WEBVTT - 1. The Tragedy 0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:07.880 Murder in Illinois, a production of iHeartRadio. If you spend 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:11.479 enough time investigating true crime stories, you wind up with 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:15.600 some pretty disturbing content, and that's how this case landed 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:19.599 on my radar. Back in twenty eighteen, I was wrapping 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:23.639 up my first podcast, Happy Face. Maybe at some point 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.040 i'd entered the keywords kill her dad or father who 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:30.480 kills but the ten year anniversary of the Vaughan family 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:34.640 murders wound up in my feed. I'd never heard of 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:38.440 the two thousand and seven killings, although regionally around Illinois 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.280 they received a ton of press. But it was the 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:45.479 father's mugshot that caught my attention and its expression that 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:49.000 actually made me click that link. Suddenly I found myself 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:54.120 staring into the eyes of Christopher Vaughan. I scanned some 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.400 articles and viewed a few news pieces about the gruesome murders. 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:02.440 Three kids and their mother all dead. Then I went 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:05.399 back to the top, reabsorbing the timeline and the details. 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:09.920 Some like infidelity in strip clubs, were tabloid headlines, some 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:15.280 disturbing and all heartbreaking. But I kept getting drawn back 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.640 to the look on this guy, Christopher Baughd's face. There 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:23.039 was this unnervingly odd, almost eerie look in his eyes, 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:25.920 eyes that belonged to a man the will County States 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:27.360 Attorney described. 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.080 As the heartless, soulless psychopath. 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.360 I remember thinking, for a guy convicted of killing his 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.119 entire family, ban looked a hell of a lot more 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.800 bewildered than evil. Putting on my glasses, I leaned in 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:44.480 closer and expanded the screen until it was filled entirely 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:49.160 with just Baughn's eyes, and thought, what could possibly drive 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:52.320 a parent to kill their kids in such a twisted, 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:56.400 cruel and confrontational way? And why did the eyes staring 0:01:56.480 --> 0:02:00.840 back at me look so confused, almost lost? They had 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:04.000 this pained intensity, heightened by the slight furrow of the 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:07.160 sparse brows that topped them, and punctuated by the dark 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:10.919 circles beneath them. Those eyes didn't look like they belonged 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:14.239 to a guy who shot his entire family at close range. 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:21.000 They looked haunted. Then, almost as an involuntary reflex, I typed, 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:25.560 could Christopher Vaughn be innocent? Into Google? The results that 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:28.519 popped up would put me on a troubling, nearly two 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:35.440 year path filled with staggering twists, turns, and bombshells. I'm 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:38.840 Lauren Brett Pacheco, and this is murder in Illinois. 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:50.640 Cageaty change feel the ground, ho. 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:55.079 HO change. 0:02:58.560 --> 0:02:58.840 Out. 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:39.520 Christopher Vaughan is a former private investigator who specialized in 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:45.960 computer forensics. He is today sitting in the Illinois Department 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:50.680 of Corrections in Pinkneyville, Illinois, convicted of the murder of 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:55.200 his family that consisted of his wife, Kimberly, and three children. 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:58.320 The deeper I got into was case I realized that 0:03:58.480 --> 0:03:59.960 he's actually innocent. 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:04.440 That's Bill the man. My internet search into Vaughn's possible 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:05.520 innocence led me to. 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:10.320 My name is Bill Clutter. I work as a private investigator. 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:14.360 I've been doing this for over thirty years now and 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.640 have developed a specialty of criminal defense investigation. 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:23.280 Clutter was a detective for Vaughn's initial defense team, but 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:25.239 initially didn't believe he was innocent. 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.520 I was influenced by the media as much of the 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:33.520 public was, and just assume he's got these superficial injuries. 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:38.560 He's the sole survivor, and so initially I assumed this 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.240 was going to be a mitigation case where we would 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:44.920 focus on telling a story that would persuade A Jerry 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:45.920 to spare his life. 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.640 There are a number of developments that take us from 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.160 there to why Bill Clutter is still involved with the 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:56.279 case fourteen years later, nine years after Vaughn was convicted. 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.280 Over the years, have worked on a number of people 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:04.279 who've been wrongfully convicted, and it led me to create 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:07.719 what's now the Illinois Innocence Project. And that was almost 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:12.799 twenty years ago. I started investigating innocence after I moved 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:16.720 to Louisville, Kentucky, after Illinois abolished the death Belloty. 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.799 Clutters days pretty busy trying to get people out of prison, 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:21.760 which is why it took me a while to track 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:22.200 him down. 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:26.160 When we finally connected by a phone. I had just 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:32.240 pulled into Columbus, Ohios late in the evenings, sometime after seven, 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:34.400 and I was park literally outside of a restaurant to 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:40.200 have dinner in Dublin, Ohio. That was December of twenty eighteen. 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:43.599 We've been talking ever since. I'd get to know Bill 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.960 Clutter is an affable, principled guy with an almost boyish 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:52.559 enthusiasm about social issues balanced by pragmatics, somewhat pessimistic takes 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:56.040 on the judicial system, and politics. He ran for the 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:57.320 Illinois Senate twice. 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.000 In nineteen ninety I almost became the first Democrat in 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:02.800 eighty six years to win that seat. 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:06.839 Once COVID lockdown hit, I started communicating more with Bill 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:10.400 than just about anybody living outside my house, mostly about 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:14.600 his frustrations involving his long history challenging Christopher Vaughan's conviction. 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:18.640 You know, I've been trying to pitch the Vaughn case 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:23.400 and line up pro bono representation for him. I could 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:26.160 show you stacks of letters that I've sent out to 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.360 the president of the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:33.800 who I knew and I've got no response, and to others, 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:35.760 and trying to get him support. 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.040 Not exactly an easy undertaking, since Clutter is one of 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:42.120 the few people who believe Chris Vaughn is innocent outside 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:43.719 of Chris's parents and siblings. 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:48.000 I've never given up on Christoph Vaughan. In the eyes 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:51.040 of the law, he is a convicted killer. And so 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:56.440 you're starting at that point, and it's difficult to change 0:06:56.520 --> 0:07:01.640 people's minds once they hear that. Hopefully, the more we 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:06.159 peel away at this case and expose the wrongful nature 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:08.839 of the conviction, those minds will change, but. 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:13.040 Many minds have already been influenced by the reality. Vaughn 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.840 was the sole survivor of a horrific crime for which 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.840 he was convicted, and it was salaciously covered, especially by 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:21.520 local news. 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.480 This all played out in the media, and they really 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:25.320 had a field day. 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.480 Vaughn is accused of killing his wife and three children. 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:31.880 There was just a drone of negative media about him 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:32.679 and his case. 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:36.840 Prosecutors said that Vaughn's motive was his wife's one million 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:38.480 dollar life insurance policy. 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:43.640 So understandably to many living around Illinois, Vaughn is considered 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:47.640 an especially evil man. Prosecutors in the Christopher Vaughan murder 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.960 trial argue he murdered his family because they were obstacles 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:54.240 in his life. Jojosey was one of the local reporters 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:55.560 who covered the story well. 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:57.440 At the time the Vaughn family murders. I was working 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.640 at the Juliet Herald News newspaper and Juliet Ellino and 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:03.680 I got one of the editors to sometimes calling me 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:07.960 on mysell and demanding to know where I am. He's like, 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.840 we got this huge story. There's a big murder in Shanahan. 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:14.880 A whole family has been murdered. Chrusoper Vaughn case was. 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:16.800 It was a very big case locally. I mean, you 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:19.400 had the Chicago media down here, it was. It had 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:21.840 a great impact. I mean, three children and their mother 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.640 on their way to a water park and then executed. 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:26.880 That's going to be a big story. 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.160 Joe's a prolific journalist and the author of fatal Now's 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:35.000 The Tragic Wives of Sergeant Drew Peterson, which was later 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:38.000 made into a movie called Untouchable starring Rob Lowe as 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:41.400 the wife killing cop. It unfolded the same year as 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.959 the Vaughn tragedy, along with another high profile case. 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:47.600 Two thousand and seven was an unusual year around here. 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:50.880 They had the disappearance of Lisa Static mother and wife 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:53.679 and playfield and she was going through a divorce but 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:56.000 living in the same house as or a strange husband, 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.400 and she vanished. That was a huge story in the 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:03.040 Chicago area. Soon after that you had the Lawns Christopher 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.720 Vaughn and his family, mother and three children shot to death. 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:11.480 Then months after that you had Drew Peterson, which pulled 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:13.520 all the attention off of both of those cases. Really, 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:18.360 I mean Drew Peterson, Stacy Peterson, Kathleen Savio. That story 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:20.079 pulled the limelight away from all of them. 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:25.160 Drew Peterson's high profile trial grabbed national headlines, and his 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.880 trial also happened at the same time in the same 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:30.600 building as Christopher Vaughns. 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.719 I ended up covering most of the trial after Drew 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.679 Peterson's was over. It's a very photogenic family, very attractive family, 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:42.319 adorable children, and they were terribly brutally murdered. I don't 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:44.760 think I saw the crime scene photos until the trial, 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:49.720 but which they were heartbreaking. But you don't really need 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:54.040 to see the crime scene photos to have your heart broken. 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:58.880 Anytime there's a case involving murdered children and murdered mother, 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:03.040 it's heartbreaking. It's terrible. There's nothing worse that I can 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:03.920 really think of. 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:07.800 And Dan Illinois, Christopher Vaughn is thought of as the 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:11.160 guy who killed his wife and three children to escape 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:15.720 his marriage. Was there ever any sympathy for Christopher. 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:18.240 Vaughn, Not that I can recall. I mean, I don't 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:21.640 think anybody really bought into his version of events. 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:25.839 Yep, there are many more complicated pieces to the story. 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:28.679 We'll be covering them all but we have to start 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.480 with the murders Christopher Vaughan was convicted of committing. While 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:36.320 the details are disturbing and brutal, they are also critical 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:39.600 to understanding the case and whether the man now serving 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:49.600 life actually took four lives. The murders occurred on June fourteenth, 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:53.040 two thousand and seven. In the quiet pre dawn hours 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:57.199 of that Thursday morning. The Vaughn family, Christopher, his wife Kimberly, 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.839 and their three children, loaded up their red Ford Xpedition suv, 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:04.360 setting out before five a m. From their home in 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:08.240 Oswego for an impromptu family trip to a water park 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:13.199 three hours away in Springfield, Illinois. They would never arrive. 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:18.120 At approximately five fifteen a m. A passing motorist stop 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:21.480 to render assistance to Christopher Vaughan, who was found limping 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:25.880 along the frontage road of Interstate fifty five south of Joliet, Illinois. 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:30.319 Vaughan had two gunshot wounds. One bullet had pierced his 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.480 left wrist, the other went entirely through his left leg. 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:35.880 When the man asked if Vaughan had been in a 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:39.800 motorcycle accident or if he'd been stabbed, he replied, no, 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:43.040 I think my wife shot me. The rest of his 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:47.000 family wouldn't fare as well. At five twenty four a 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:50.000 m first responders would encounter a trail of blood reaching 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.719 roughly one hundred and forty feet, which led to the 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.959 family's red Ford expedition nestled in a secluded area of 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:01.800 the frontage road of Interstate fifty five. Upon their arrival, 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.760 all the doors to the suv were closed. Inside were 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:10.160 the remaining members of Christopher Vaughan's family dead. His three 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:14.280 children were in the back seat. Abigail, aged twelve, behind 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:16.960 the driver's seat, shot once in the head and once 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:19.880 in the chest, had been clutching a Harry Potter book 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:23.880 and a stuffed animal. Her younger sister, Cassandra eleven, in 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:27.199 the center seat, and their little brother, Blake, age eight, 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.000 seated behind the passenger seat, had also been shot twice. 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:34.240 Evidence would later show the young boy was holding his 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:37.559 arms out in a defensive position and likely saw what 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:41.439 was coming. The body of their mother, Kimberly Vaughan, was 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:45.040 slumped in the passenger seat, a single gunshot wound under 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:48.280 her chin. On the floor board. At her feet were 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:52.680 her purse and a nine millimeter Torus handgun. The murder 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.800 scene was so traumatizing that a police chaplain was brought 0:12:55.840 --> 0:13:00.240 out to provide counseling to responders. Christopher Vaughan, the old 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.480 surviving member of the family, was loaded into an ambulance 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:07.640 bound for the hospital. On the way there, Chris Vaughn 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:11.320 appeared to believe his family was still alive. Upon arriving 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.679 at the hospital, he told a nurse, you should call 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.160 my wife. She gets mad when I don't call her. 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:23.200 That disconnect would continue. After being released from the hospital, 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:26.760 Christopher Vaughan was taken to the District five police headquarters, 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:30.560 where he was interviewed by detectives. Vaughn had apparent gaps 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:33.640 in his recollection of the morning events. He said his 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:36.439 wife wanted him to pull off the highway because she 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:40.400 was feeling nauseous, a side effect of anxiety induced migraines, 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.280 or possibly the prescription medication she was taking for the condition. 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.199 Vaughn remembered pulling off, parking in front of a cell 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.559 phone tower along a frontage road to provide privacy for 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:53.760 his wife, and then getting out of the car to 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:58.199 check the back tires. He recalled resecuring the strap on 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:02.199 the luggage rack and observed a deer in the adjoining cornfield. 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:05.760 It was only after getting back into the vehicle Vaughn 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:08.880 noticed his leg was bleeding, but had no memory of 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:13.680 being shot. Over the next twenty hours, police would interrogate Vaughn, 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.600 still clad in a hospital gown, and Vaughn's reaction during 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:22.040 the questioning raised scrutiny, especially those captured by hidden video 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.560 cameras when the officers left the room. At one point, 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:28.640 when alone, confronted by a photo of his eight year 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:32.080 old son, Blake, Vaughn crumpled it and threw it into 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:34.760 the corner of the room. Less than a week later, 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:37.680 Christopher Vaughan would be arrested at the funeral of his 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:42.120 wife and children. Five years later. During Vaughn's five week trial, 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:47.080 incriminating revelation after revelation would drop, none of them flattering 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:48.120 for the accused killer. 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:53.240 This morning, Assistant State's Attorney Mike Fitzgerald meticulously reviewed the 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:57.560 evidence from the five week long trial, testimony from dozens 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:02.520 of witnesses. Fitzgerald claimed Vaughn's guilt is painfully obvious. 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.920 The jury would take fifty minutes to find von guilty 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:12.320 on all four counts of first degree murder. Christopher Vaughan 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:16.160 has never confessed and for fourteen years has maintained no 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:18.720 memory of what actually happened to his family in their 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.320 suv that day, no recollection of the four murders for 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.240 which he is now serving a life sentence. Here's Bill 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:25.880 Clutter again. 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:28.920 Generally, my rule of thumb as your client is your 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:33.720 best source of information, and the biggest obstacle was Chris's 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:38.040 inability to remember the events of what happened that morning. 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:41.760 The lone survivor, the only person who would have been 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.920 an eye witness to what happened that day, couldn't provide 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:47.640 you with that information. 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:50.760 That was the frustrating part of the case. 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.800 Yes, Vaughan's defense would attribute his recollection gap to something 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:58.920 called dissociative amnesia, a disorder that involves the inability to 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:03.560 recall important personal information that is usually caused by trauma 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:04.360 or stress. 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.520 He really had no memory, and this is the thing. 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:11.880 The probable cost to arrest him cited the fact that 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:16.400 he had basically these gaps in his story, and it 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:20.600 became clear that he couldn't remember what actually happened. 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:23.600 But many people in Illinois can't forget it. 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:27.600 It was a strange case. I'll say that it was 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:30.800 one of the saddest ones I've covered. It'll never leave me. 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:36.400 And I've covered serial killer cases, death penalty sentencing hearings 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.880 and all the bets and terrible things, and this one 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:41.600 will be with. 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:41.920 Me for. 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.680 That's journalist Erica Worst, a seasoned local reporter who feels 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:50.960 deeply rooted to the Bond case just to hear. 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:54.400 The word actually go, I know that that's my community 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:58.200 and that's where I grow up. We never I mean 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:03.760 to have three children and a mother killed and a father, 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.760 you know, being convicted of that crime. I mean, you 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:07.840 would not find that. 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:09.159 Around here, would not. 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.479 At the time of the murders, Worst was a reporter 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:16.080 at the Chicago Sun Times, a newspaper that had already 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:20.720 done a profile on the exceptionally photogenic family before the 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:22.840 tragedy for a real estate article. 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:25.960 It was weird because when the story happened, we were 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:27.720 looking through our types of for a a picture we 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.680 might have had of them, and then we're like, holy shit, 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.000 they were in our own paper not that long ago. 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:38.080 So that was that was a photo they used often, 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:41.879 the family's photo when they moved into their house, and 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:42.440 as we go. 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:45.919 We had a weekend. 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:49.359 Feature in the paper that was a design feature, talked 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.680 about homes, et cetera. And their home was featured, and 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:55.120 they're ganding in front of a bay window, and it's 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:57.840 all of them and it's just talking about how they 0:17:57.960 --> 0:17:59.480 moved here in their house and this and that. 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:05.679 Google Christopher Vaughan's family, and two of those photos are 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:08.919 in the top results, One of Chris and Kim seated 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:12.000 in front of their three standing children, Another of the 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.320 family of five seated together on a brown sectional couch. 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:19.840 All are casually clad in jeans, the three kids peering 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:24.040 out beneath silky bangs. Abigail's coloring leaning more towards the 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:27.199 strawberry blonde of her mother, Cassandra, and Blake a bit 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:31.480 more brunette like their dad. Chris looks significantly heavier than 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:35.359 he'd later appear in mugshots. Kimberly is beaming beautifully in 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:39.200 both photos. The only member of the family smiling broadly 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:43.119 enough to reveal teeth the home was Christine. 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:47.920 They had just moved in. They're all standing there, and 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:50.680 they couldn't have been much younger than they were the 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:53.800 age they were killed, because they hadn't lived in Las 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:57.320 Lego too long. You just think, Okay, I got a 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:01.800 flippath this picture without evening it, not even read the article. 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:05.760 It was just a picture and the paper that I 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:08.879 looked at every single day to look at the picture 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:16.040 and think, oh my god. Four of those five people 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:20.880 are dead. Now, those kids are dead forever and ever 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:24.240 and ever and ever and ever. And that's what's haunting, 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:27.359 because they'll never get any older than they were in 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:27.960 that picture. 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:32.760 The tragedy that photo now represents is in stark contrast 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:35.119 to the stunning good looks of the Telegenic family. 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:37.920 I mean, they were a picture perfect. That's the kind 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:40.000 of couple that I would look at and be like, 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:43.760 see I look there, like, you know, three cute little 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:48.600 kids and take nice house and cam seems so heavy, 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:52.080 and that that's what I would point to and say. 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:53.040 That's what I want. 0:19:54.200 --> 0:20:02.280 And you know, never know what's going on behind closed doors, much. 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:04.159 Of which would come out in court in front of 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:08.600 both Chris and Kimberly's grieving torn Aparte families, the Vaughn's 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:12.520 and the Phillips worst kept meticulous notes throughout the Vaughn 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:15.320 trial and finds them difficult to revisit. 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.840 It's hard when it's a family family thing. Usually one guy. 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:21.520 Again it's another guy. 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:23.639 And a different family, and in this case, it's like 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:28.120 total devastation, the whole family that was sad. Here's these 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:31.520 families that used to be one family and now are 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:35.119 sitting on different sides of the courtroom, and they believe 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:37.280 one thing, and they believe one thing, and it's never 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:39.240 going to be resolved, so there's no justice. 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:44.479 No one's gonna get what they want, which is they 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:45.040 loved ones. 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:58.320 Maath covering the five week trial gave worst ample time 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:01.120 to scrutinize Christopher Vaughn and his behavior. 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:06.160 I was there and watched every ninety witnesses and every 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:09.280 piece of evidence, be withdrawald and every autopsy photo. 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:13.280 When you saw Vaughn in person as opposed to seeing 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:19.320 the mugshot, can you just take me to your thoughts 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:22.000 of how he presented in the courtroom. 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:25.679 Well, I mean he's a handsome man. He was well dressed. 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:29.040 You don't look at Chris and be like you slaughtered 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:32.000 your family. It's just not the vibe he gives off. 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:35.879 It's like he can't be the epitome of evil. 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:39.639 But then you think back to the autopsy photos and 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:41.160 you're like, no, that's pretty damn evil. 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:50.600 Hello, Hey Gail, it's Lauren. 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:52.399 Hi here Lauren. 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:53.560 How are you. 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:55.720 I am doing very well. 0:21:56.880 --> 0:22:01.639 That's Chris Bahnd's mother, Gail. We'd connect by email then phone. 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:05.720 Her voice reminds me of Yankee candles, warm and comforting 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:09.400 throughout our calls. I was struck by the consistently positive 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:12.439 energy she radiates every time she picks up the phone. 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:15.399 For over a year, we've talked about just about everything, 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:16.639 including fishing. 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:17.960 We've got some. 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:20.919 Pretty good size ones around here, and when I finally. 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:22.600 Get one, I usually fish only. 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:23.480 For the little fun fish. 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:27.080 So when I get something that thens my rod backwards, 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:29.960 it's like, no, I don't want this. And here's usually 0:22:30.040 --> 0:22:32.440 with me, So I say, if you don't want this fish, 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:35.440 I'm just dropping the rod and he'll scramble. 0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:36.000 The eye into the boat. 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:37.159 He said, give it, give it, give it. 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:42.640 Well, then it's a good thing that you fish together then, 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:46.040 or you'd be losing a lot of rods. Yes, But 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:48.639 when the topic turns to Chris, the eldest of her 0:22:48.680 --> 0:22:52.240 three sons, you hear a sudden shift, almost like a 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:57.520 WinCE from an old injury, followed by frustration, Well, my 0:22:57.640 --> 0:22:58.439 son is innocent. 0:22:58.720 --> 0:23:02.359 He did not kill his three children nor his wife. 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:05.360 My son did not do this, and he's sitting there 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:11.960 in prison in the middle of Illinois. Nobody can hold him. 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:16.040 When this happened, there was nobody to talk to him 0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:22.480 after he lost these his family. We had counselors, we 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:23.240 had each other. 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:27.680 Chris had no one for fourteen years. Gail's been trying 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:30.040 to get her son out of prison with little support, 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:31.720 something she's grown used to. 0:23:32.440 --> 0:23:38.600 A couple days after this this awful tragedy, mister Glasgow 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:44.200 appeared on TV with all the higher up people that 0:23:44.320 --> 0:23:45.200 were investigating. 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:49.959 She's referencing James Glasgow, the Will County State's attorney who 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:51.240 prosecuted her son. 0:23:51.720 --> 0:23:55.719 And he pretty much pointed out that Kimberly was an 0:23:55.760 --> 0:23:59.879 angel and he would deal with the person that did this, 0:24:00.240 --> 0:24:02.000 and he was pretty sure he knew who it was. 0:24:02.760 --> 0:24:06.320 And it never deviated from his point of view there. 0:24:06.920 --> 0:24:10.119 He was always trying to fit the evidence into the 0:24:10.240 --> 0:24:15.720 crime instead of following the evidence. The jurors some of 0:24:15.800 --> 0:24:21.000 them actually fell asleep during the trial. I mean, how 0:24:21.040 --> 0:24:27.359 can somebody put somebody into prison that doesn't listen. 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:31.000 To all of the facts. Gaale moderates a Facebook group 0:24:31.400 --> 0:24:35.159 Christopher Vaughan is Innocent, the last word in all caps. 0:24:35.800 --> 0:24:38.240 It had sixteen members when I looked it up. In 0:24:38.320 --> 0:24:41.280