of opened my
eyes to seeing like maybe there were problems or issues
going on that she was not talking to everybody about.
Maybe she wrote about her kept to herself.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
You know, it's interesting. I viewed it the same way.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And I have to say, having now mothered adolescents in
addition to having been one at one point, I do
feel children are like mood rings, very much manifest the
dysfunction that they are around. And it's as if she
couldn't articulate the real issue, the real problem, But she
(15:13):
felt that there was one.
Speaker 8 (15:15):
Yes, I agree, and she was trying to get it
out through her writing.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Did you find anything odd? She does reference I think
my mom's in my room Again.
Speaker 9 (15:27):
I was trying to decipher what that, what that meant.
Speaker 8 (15:32):
It seemed like it was like, seems like she's been
in my room going through my things, or she's in
my room.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I couldn't.
Speaker 8 (15:38):
I couldn't decipher between the two.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
That just struck out. I remember getting a little bit
of a chill the first time I read that, because
it's it's what does that mean exactly?
Speaker 9 (15:49):
Like, what's what's really going on?
Speaker 8 (15:51):
That kind of made me think, like what what did
she mean by that? Does she mean she'd been going
through things? Did she mean she'd you know, been through
her room straightening? No idea what that.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Meant, But that made it sound like it had happened before.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
Yeah, And she said.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Again yeah, and that it was something that that wasn't
a good thing necessarily, It was something that seemed like
it was she was conflicted about it.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
Yeah, kind of like she had been, you know, going
through her things. It kind of made me remember like
a moment that we all had.
Speaker 9 (16:27):
I remember being us.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
All being in the car going to one of Blake's games,
and everyone was talkative and laughing and joking, all the
kids and whatnot. And then both mister and Missus Vaughn
got in the car and everything was just silent and
it was tense, and it was like you could hear
a pin drop on the carpeting in the floor of
the car, you know what I mean. Like the music
(16:50):
was playing really really low, you could really hear it, but.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
No one was talking. That's interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
So their dynamic altered the atmosphere in the car, I.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Would say so. And we were literally laughing joking.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
I remember, like Casandra said something about Blake sucks or
them being dirty and he never watches, you know, just joke,
you know, like playful banter with kids and us laughing.
And then all of a sudden, it was just like
we all are just quiet and silent, you know, sit
up straight.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Don't say anything dumb.
Speaker 8 (17:21):
I remember, just sitting in the car. It was a
like a switch, almost like a flip of a switch.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
At this point, Christopher Vaughn and I had been communicating
regularly via email for about six months, and I was
making progress into gleaning increasingly more insight into the complicated
marital problems and dysfunctional dynamics. He and Kim shared during
his trial. Something Vaughn had said during his initial interrogation
(17:48):
the day of the tragedy was held against him, that
divorce was not an option. Here's an excerpt from an
email I sent him. Also, another question which was made
over the comment attributed to you that divorce was not
an option? Would you expand on it and what would
it have meant to you? It resonated with me because
(18:09):
it's actually something I've said many times to my husband
of almost twenty four years. I don't mean it or
hear it as a threat, but more a principle. I'd
be interested in your thoughts. That appears to have struck
a chord with Chris. Here's his response, Lauren, I attempted
to answer your question regarding my comment about divorce and
(18:33):
quickly found I was unable to do it within the
limits of the email character count. Context is really needed.
I neglected to provide it then, and my comments were
seriously misinterpreted. He then expressed he'd write in letter form
and send it to my home address. That letter would
never arrive. Instead, Chris went radio silent for more than
(18:56):
two weeks. I worried that Chris was pulling back, that
COVID restrictions were easing, and I'd soon be sitting with
him in person. We were getting closer to the questions
I'd plan to ask him from the first moment I'd
learned about this case. Chris might not remember everything about
the way in which his family died that day, but
he's sure as hell would have remembered planning it. I
(19:20):
was going to ask Chris if he ever intended to
kill his wife and children. Gail and I began to
exchange concern texts and emails. He'd gone radio silent with
them too, for more than two weeks.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Have you heard from him from Chris?
Speaker 10 (19:39):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Yes, Oh, thank goodness. I was worried.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So when did you hear from him?
Speaker 9 (19:45):
Let's see Wednesday?
Speaker 5 (19:47):
Yesterday, Wednesday.
Speaker 9 (19:49):
My week is all confused now because he sent us
a letter, and what he has in the letter is
something we don't know how to handle. But I wish
you to read it. It's five pages, okay, and I'd like
to send it to you some way and see how
it impacts what we're doing.
Speaker 6 (20:09):
Me.
Speaker 7 (20:09):
It's all good, okay.
Speaker 9 (20:12):
How it'll be taken.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
So you know, probably the quickest way to do it
would be to just take a picture of each page
and text it to me.
Speaker 9 (20:23):
Okay, because once you read it, it's something I really
can't explain over the phone, and you have to actually
read it to take it in, and I don't know
how people are going to respond to it, so it's like,
oh my gosh, so I don't know what to do
with it to tell you the truth?
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Do you want to send it to me and I'll
read it right away and call you back.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Gail would first try to text images of the letter.
They were too blurred to read. I waited, stomach nodded
as she scanned, and email them after reading the letter.
When I called Gail back, my fingers suddenly seemed too
large for the keypad.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Are you there?
Speaker 9 (21:03):
Yes, Yes, we are.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Here, okay. I had to compose myself.
Speaker 9 (21:10):
I know I couldn't have read it to you.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
My next call was to Bill Clutter, Are you sitting down?
Speaker 7 (21:17):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I am sitting down, okay, because you might lose your
legs on this one. I just got off the phone
with Gail and Pierre. I have been waiting to get
a letter from Chris because I asked him to explain
what he meant by the expression that divorce was not
(21:40):
an option. I hadn't heard back, and Gail had reached
out to me concerned because she hadn't heard back from Chris.
On Wednesday, she received a five page letter from Chris.
He remembers that morning. Oh my god, he remembers everything.
(22:11):
After hearing nothing from Chris for two weeks, his parents
finally received a letter. It was likely prompted by my
question about the dynamics and his marriage leading up to
the tragedy. Pierre agreed to read the letter Chris sent.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
Mom and dad. When Lauren showed interest in my case,
I truly thought she would go the way of the
others before. She still seems intent on telling the story.
I know I have not been forthcoming, approachable, or even
cooperative in talking about what happened. My standard deflection to
(22:50):
any question is that I do not remember. It has
been easier not to talk about the kids and more specifically,
what Kim did. I have been really hopeful that I
wouldn't need to talk about that morning. Ever, again, I
don't know why now should be any different. I don't
(23:12):
know if it would be better just to leave everything
as is. I don't believe anything will change my being
locked up. I'm sure talking now will only get things
stirred up for everyone. But I am also thinking that
Lauren has already started, that you have been with me
(23:36):
through all of this. I cannot even begin to express
how truly grateful I am. If I am going to
fill in the blanks, it will be for you first.
Perhaps that will be enough, and it will be of
any real value to give Lauren this. Just leave it
(23:58):
as is. I did not know how to or want
to deal with what happened that morning, so I lied
about not remembering how kimberly shot my kids then killed herself.
This is what happened. We drove to the water park,
(24:22):
as Kim and I had talked about the night before.
Kim told me she felt sick. I pulled over and
got out to give her a minute. When I was
around the back of the truck, heading back towards my door,
it sounded like the inside of the truck was exploding.
(24:45):
I opened my door, saw the gun Kim was holding,
and jumped in my seat to grab it. Kim fired
at me. I fell back out the door, preparing to
make another attempt. Kim looked at me and said, you
will not take my kids. You killed them. She then
(25:06):
turned the gun on herself and fired. I got back
in to check the kids. Nothing can be done. I
thought to drive the truck. Kim was slumped, so I
tried to buckle her. My hands shook badly. I couldn't
(25:27):
buckle the belt. I couldn't drive the truck. I got
to the road to get help. I was and am
deeply ashamed that I failed to protect the kids. I
am ashamed that I drove Kim to do something so horrible.
I am ashamed that had she not shot herself, I
(25:51):
would have taken the gun and shot her myself. I
did not want to deal with what happened. I was
completely unequipped to do so. I did not want to
discuss why Kim did what she did. I did not
want to repeat what she said to me before she
(26:13):
killed herself. So I lied, saying I did not remember.
I was certain that the investigation would make clear what happened.
How could it not. During the interrogation, I was back
and forth between admitting my lie and continuing on. The
(26:35):
more questions the police asked. The deeper I got and
the harder it was to explain my lie. I told
myself that it wasn't going to going to matter because
the investigation itself would provide the truth. When I got
(26:55):
a defense team, I believe they would piece it together.
Any involvement for me would only hinder their efforts and
show my lie. I was convinced that being caught lying
would have me convicted without further consideration, regardless of the evidence.
(27:18):
As I waited for the trial, I realized that it
really did not matter that I had not fired a shot.
I failed the kids. I drove Kim to do what
she did. What she said was true. I was responsible.
I would let the judge decide what my punishment would be.
(27:42):
I am sorry for so many things. I have a
lot of time to go back over a lifetime of mistakes.
Some made little difference and others considerable. Saying that I
did not remember the owning of the tragedy was a mistake,
and I am sorry. Not taking responsibility was a mistake,
(28:08):
and I am sorry. I hope that, after waiting all
this time to talk about it does not prove to
be a mistake. Also, love you both, Chris.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Many things about this case stood out as odd to
me from the very beginning, but the claims of dissociative
amnesia were the hardest to accept. Not only was it
the largest hurdle in trying to find the truth about
that day, but something about its duration seemed off. When
I spoke to neuroscientist James Fallen, he conveyed his opinion
(28:46):
that even if Christopher Vaughan had initial gaps in his memory,
the likelihood was they wouldn't have been permanent.
Speaker 11 (28:53):
The sausative amnesia occurs in about one percent of people
after trauma, but it's short lived, and it's not very
common in males, and it's temporary. The idea of this
being some sort of long lasting thing, I you know,
look at the litterature in the past ten years shows
that this very rarely happens.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
The letter also called to mind something Chris's sister in
law had shared. Rachel also mentioned that she thinks that
Chris blamed himself for what happened and blamed himself for
not protecting the kids. It is a manager revelation That
(29:34):
letter provided insight into how Vond's blood could have gotten
onto Kim's retracted seat belt. His droplets on the passenger
side and how Kim's blood transferred to the back of
his jacket. But it also raised questions as to what
he remembered and when.
Speaker 9 (29:52):
So I wasn't sure how this would affect your podcast.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
No, it doesn't, because there's still a lot of work
that needs to be done. What I've said from the
beginning was the only thing that could make this horrible
tragedy more of a tragedy is if the person sitting
in prison for the murders of the family didn't actually
(30:17):
commit it. It is, and he's been punishing himself for
the fact that he feels he drove her to it
with his actions and that he didn't protect the kids.
Speaker 9 (30:28):
Yep, that's it. Yeah, I'm not sure how it I mean,
does it help us or does it hurt us because
he lied?
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Pierre, what did you think when you read it?
Speaker 10 (30:45):
Well, kind of what we knew all along, but we
just didn't know how it would get brought out. I
just don't know.
Speaker 11 (30:59):
What to do with it.
Speaker 10 (31:00):
And you know what the public's reaction is going to
be to it. Are they going to say, well, you
lied then, or you lie up there? Do you make
up the story and lie about it now? People are
very cynical.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Well, this is a huge development now if you look
at a man who had been through that horror and
was internalizing that guilt and that shame. Of course he
pushed away the pictures. Okay, this doesn't change anything. This
makes it that much more important. I think that that's
(31:36):
why he didn't want to get on the phone with me.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
I think he knew we were going to figure it out.
Speaker 9 (31:43):
And he had such a faith in the system that
they would figure it out and this wouldn't have happened
in going to prison.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
And this is why he wanted to see me in person.
Speaker 10 (31:53):
Right.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Having spent fourteen years trying to piece together what happened
in the Vaughn SUV seemed sincerely in shock as he
tried to reconcile his knowledge of the crime scene with
Vaughn's version of events.
Speaker 12 (32:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (32:08):
I'm just trying to wrap my head around that.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
He got back in after she shot herself because he
was going to drive the car to get help.
Speaker 13 (32:20):
That's how her blood's all over, Yeah, all over the
back of his jacket, opens the door he's leaning in
to get in, that's when she shoots.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
Yeah, I'm just trying to so With this version, she
shoots the kids first, and then.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Well, he was in the back.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
When I was around the back of the truck heading
back towards my door, it sounded like the inside of
the truck was exploding. I opened my door, saw the
gun Kim was holding, and jumped in the seat to
grab it.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Kim fired at me.
Speaker 7 (32:57):
Oh, okay, so he is in the car.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
When that's happened, I fell back out of the door,
preparing to make another attempt. I got back in to
check the kids. Nothing could be done. I thought to
drive the truck. Kim was slumped, so I tried to
buckle her, so she was slumped over the console. He
(33:18):
tried to buckle her, so she took her belt off,
and he tried to buckle it again. That explains the
confusion over the blood transfer and his blood over her.
My hands shook badly. I couldn't buckle the belt, I
couldn't drive the truck. I got to the road to
get help.
Speaker 7 (33:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
What do we do with this?
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Because if Chris is still in the mindset that he
deserves to be punished, he might not even want to
be helped.
Speaker 7 (33:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Yeah, this is the first version that makes sense for
the first time in fourteen years, Clutter had plausible explanation
as to why and how Christopher Vaughan's blood got on
the retracted safety belt of his dead wife, droplets on
her side of the car, and how her blood was
(34:13):
transferred onto the back right of the fleece he was wearing.
A scenario of the tragic events of June fourteenth, two
thousand and seven that could now be used to create
a crime scene reconstruction that could possibly vindicate Christopher Vaughan.
The reconstruction, while expensive and complicated, would be necessary.
Speaker 12 (34:34):
That letter, I don't know that that would succeed with
any claim of accel innocence. You know, they would argue
at self serving, which is the big hurdle.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
What do you make of his use of the word
lie in this letter.
Speaker 7 (34:57):
I don't know that lie as an accurate description of
holding back the details of what he witnessed. It's more
of no mission and not wanting to reveel that information.
And that's what was motivating him, is not wanting to
portray his wife as the killer of his children. And
(35:20):
you think about it, I mean, it's completely consistent with
a person who's actually innocent. If the states theory was correct,
that he stages this and is able to pull it off,
or he's able to line up the shots to make
it look like she shot the children, and his intent
is to get away with murder. He would be blaming
(35:45):
her once they give him that opportunity in time after
time after time. I can't see Kim doing this. I
can't see her shooting the kids.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
I think that that expression is really telling, and the
fact that he uses it constantly. I can't see her
shooting me. I can't see her hurting the kids. I
can't see her doing this. That is something I think
he's struggling with in real time during that.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
Interrogation, right, right, absolutely, And I think he's still struggling
with it, right.
Speaker 7 (36:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
He needs he needs to be evaluated.
Speaker 7 (36:21):
Yeah, and it has to be someone that can do
a forensic interview and to explain psychologically the unwillingness to
be forthcoming. I mean that's really a more accurate description this,
his unwillingness to be forthcoming with the truth.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
I think that first and foremost, we really need to
test the version of events he presents in that letter.
Speaker 7 (36:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
But here's the thing, he has never admitted guilt but
he's also never shared what happened that day. This is
the first time, and I think that it's because just
a little bit of chipping away. I think he was
convinced that I would just disappear like all the others
who had expressed interest in telling the story.
Speaker 7 (37:14):
Well, now you've got to get in to see him.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
That's yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
The second it's possible I will, But who knows when
that's going.
Speaker 7 (37:23):
To be well, absolutely by May.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
If anything, though, I think that this is a huge breakthrough.
Speaker 7 (37:32):
Yeah, that it is.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
That letter offered insight that could be used amount of
post conviction case that could possibly clear Christopher Vaughan, But
that would also entail Chris going through another trial and
possibly returning to Joliet and the Will County States Attorney.
That thought weighed heavily on us all.
Speaker 9 (37:55):
I mean, I don't think he's done feeling bad. I
don't think he's going to quit that, but he still
doesn't think he's paid the price for it. I don't
know if she will go through an appeal.
Speaker 8 (38:12):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Our initial optimism about that letter would be replaced by
something else. As Chris again went silent before sending me
this email, Lauren, I am sorry to have wasted your time.
I am done with the podcast. I let my parents
drag me into something I was not comfortable with and
something I did do not want to do. I've mentioned
(38:37):
before that I do not believe it is remotely possible
to get back into court. I am not willing to
pay what it would take to try. With the outcome
of the court being all but predetermined, I am not
willing to go through another trial. My letter to my
parents was very difficult. I want to make sure you
understand this is in no way personal. Thank you for
(39:00):
your compassion and your willingness to help. I wish you
all the best. Chris, I can't. I'm just open.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
Father right, you are not through the lame.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
I'll never leave with them.
Speaker 8 (39:20):
Dam stee we dream Hello, Yes, a dream steal we algy.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Dream Love. On the next murder in Illinois, Chris's parents
struggle to get him back on board.
Speaker 7 (39:56):
It's an incredibly difficult case. Having this cooperation that's.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Essential, and he gains a powerful supporter in the world
of criminal justice reform. He didn't believe that he could
be wrongfully convicted, which is why he didn't really mount
a defense. And another in the realm of defense.
Speaker 11 (40:17):
I've tried about over five hundred murder jury cases, and
I think it's a case that needs to be reevaluated.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Murder in Illinois is a production of iHeartRadio. Executive producers
are Lauren Bright Pacheco and Taylor Chacoye. Written by Lauren
Bright Pacheco and Matthew Riddle, story editing by Matthew Riddle,
editing and sound design by Evan Tyre and Taylor Chackoyine
featuring music by Cicada Rhythm with new compositions engineered and
(40:46):
mixed by Evan Tyre and Taylor chackoin. For more podcasts
from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you can at the stories that matter to you.
Murder in Illinois is a production of iHeartRadio. The words
the pen is Mightier than the Sword were first written
in eighteen thirty nine by an English novelist and playwright.
It's an interesting concept, the power of words to defend,
(00:23):
to inspire, or to wound, especially now in a time
in which technology enables us to fire off texts, shoot
each other emails, and attack one another on social media
or online posts. It's something I thought of often as
I set out to write this podcast. The Vaughan family
had already experienced written outrage in many forms after Chris's arrest, trial,
(00:47):
and verdict. As we neared the release of our first episode,
potential response weighed heavily on everyone involved. The first article
about this podcast to go live was the local Patch
website in Shanahan where the tragedy occurred, and with it
came reader comments like these Jim from Joliet, lock me
(01:10):
in his cell with him. He'll remember who did it
real quick. Wally, also from Joliet. Unless the Vaughan family
is saying Chris is guilty, they really need to shut up.
And Phil from Wheaton, Illinois reference is another man convicted
of killing his family in his post. Let's lock him
(01:31):
up with Chris Watts and they can swap stories of
how they each murdered their children and wives while we
slowly burn down the place. I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco, and
this is murder in Illinois, okay you. After Chris Vaughn's
(02:22):
wife and three children were found dead, speculation as to
Chris's guilt started immediately on message boards and reader comments
beneath news articles. Here's Gail's sister Rose.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Passing judgment on people hiding behind a screen and putting
words and texts on the Internet without knowing truths, not
knowing whole story, only seeing parts that have been manufactured
in a lot of different areas.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
That's a hard one.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
There's a lot, and it's billed over in person on
a deeply personal level.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
When this all took place, even though I don't live
anywhere near Missouri, but this is where our original family started,
I had to put my children of protectiveness.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
At their school.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
So I had two middle schoolers and I had to
go and talk to the principal because there were parents
that were just being I was stocked. I had people
in our driveway constantly. I had reporters. We have a
long driveway, like a three quarter of a mile driveway,
(03:37):
and there were people parked everywhere. I called the police,
but the police wouldn't do anything.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
After Chris's arrest, many viewed the extended Vaughan family as
guilty too. By relation. Gail Vaughan was particularly targeted as
the woman who mothered the man accused of killing, the
mother of his three kids and his children. Some were
even motivated enough to express their thoughts in calls or
(04:02):
letters they mailed to her home.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Oh pretty much, How could you be the mother of
a killer?
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Why did you even give him birth?
Speaker 4 (04:14):
There was a gentleman that texted and said that in
his opinion, Chris was guilty and he needed to be
stripped and sent to Canada in the middle of the
winter and see if he can survive there. And just
a lot of why Chris was even here, Why are
(04:37):
you defending your son?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
He did it?
Speaker 6 (04:40):
And we received that stuff, but there again, our lawyers
told us not to speak the public, so we never
even gave a comment to any media person at all.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
The letter started coming shortly after the tragedy.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
It seemed like it was about a week. The letters
started coming after the funeral I got a number of
hate mail that just said vile things. I got a
couple letters from religious people that wanted to save Chris's soul.
(05:14):
Many of them were very, very hateful.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Here's an excerpt from one that she's capped for fourteen years.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
There was no return address, it has been typed, it
was not signed, and it's dated June twenty sixth, twenty seven.
Mister and missus Vaughan, as a resident of Aswego, Illinois.
(05:43):
I am sickened at the news of the heartless, cruel
act your son inflicted on his wife and beautiful children.
Following the news story from the moment it broke, I
had no doubt in my mind of your son's guilt.
His story made absolutely no sense from the very beginning.
(06:05):
What kind of sick mind would put two bullets through
each one of his children's bodies at such close range
and then kill his wife. I can't even begin to
imagine the scared thoughts running through those children's minds as
this punk riddled their bodies with bullets. Matter of fact,
(06:28):
Chris is such a coward he couldn't even put a
bullet through his own head, which is where it belongs.
We are delighted in the fact that he was arrested,
and now Kim and his precious children may rest in
the comfort of God's peace. It would have been highly
unfair for the souls of those murdered that Chris be
(06:48):
given the opportunity to attend their burial. Congratulations to the
law enforcement personnel who made his arrest early in the morning.
We are now left with having to playing to our
little children why the dad of Kim's three children killed them.
The children in this community do not understand, and frankly,
(07:10):
neither do the adults. Chris thought he was so cool
that he could get away with this horrific crime. I
look forward to the day he is found guilty for this.
Only a cold hearted, psychopathic mind would kill his children
and wife, and I would be disgusted and ashamed of
(07:31):
my son. May the souls of Kim, Abby, Sandy and
Blake rest in peace. Hell awaits those so cruel.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Written things would also play heavily and to the time
Galen Rose spent cleaning and clearing out the Vaughan family's
os we Go home after the tragedy. In Chris's office,
Rose discovered a written list on his desk.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
In his office.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
He had an amazing book collection that was right next
to where he sat, and you could tell that he
used them quite often because there were markers and napkins
whatever marking places. And the books were amazing to me
because these are all my loves, David Throw, Walt Whitman, Emerson,
(08:21):
Edgar Allan Poe. There were just amazing books that he had,
and they weren't like they were on the top shelf.
They were right next to his desk, and because we
were cleaning everything out, they would take out annie markers
or names or anything like that. I took out a
piece of paper that was in one of those and
it looked like it was newer than later older, and
(08:44):
it struck me because the note was I'm looking at
my notes. It was a new Year's resolution list from
Chris written in his hand, and what it said on
it was he wrote about being a better reader, a
better listener. Nothing on the list was selfish or one sided.
(09:09):
Everything he wrote was about being better to be better
for others, and I think that speaks mountains with his demeanor.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
In Abigail's room, Gail would discover a journal with a
single handwritten entry. It offers tender and revealing insight into
a young girl's life and family. Later, when we would
meet in person, Gail would share it with me.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
This is what Abbie wrote, Read that, I mean it's touching.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Today was Valentine's Day.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
My box won the contest on the best Valentine's Box.
That's how I got this notebook and all the other stuff.
I like the stickers best. I got a lot of
candy today. I'm going to try to save it. I
want Sandy and Blake to be jealous because I have
more candy than them, but probably going to eat all
of their candy in like two seconds. Sometimes Sandy saves
(10:08):
hers two sometimes she eats it. Blake, well, he eats
his in five seconds and then he complains to Mom
that we have more candy than him. He can be
whiny sometimes, and Sandy can be bossy. I don't know why,
but pain is only a four letter word. Pain seems
(10:29):
like it should be a bigger word. Everybody hates pain,
so why is one big thing so darn stinking small.
It seems like it should be a seven or eight
letter word, doesn't it. I don't think I've ever written
this far before, but I just don't write, but I
know I figured out it is the only way to
express my feelings without getting mad. I am an artist.
(10:52):
I am cursed with the gift of art. Unfortunately it
came with a couple of extra things. Anger, frustration, patience.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
And of course a gazillion other things.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I just picture the thing I'm drawing in my head
and draw. Here comes the bad part. I always mess up,
like make mistakes, not just in drawing, but in other
things too. I have to have everything perfect. I have
a neatness problem. It's crazy, is it not. But think
of all the great artists you know of all of
(11:27):
them went through a lot of anger and frustration that
they made their mistakes.
Speaker 7 (11:33):
Right.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Well, that's how I am.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
I am always angry.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
When I think it's going to be a good day
and it's nice and sunny out, I always get angry
because of people yelling or fighting. I don't get why
I have to be like this. I am. I don't
want to be. I want to write more, to have
(12:00):
more stuff to tell you, but I'm so tired. It's
like when you're breathing and you want to breathe in
all the way, but you just can't. It's like part
of your breath is lost in some other dimension where
no one else but you have the key for. But
the bad part is you lost the key, lost the
key to your breath. I'm really tired now. I've written
(12:21):
for like five pages so far.
Speaker 7 (12:23):
Weird.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I think mom might be in my room again.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I'm really really tired. I don't know why, though, it
seems like my eyelids are begging the top ones to
come down together. Well, I think that's enough writing for now. Anyway,
I have a headache.
Speaker 7 (12:40):
Abby.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
What's the data that it is the February the sixth.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
February fourteenth, two thousand and six.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
I mean, that's pretty profound for that's but the.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Subject of pain and the fighting and the hollering. Yeah,
I always say that's what I picked up. Yeah, I
always get angry because of people yelling or fighting. And
this is interesting too. I think my mom might be
in my room. I think my mom might be in
my room again. I was there, so I don't know,
(13:19):
but that was just eerie. Now, I do know that
Kim told Chris he could not go into those girls'.
Speaker 6 (13:25):
Room, any of the kids rooms, any of their rooms.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
I reached out again to Abigail's closest friend at the
time of her death, Alexa and shared the journal entry
with her. Here are her thoughts.
Speaker 8 (14:00):
Yeah, after reading it, it seemed like she was kind
of I wouldn't I don't know how to say, like
crying out for help a little bit, or she was
in pain, but she was trying to figure out how
to navigate through it while writing, like she was wise
beyond her words or her years, like when she said, so,
(14:20):
why is this big thing? So darn's tinking small? It
seems like it should be a seven or eight letter word,
doesn't it. And then she started going into just reading,
writing and being tired, and it kind of opened my
eyes to seeing like maybe there were problems or issues
going on that she was not talking to everybody about.
Maybe she wrote about her kept to herself.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
You know, it's interesting. I viewed it the same way.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And I have to say, having now mothered adolescents in
addition to having been one at one point, I do
feel children are like mood rings, very much manifest the
dysfunction that they are around. And it's as if she
couldn't articulate the real issue, the real problem, But she
(15:13):
felt that there was one.
Speaker 8 (15:15):
Yes, I agree, and she was trying to get it
out through her writing.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Did you find anything odd? She does reference I think
my mom's in my room Again.
Speaker 9 (15:27):
I was trying to decipher what that, what that meant.
Speaker 8 (15:32):
It seemed like it was like, seems like she's been
in my room going through my things, or she's in
my room.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I couldn't.
Speaker 8 (15:38):
I couldn't decipher between the two.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
That just struck out. I remember getting a little bit
of a chill the first time I read that, because
it's it's what does that mean exactly?
Speaker 9 (15:49):
Like, what's what's really going on?
Speaker 8 (15:51):
That kind of made me think, like what what did
she mean by that? Does she mean she'd been going
through things? Did she mean she'd you know, been through
her room straightening? No idea what that.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Meant, But that made it sound like it had happened before.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
Yeah, And she said.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Again yeah, and that it was something that that wasn't
a good thing necessarily, It was something that seemed like
it was she was conflicted about it.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
Yeah, kind of like she had been, you know, going
through her things. It kind of made me remember like
a moment that we all had.
Speaker 9 (16:27):
I remember being us.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
All being in the car going to one of Blake's games,
and everyone was talkative and laughing and joking, all the
kids and whatnot. And then both mister and Missus Vaughn
got in the car and everything was just silent and
it was tense, and it was like you could hear
a pin drop on the carpeting in the floor of
the car, you know what I mean. Like the music
(16:50):
was playing really really low, you could really hear it, but.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
No one was talking. That's interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
So their dynamic altered the atmosphere in the car, I.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Would say so. And we were literally laughing joking.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
I remember, like Casandra said something about Blake sucks or
them being dirty and he never watches, you know, just joke,
you know, like playful banter with kids and us laughing.
And then all of a sudden, it was just like
we all are just quiet and silent, you know, sit
up straight.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Don't say anything dumb.
Speaker 8 (17:21):
I remember, just sitting in the car. It was a
like a switch, almost like a flip of a switch.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
At this point, Christopher Vaughn and I had been communicating
regularly via email for about six months, and I was
making progress into gleaning increasingly more insight into the complicated
marital problems and dysfunctional dynamics. He and Kim shared during
his trial. Something Vaughn had said during his initial interrogation
(17:48):
the day of the tragedy was held against him, that
divorce was not an option. Here's an excerpt from an
email I sent him. Also, another question which was made
over the comment attributed to you that divorce was not
an option? Would you expand on it and what would
it have meant to you? It resonated with me because
(18:09):
it's actually something I've said many times to my husband
of almost twenty four years. I don't mean it or
hear it as a threat, but more a principle. I'd
be interested in your thoughts. That appears to have struck
a chord with Chris. Here's his response, Lauren, I attempted
to answer your question regarding my comment about divorce and
(18:33):
quickly found I was unable to do it within the
limits of the email character count. Context is really needed.
I neglected to provide it then, and my comments were
seriously misinterpreted. He then expressed he'd write in letter form
and send it to my home address. That letter would
never arrive. Instead, Chris went radio silent for more than
(18:56):
two weeks. I worried that Chris was pulling back, that
COVID restrictions were easing, and I'd soon be sitting with
him in person. We were getting closer to the questions
I'd plan to ask him from the first moment I'd
learned about this case. Chris might not remember everything about
the way in which his family died that day, but
he's sure as hell would have remembered planning it. I
(19:20):
was going to ask Chris if he ever intended to
kill his wife and children. Gail and I began to
exchange concern texts and emails. He'd gone radio silent with
them too, for more than two weeks.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Have you heard from him from Chris?
Speaker 10 (19:39):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Yes, Oh, thank goodness. I was worried.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So when did you hear from him?
Speaker 9 (19:45):
Let's see Wednesday?
Speaker 5 (19:47):
Yesterday, Wednesday.
Speaker 9 (19:49):
My week is all confused now because he sent us
a letter, and what he has in the letter is
something we don't know how to handle. But I wish
you to read it. It's five pages, okay, and I'd like
to send it to you some way and see how
it impacts what we're doing.
Speaker 6 (20:09):
Me.
Speaker 7 (20:09):
It's all good, okay.
Speaker 9 (20:12):
How it'll be taken.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
So you know, probably the quickest way to do it
would be to just take a picture of each page
and text it to me.
Speaker 9 (20:23):
Okay, because once you read it, it's something I really
can't explain over the phone, and you have to actually
read it to take it in, and I don't know
how people are going to respond to it, so it's like,
oh my gosh, so I don't know what to do
with it to tell you the truth?
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Do you want to send it to me and I'll
read it right away and call you back.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Gail would first try to text images of the letter.
They were too blurred to read. I waited, stomach nodded
as she scanned, and email them after reading the letter.
When I called Gail back, my fingers suddenly seemed too
large for the keypad.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Are you there?
Speaker 9 (21:03):
Yes, Yes, we are.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Here, okay. I had to compose myself.
Speaker 9 (21:10):
I know I couldn't have read it to you.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
My next call was to Bill Clutter, Are you sitting down?
Speaker 7 (21:17):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I am sitting down, okay, because you might lose your
legs on this one. I just got off the phone
with Gail and Pierre. I have been waiting to get
a letter from Chris because I asked him to explain
what he meant by the expression that divorce was not
(21:40):
an option. I hadn't heard back, and Gail had reached
out to me concerned because she hadn't heard back from Chris.
On Wednesday, she received a five page letter from Chris.
He remembers that morning. Oh my god, he remembers everything.
(22:11):
After hearing nothing from Chris for two weeks, his parents
finally received a letter. It was likely prompted by my
question about the dynamics and his marriage leading up to
the tragedy. Pierre agreed to read the letter Chris sent.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
Mom and dad. When Lauren showed interest in my case,
I truly thought she would go the way of the
others before. She still seems intent on telling the story.
I know I have not been forthcoming, approachable, or even
cooperative in talking about what happened. My standard deflection to
(22:50):
any question is that I do not remember. It has
been easier not to talk about the kids and more specifically,
what Kim did. I have been really hopeful that I
wouldn't need to talk about that morning. Ever, again, I
don't know why now should be any different. I don't
(23:12):
know if it would be better just to leave everything
as is. I don't believe anything will change my being
locked up. I'm sure talking now will only get things
stirred up for everyone. But I am also thinking that
Lauren has already started, that you have been with me
(23:36):
through all of this. I cannot even begin to express
how truly grateful I am. If I am going to
fill in the blanks, it will be for you first.
Perhaps that will be enough, and it will be of
any real value to give Lauren this. Just leave it
(23:58):
as is. I did not know how to or want
to deal with what happened that morning, so I lied
about not remembering how kimberly shot my kids then killed herself.
This is what happened. We drove to the water park,
(24:22):
as Kim and I had talked about the night before.
Kim told me she felt sick. I pulled over and
got out to give her a minute. When I was
around the back of the truck, heading back towards my door,
it sounded like the inside of the truck was exploding.
(24:45):
I opened my door, saw the gun Kim was holding,
and jumped in my seat to grab it. Kim fired
at me. I fell back out the door, preparing to
make another attempt. Kim looked at me and said, you
will not take my kids. You killed them. She then
(25:06):
turned the gun on herself and fired. I got back
in to check the kids. Nothing can be done. I
thought to drive the truck. Kim was slumped, so I
tried to buckle her. My hands shook badly. I couldn't
(25:27):
buckle the belt. I couldn't drive the truck. I got
to the road to get help. I was and am
deeply ashamed that I failed to protect the kids. I
am ashamed that I drove Kim to do something so horrible.
I am ashamed that had she not shot herself, I
(25:51):
would have taken the gun and shot her myself. I
did not want to deal with what happened. I was
completely unequipped to do so. I did not want to
discuss why Kim did what she did. I did not
want to repeat what she said to me before she
(26:13):
killed herself. So I lied, saying I did not remember.
I was certain that the investigation would make clear what happened.
How could it not. During the interrogation, I was back
and forth between admitting my lie and continuing on. The
(26:35):
more questions the police asked. The deeper I got and
the harder it was to explain my lie. I told
myself that it wasn't going to going to matter because
the investigation itself would provide the truth. When I got
(26:55):
a defense team, I believe they would piece it together.
Any involvement for me would only hinder their efforts and
show my lie. I was convinced that being caught lying
would have me convicted without further consideration, regardless of the evidence.
(27:18):
As I waited for the trial, I realized that it
really did not matter that I had not fired a shot.
I failed the kids. I drove Kim to do what
she did. What she said was true. I was responsible.
I would let the judge decide what my punishment would be.
(27:42):
I am sorry for so many things. I have a
lot of time to go back over a lifetime of mistakes.
Some made little difference and others considerable. Saying that I
did not remember the owning of the tragedy was a mistake,
and I am sorry. Not taking responsibility was a mistake,
(28:08):
and I am sorry. I hope that, after waiting all
this time to talk about it does not prove to
be a mistake. Also, love you both, Chris.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Many things about this case stood out as odd to
me from the very beginning, but the claims of dissociative
amnesia were the hardest to accept. Not only was it
the largest hurdle in trying to find the truth about
that day, but something about its duration seemed off. When
I spoke to neuroscientist James Fallen, he conveyed his opinion
(28:46):
that even if Christopher Vaughan had initial gaps in his memory,
the likelihood was they wouldn't have been permanent.
Speaker 11 (28:53):
The sausative amnesia occurs in about one percent of people
after trauma, but it's short lived, and it's not very
common in males, and it's temporary. The idea of this
being some sort of long lasting thing, I you know,
look at the litterature in the past ten years shows
that this very rarely happens.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
The letter also called to mind something Chris's sister in
law had shared. Rachel also mentioned that she thinks that
Chris blamed himself for what happened and blamed himself for
not protecting the kids. It is a manager revelation That
(29:34):
letter provided insight into how Vond's blood could have gotten
onto Kim's retracted seat belt. His droplets on the passenger
side and how Kim's blood transferred to the back of
his jacket. But it also raised questions as to what
he remembered and when.
Speaker 9 (29:52):
So I wasn't sure how this would affect your podcast.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
No, it doesn't, because there's still a lot of work
that needs to be done. What I've said from the
beginning was the only thing that could make this horrible
tragedy more of a tragedy is if the person sitting
in prison for the murders of the family didn't actually
(30:17):
commit it. It is, and he's been punishing himself for
the fact that he feels he drove her to it
with his actions and that he didn't protect the kids.
Speaker 9 (30:28):
Yep, that's it. Yeah, I'm not sure how it I mean,
does it help us or does it hurt us because
he lied?
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Pierre, what did you think when you read it?
Speaker 10 (30:45):
Well, kind of what we knew all along, but we
just didn't know how it would get brought out. I
just don't know.
Speaker 11 (30:59):
What to do with it.
Speaker 10 (31:00):
And you know what the public's reaction is going to
be to it. Are they going to say, well, you
lied then, or you lie up there? Do you make
up the story and lie about it now? People are
very cynical.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Well, this is a huge development now if you look
at a man who had been through that horror and
was internalizing that guilt and that shame. Of course he
pushed away the pictures. Okay, this doesn't change anything. This
makes it that much more important. I think that that's
(31:36):
why he didn't want to get on the phone with me.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
I think he knew we were going to figure it out.
Speaker 9 (31:43):
And he had such a faith in the system that
they would figure it out and this wouldn't have happened
in going to prison.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
And this is why he wanted to see me in person.
Speaker 10 (31:53):
Right.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Having spent fourteen years trying to piece together what happened
in the Vaughn SUV seemed sincerely in shock as he
tried to reconcile his knowledge of the crime scene with
Vaughn's version of events.
Speaker 12 (32:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (32:08):
I'm just trying to wrap my head around that.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
He got back in after she shot herself because he
was going to drive the car to get help.
Speaker 13 (32:20):
That's how her blood's all over, Yeah, all over the
back of his jacket, opens the door he's leaning in
to get in, that's when she shoots.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
Yeah, I'm just trying to so With this version, she
shoots the kids first, and then.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
Well, he was in the back.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
When I was around the back of the truck heading
back towards my door, it sounded like the inside of
the truck was exploding. I opened my door, saw the
gun Kim was holding, and jumped in the seat to
grab it.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Kim fired at me.
Speaker 7 (32:57):
Oh, okay, so he is in the car.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
When that's happened, I fell back out of the door,
preparing to make another attempt. I got back in to
check the kids. Nothing could be done. I thought to
drive the truck. Kim was slumped, so I tried to
buckle her, so she was slumped over the console. He
(33:18):
tried to buckle her, so she took her belt off,
and he tried to buckle it again. That explains the
confusion over the blood transfer and his blood over her.
My hands shook badly. I couldn't buckle the belt, I
couldn't drive the truck. I got to the road to
get help.
Speaker 7 (33:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
What do we do with this?
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Because if Chris is still in the mindset that he
deserves to be punished, he might not even want to
be helped.
Speaker 7 (33:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Yeah, this is the first version that makes sense for
the first time in fourteen years, Clutter had plausible explanation
as to why and how Christopher Vaughan's blood got on
the retracted safety belt of his dead wife, droplets on
her side of the car, and how her blood was
(34:13):
transferred onto the back right of the fleece he was wearing.
A scenario of the tragic events of June fourteenth, two
thousand and seven that could now be used to create
a crime scene reconstruction that could possibly vindicate Christopher Vaughan.
The reconstruction, while expensive and complicated, would be necessary.
Speaker 12 (34:34):
That letter, I don't know that that would succeed with
any claim of accel innocence. You know, they would argue
at self serving, which is the big hurdle.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
What do you make of his use of the word
lie in this letter.
Speaker 7 (34:57):
I don't know that lie as an accurate description of
holding back the details of what he witnessed. It's more
of no mission and not wanting to reveel that information.
And that's what was motivating him, is not wanting to
portray his wife as the killer of his children. And
(35:20):
you think about it, I mean, it's completely consistent with
a person who's actually innocent. If the states theory was correct,
that he stages this and is able to pull it off,
or he's able to line up the shots to make
it look like she shot the children, and his intent
is to get away with murder. He would be blaming
(35:45):
her once they give him that opportunity in time after
time after time. I can't see Kim doing this. I
can't see her shooting the kids.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
I think that that expression is really telling, and the
fact that he uses it constantly. I can't see her
shooting me. I can't see her hurting the kids. I
can't see her doing this. That is something I think
he's struggling with in real time during that.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
Interrogation, right, right, absolutely, And I think he's still struggling
with it, right.
Speaker 7 (36:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
He needs he needs to be evaluated.
Speaker 7 (36:21):
Yeah, and it has to be someone that can do
a forensic interview and to explain psychologically the unwillingness to
be forthcoming. I mean that's really a more accurate description this,
his unwillingness to be forthcoming with the truth.
Speaker 5 (36:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
I think that first and foremost, we really need to
test the version of events he presents in that letter.
Speaker 7 (36:48):
Right.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
But here's the thing, he has never admitted guilt but
he's also never shared what happened that day. This is
the first time, and I think that it's because just
a little bit of chipping away. I think he was
convinced that I would just disappear like all the others
who had expressed interest in telling the story.
Speaker 7 (37:14):
Well, now you've got to get in to see him.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
That's yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
The second it's possible I will, But who knows when
that's going.
Speaker 7 (37:23):
To be well, absolutely by May.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
If anything, though, I think that this is a huge breakthrough.
Speaker 7 (37:32):
Yeah, that it is.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
That letter offered insight that could be used amount of
post conviction case that could possibly clear Christopher Vaughan, But
that would also entail Chris going through another trial and
possibly returning to Joliet and the Will County States Attorney.
That thought weighed heavily on us all.
Speaker 9 (37:55):
I mean, I don't think he's done feeling bad. I
don't think he's going to quit that, but he still
doesn't think he's paid the price for it. I don't
know if she will go through an appeal.
Speaker 8 (38:12):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Our initial optimism about that letter would be replaced by
something else. As Chris again went silent before sending me
this email, Lauren, I am sorry to have wasted your time.
I am done with the podcast. I let my parents
drag me into something I was not comfortable with and
something I did do not want to do. I've mentioned
(38:37):
before that I do not believe it is remotely possible
to get back into court. I am not willing to
pay what it would take to try. With the outcome
of the court being all but predetermined, I am not
willing to go through another trial. My letter to my
parents was very difficult. I want to make sure you
understand this is in no way personal. Thank you for
(39:00):
your compassion and your willingness to help. I wish you
all the best. Chris, I can't. I'm just open.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
Father right, you are not through the lame.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
I'll never leave with them.
Speaker 8 (39:20):
Dam stee we dream Hello, Yes, a dream steal we algy.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Dream Love. On the next murder in Illinois, Chris's parents
struggle to get him back on board.
Speaker 7 (39:56):
It's an incredibly difficult case. Having this cooperation that's.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Essential, and he gains a powerful supporter in the world
of criminal justice reform. He didn't believe that he could
be wrongfully convicted, which is why he didn't really mount
a defense. And another in the realm of defense.
Speaker 11 (40:17):
I've tried about over five hundred murder jury cases, and
I think it's a case that needs to be reevaluated.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Murder in Illinois is a production of iHeartRadio. Executive producers
are Lauren Bright Pacheco and Taylor Chacoye. Written by Lauren
Bright Pacheco and Matthew Riddle, story editing by Matthew Riddle,
editing and sound design by Evan Tyre and Taylor Chackoyine
featuring music by Cicada Rhythm with new compositions engineered and
(40:46):
mixed by Evan Tyre and Taylor chackoin. For more podcasts
from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you can at the stories that matter to you.
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