WEBVTT - 2. Before 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:07.400 Murder in Illinois is a production of iHeartRadio. Five weeks 0:00:07.440 --> 0:00:11.480 after the killings, a grand jury indicted Christopher Vaughan on 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:15.040 four counts of first degree murder in connection with the 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:18.639 shooting deaths of his wife and three children. His family 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:23.240 has never shared their story or spoken publicly about the murders, 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:27.080 the investigation, or Chris until now. 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:31.320 Oh. 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:34.920 He has always been curious. If there was a puzzle, 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:37.199 he had to do it. If something was broken, he 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:38.239 would try to fix it. 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:42.239 Long before Christopher Vaughan was known as a killer, he 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:44.680 was a son and a brother in the Vaughan family 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:48.640 of Missouri by way of Indiana, the eldest of Gail 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:51.040 and Pierre Vaughan's three boys. 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.480 I compare the other boys to Aiman, I would say 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:58.560 they were more typical. But if he gave Chris something 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:03.800 to do, he did it be slightly different than I 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:06.760 would do it, or somebody else would do it. That 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:08.800 was just him. He had his own way of doing things. 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:13.200 When Gail speaks of her three sons, there's a definite 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:16.200 sparkle in her voice that shimmers with pride. But when 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:19.839 she shares specific memories of Chris as a child, there's 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:21.520 also a sense of awe. 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:25.560 Chris was a natural. Anything he touched, he could do. 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:31.200 He was really good at sports. His academic achievements are amazing. 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:35.080 There was one time it was Christmas and he had 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:37.440 asked for an R two D two. 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:42.720 It was a little motorized robot. Well, he was so 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:45.000 excited when he opened it up and he just his 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:46.920 eyes just oh my gosh, oh my gosh, you know, 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:51.080 and he's bouncing around, and he disappeared and we were 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:56.000 still opening gifts, but he has gone. Well about an 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:58.360 hour or two, Laters comes out of his bedroom and 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:02.240 he was so excited because he came out with a 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:06.080 walking dinosaur holding an object like a card in front 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:08.519 of him. What he'd done is he'd taken his R 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:10.680 two D two apart and along with some of his 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:16.560 other toys, made a dinosaur butler that tried to carry objects. 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.320 The way he could think was amazing. If you have 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:22.840 a routine and you do something a certain way all 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.120 the time, but it takes you twenty minutes to do it, 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:30.360 he would look at what you're doing and he would 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:34.200 be able to get the result that you got faster 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.840 than what you did in twenty minutes. It was just 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:42.239 aggravating sometimes because you think, man, I've done this forever 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:44.640 and look at the sool squirt. He just showed me 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:46.679 how to do it better and more efficiently. 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:51.440 So now that took quite a bit from us parents 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:53.959 not to Chris do it this way. 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.200 Because we tried not to do that. We tried really hard. 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:01.000 All the boys think on your own, you know, think 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:03.480 out of the box, don't always go with the crowd. 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:05.840 So that's kind of what we got. 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:12.200 I'm Lauren brad Pacheco, and this is murder in Illinois. 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:26.079 You know, think foot baby like sticky, a beautyful bards. 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:35.360 You came to distress Fuxicent. 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:43.400 All on broging hard cards, but you. 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:52.840 Did try to love somewhat. But now you've got to listen. 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:56.120 To Lisa. 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:04.080 During his trial, Christopher Vaughan was portrayed by the prosecution 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:10.080 as a fairly monstrous person, a selfish, emotionless man who 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:14.280 thought nothing of murdering his wife and three children. But 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.279 that depiction is at odds with the Chris the people 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:20.760 closest to him claim to know. As we start to 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:25.000 unpack this case, it's important to understand who Vaughn was. 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:28.200 According to those who have known him his entire life 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.640 for more than thirty years. Before Christopher Vaughan was a 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:36.440 headlined villain and later a convicted killer, he was a 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:40.440 son and a brother. The eldest of three, Chris's creative 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:43.599 mind set him apart early on. Here's his brother Eric, 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:45.680 the younger by thirteen months. 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:48.840 Well, I am definitely a middle child, which in my 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:55.360 definition as an instiator and in the moodlifter. Chris has 0:04:55.480 --> 0:05:00.080 always been kind of a rock. He was the brains 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:04.200 of the three of us until a little brother got older. 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:09.720 But he would always be curious on technologies, and you know, 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:12.240 he took a part in my parents' first computer and 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:15.240 ended up blowing it up, which was not a good deal. 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:18.440 He was always curious as to, you know, how things 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:20.120 worked and stuff like that. 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:24.400 Being so close in age, Eric and Chris were excited 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:28.039 about the prospect of having a younger sibling, but only 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.360 a brother. Here's their dad, Pierre. 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.320 There was a time too that when we were living Indiana, 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.720 we found out Gail was pregnant with Adham. That the 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:39.800 boys huddled in their room for all morning and they 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:44.080 come out and they told Gails. They said, yeah, we 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:46.920 decided you need to have another boy, because we really 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.360 don't want a girl, and if we have a girl, 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:53.520 we'll have center back. Of course, they were like three 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:57.120 and four years old when that happened, so that was 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:57.800 pretty cute. 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:02.120 Until recently, Air, who also goes by the nickname Pete, 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.520 kept busy as an estimator and product manager for a 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.039 large painting company. He shares his wife's love of all 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:13.400 things outdoors, given the activities they've just finished or are 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.440 about to set out on each and every time I 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:19.039 call I joke, they're the most active retired couple I know. 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:21.960 Here's the youngest, Vaughan Adam's take. 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:26.880 I think my dad probably spearheads that no pun intended 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:31.680 with his enjoyment of the outdoors. He's always pres only 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:35.120 I can remember. He's always been into fishing, fishing and hunting, 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:39.320 just being outside, always doing something in the yard, whether 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:44.160 that's maintenance or or improvement. He doesn't sit still very well, 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.240 so out of doors was just always a really good 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:51.479 good place for him. He always said that he could, 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:54.440 you know, sit in a deer stand or or on 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:59.960 a boat fishing and just relax and decompressed from work 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:04.680 and all that. And he attempted to pass that love 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:08.680 of out of doors onto my brother's snary. We did 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:10.040 do a lot of fishing. 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:14.000 Growing up, Gail says. Chris had an interesting spin on that. 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:15.880 From an early age. 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:19.280 We taught the boys how to fish for catfish because 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:22.280 they were ponds only used for children to fish in. 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.800 But the fish didn't realize that they were in a. 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:31.640 Small pond, and they were very large catfish, and Chris 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:35.160 showed his brother how to catch one. After we caught 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:39.720 a couple, he watched them and he would he always 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:43.480 think of ways to make things better. So what he 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.200 did was he would lock his reel once he got 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:48.760 a bike, and he just turned to the shore and 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:51.800 run full speed, dragging the fish out of the water with. 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:56.520 Him so we wouldn't have to reel it in exactly. 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:00.120 So all the other kids were watching him, going wow, oh. 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:02.960 So pretty soon there were other children doing the same things, 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:07.480 and you know, the catch ratio was much better that way. 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:12.240 The von boys enjoyed a childhood of camaraderie and healthy competition. 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:13.880 According to Pierre. 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.400 The three boys were close, Chris and Eric. You know, 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:21.120 they were always doing boy things, picking on each other 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:25.080 and stuff like that. And they you know, those two 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:28.040 were close enough where they they would challenge each other 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:32.760 whether we were practicing archery or fishing or whatever. Typical boys, 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.520 they had to, you know, have a challenge all the time, 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:39.600 so it was a competition. But no, they were always 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.640 great and they looked out after each other, and if 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:46.600 one of them needed help doing something, you know, Chris 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:49.520 would jump in and help them, and the other ones would. 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.000 To Adam come a few of the years later, but 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:53.800 they included him in the brotherhood. 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:58.240 Chris in particular, was a huge influence on his youngest brother. 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:03.280 Chris was quite a role model for most of my childhood. 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.320 Being five years older than I am, he was kind 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:11.480 of the trendsetter in the house. Being the oldest child, 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:15.240 he had to clear the path with the parents and 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:20.440 between Chris and my other brother, Eric, they were able 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:24.600 to explore both ends of the spectrum, which allowed me 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:29.080 to learn from their mistakes and successes and plot a 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:31.720 path right down the middle. I looked Chris a lot 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:35.480 for some of the direction during what I would consider 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:39.599 my formative years, simple things such as his passion for 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:45.400 soccer or his ability to buckle down and do well 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:45.960 in school. 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:50.679 Even now decades later, somewhat shadowed by the exhaustion and 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:54.720 sadness of the tragedy they've weathered. There's a fondness and 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.960 affinity for the bond the brothers have shared since childhood. 0:09:58.440 --> 0:09:59.720 Here again is Eric. 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:02.560 You know, we were pretty close to the three of us, 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:06.400 even with the age gap for a younger brother, but 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:10.600 we were the eighth team. Adam, Chris, Eric is what 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:15.400 we dubbed as kids, which is pretty cool. We didn't 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:17.840 have a lot of video games and stuff like that. 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:24.400 We got creative, went outside and did stuff, played outside. 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:26.560 And tell me a little bit more about that. It 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:31.760 really sounds like your parents instilled a love of outdoor 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.960 activity for you guys. So just tell me how did 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.800 the outdoors kind of become your playground? 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:43.120 Well, I think what started at a pretty early age. 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:51.920 I was probably a five six seven range. On weekends, 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:56.120 usually either Saturday or Sunday, Mom and Dad would load 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:58.640 us up in the back of the pickup truck and 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:02.520 we go out to Bush Wildlife, which is a wildlife 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:08.079 area that has like forty some odd man made lakes, 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.520 and we'd spend the whole day fishing. If we got 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:15.800 board fishing, then we had brought games and stuff, so 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.720 we'd go back to the truck and play games, and 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.880 we'd have a picnic lunch. And as we got a 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:24.920 little older and parents trust us a little more, we 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:28.000 would go fishing. They it actually he could rent like 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:31.720 a John boat, but they wouldn't give us the trolley motor. 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:34.199 We had to row with oars. That was a lot 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.559 of fun. It was like the three Stooges in a boat. 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.400 According to Adam, that sense of humor wasn't limited to 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:41.839 the water. 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:45.560 Something comes to mind that makes me smile. Chris was 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:52.120 probably about medium height and build. Eric was a little 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:56.000 smaller and a little thinner, whereas I was always the 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.000 large one in the group. Always carried a little bit 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:01.959 more weight than I wanted to you, So for a 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:05.600 number of years there I was actually larger than Eric. 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:09.079 What Chris and Eric figured out is that one of 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.760 them could stand behind me. It was almost like a 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:17.120 ventriloquist skit where I would stand there and move my 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.520 mouth and then one of them would talk from behind me. 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:23.000 I was just kind of the teenage hijinks that we 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:23.520 got into. 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:30.600 The Vaughns all convey a functional family and a loving home. Again, 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:31.440 here's Adam. 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.360 I'd say we were a pretty tight knit family. Both 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:41.000 parents were engaged in seeing that my brothers and I 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:45.280 followed the rules and did our best to do whatever 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.439 it is that we were tasked with doing, whether that 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:52.800 be school or work or sports. My mom had the 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:59.160 opportunity to stay home most of my school years, so 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:03.440 she was around and involved. My dad worked, but he 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:08.640 did make the effort to still interact with us quite 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.400 a bit after work. He was, you know, a baseball 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:15.280 coach for Chris and Eric for quite some time. Cool 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.600 thing about that was it was it was kind of 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:21.520 a family thing, and I got to be the bat 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:25.360 boy for a number of years as well, so that 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.600 was one of the family type events that he did. 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:44.160 Well. It sounds like Gallon Pierre gave Chris and his 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:48.240 brothers an idyllic childhood. With three boys, you'd imagine there 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:50.480 would be the potential for a lot of fights or 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:54.760 physical altercation, but that was against family rules, and it 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:59.120 was also against Chris's nature. According to Gail, he was pretty. 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.640 Much kind of time and he wasn't a mean spirited person. 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:04.160 He still isn't. 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:04.880 Well. 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:06.800 The first rule of the house was you can't hit 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.760 the other person. You can holler at him, but you're. 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:14.160 Not supposed to knack anybody, So there was no physical 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.040 fights between them or anything. And they were all just 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:22.200 really good and work played well together all the time. 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:24.640 He was just so good. 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:29.920 Nothing we found and Crispond's upbringing or history suggests a 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:35.000 predisposition or inclination towards any sort of violent behavior. His 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:38.560 mother recalls he had a special affinity towards animals. 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:40.800 Yes, that is true. 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:45.920 He's especially like cats, all kinds of cats, domestic panthers, tigers, 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:48.560 makes no difference, just as long as as a cat. 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:53.800 And he admired their abilities the most because they were independent, 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.200 They were great parents to their cubs. They have an 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:03.320 ability to observe and ponder before pouncing instead of like 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:04.680 a dog just rushing. 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:08.080 In growing up, that thing to be what he was. 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:13.400 Trying to strive for, as in his abilities to be 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:17.640 independent and to observe before he did something. 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:20.240 And we did have one. 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:23.520 Cat when he was growing up in Manchester along with 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.880 our great name. Her name was Stormy, and she was 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:30.200 just a regular domestic cat and Chris had a lot 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:33.760 of patients and he taught her to do tricks and 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:37.120 he taught her to sit up and wave, and he 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.320 could tell her to wave one paw or wave the 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:43.520 other paw, and then he also taught her to play fetch, 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.560 among other things. Those are the things I remember the most, 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:49.560 because it's kind of hard to get a cat to 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:51.640 bring you anything back unless they want to. 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:56.400 That patience and sensitivity seems to have gone hand in 0:15:56.480 --> 0:16:00.680 hand with a bit of introversion. Many I've interviewed Chris, 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:04.320 particularly in his youth, as quiet and thoughtful. 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:08.400 There was one time in elementary school he was going 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:10.960 to be in a Christmas play and he was all 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:14.160 dressed out in his little outfit, and when it came 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:16.760 for him to go on to stage, he crawled under 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:19.120 his desk and stayed there. He didn't want to be 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:22.960 on the spotlight. But as he got older he got 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:27.520 a little better. Because he and a girl in junior 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:31.680 high for a speech contest, they did a like a 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:36.160 little skit about Mark Twain and he. 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:40.200 Did really, really, really well, and he started coming out 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:41.520 of his shell a little bit. 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:46.320 That may have coincided a bit with teenage hormones and 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:50.360 Chris's growing effect on girls. Here's how Adam puts it. 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:55.680 He was definitely able to catch the eyes of the 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:59.240 fair sex. I was always envious to that as well. 0:16:59.240 --> 0:16:59.920 As I said he. 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:01.480 Was. 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:04.399 He was kind of the goal of what I wanted 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:05.160 to be. 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:09.440 Back to Gail, Well, he enjoyed talking to girls. 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:14.320 I mean, Chris was and is a very good looking 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:14.840 young man. 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:20.840 They would just do anything to talk to him. But 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:25.080 he really didn't date, so to speak. He was shy 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:26.720 at the dand says he didn't want to do that 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.359 and we didn't pressure it. But he would talk to 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:34.360 his girls on the phone, and it seemed like there 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:36.679 for a while he had all of his girlfriends were 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:41.560 the name of Christie, Kristen, Christy. He told me that 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:43.639 that was so if he said their name, they all 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.440 sounded the same and they wouldn't know he was talking 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:47.240 to somebody else. 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.000 But while he may have joked about it with his mom, 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.520 Chris wasn't overly comfortable with female attention. 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:59.160 No, They overwhelmed him sometime and he just kind of 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:01.920 took it, tried and treated him nicely, but. 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:06.680 He just did not single any one girl out, which 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:07.640 drove him crazy. 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:11.520 And then right before Chris's first year of college, he 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.840 finally met the girl who would end up breaking that pattern. 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:19.000 He and his brother Eric were working at a miniature 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:23.919 golf place and two girls came past this one girl 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:29.720 made a Tommy joy and he goes, oh, really, and 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:32.280 somehow he just picked her ball up and threw it 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:32.720 in the water. 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:38.560 Well, then she demanded he got here another mall, and 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:43.040 it seemed like he was just instantly smitten with her. 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:46.600 I mean, it was just a click. He was just there. 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:51.560 That encounter wasn't just by chance. Through a mutual friend, 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.720 his brother Eric met the girl he thought Chris needed 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:59.400 to meet, and in a way, Chris's fate was sealed. 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:07.360 Vocally with introducing Chris to Kimberly. Through Kimberly's friend Colleen. 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.760 I knew Colleen from when I was in middle school. 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:15.240 At high school, her parents owned the golf driving range, 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.800 and that summer I was working as a painter's apprentice 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:21.679 from the company, my painting company my dad worked for 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.439 during the day, and then you know, I would go 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:31.359 from there to the golf driving range after they closed 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:34.879 and helped pick up golf balls. Well, one evening when 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:37.920 I was up there, Kim was up there visiting colleens. 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:40.520 So I got to talking with him and a little bit, 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:44.400 and then I went home, you know, next day, told 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:47.440 Chris that he really needed to come up and meet 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.199 this person. You know, I think he did work together. 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:53.600 Even though Kimberly was a bit older, Eric thought she'd 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:57.159 nicely balance Chris's more quiet, introspective nature. 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:01.960 Well, my first impression she was very bubbly. You could 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:06.040 see that she was pretty intelligent, just with the witty 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:09.359 comments that she would come back with when I was 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:15.080 making jokes or picking on her. Slender blonde several years 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:20.000 older than myself, so I wasn't unnecessarily interested, but I 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:23.520 could tell she had a really good personality and all 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:26.359 in all seemed to be like a nice person. That 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:28.639 was my first impression of her, for sure. 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:33.200 Once christ and Kimberly started hanging out, things progressed quickly. 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.600 They would come over and you know, she'd bring her 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:40.000 school books and stuff like that, and they would sit 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:44.879 in the front room and talk and you know, appear 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:48.520 to be doing homework er studying or whatever. He would 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:51.800 go see her in the evenings whenever he was available, 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.280 and you know, it was more frequent that they were 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:58.040 hanging out, so it was noticeable that, you know, they 0:20:58.080 --> 0:20:59.960 were getting to know each other better. 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:02.320 Gail picks it up here. 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:07.600 From there, they started dating, I mean seriously dating, dinner, movies, 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:13.040 drive picnics, and going to her house a lot. 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:16.520 Chris and Kimberly apparently became serious right. 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:21.439 Away instantly, I mean there was no in between, just 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:25.440 from just talking to all the girls to one. 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:30.080 But Pierre didn't necessarily feel they were an ideal match. 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:33.399 She was more or less the one decided that she 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:38.480 wanted to be with Chris and talking with Chris. Other 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:41.960 than having a good time when they were together, they 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:43.240 really had nothing in common. 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:46.439 Having raised Chris and his brothers to have strong and 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:51.040 active ethics, both in terms of work and recreation, Pierre 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:55.800 and Gail found Kimberly's inclinations more sedentary and cerebral. 0:21:56.240 --> 0:21:59.560 With Chris, we had him doing so many different things, 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:03.840 and he worked at Summer help in construction. I had 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:06.720 him out in the field painting and delivering goods to 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:10.560 the painters, and so he got some construction experience. And 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:17.760 Kimberly's family their bookworms, their college people, and they never camped, 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:21.439 they hiked, they stayed in the house. When they weren't 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:25.360 studying or reading books, they were watching TV. So they 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:29.520 weren't outdoors people at all. So Chris was like this 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:34.320 amazing person that knew a lot about everything, and she 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:37.480 was very sheltered, so you know, that was another thing 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:39.200 that she liked about him. 0:22:39.880 --> 0:22:42.600 We want to reiterate here that the Phillips family has 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:46.280 declined our request for an interview. What we are presenting 0:22:46.520 --> 0:22:49.639 is the Bond's take on the dynamic between the young couple, 0:22:50.160 --> 0:22:53.000 one in which they saw Chris as the protector, even 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:55.719 though he was younger than kim by two years. 0:22:56.200 --> 0:23:00.320 Chris was always good night in shining armor. He was 0:23:00.359 --> 0:23:05.879 always rescuing, and Kimberly came across as being very, very needy, 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:09.680 and she was always arguing with their parents, and she 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:13.600 was in tears about something that happened during the day, 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:18.600 and he was always trying to boister her up and 0:23:18.680 --> 0:23:22.960 make her happy again and try to solve her problems. 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:26.560 And as Chris was heading to college, there was another 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:29.199 reason why the Bonds may have wanted that to be 0:23:29.240 --> 0:23:30.959 his focus. Here's Adam. 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:34.919 I do remember a conversation between my parents and Chris 0:23:34.960 --> 0:23:40.400 prior to Chris leaving for school in regards to Kimberly. 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:44.359 At that point, Chris was the first vawd that I 0:23:44.440 --> 0:23:49.080 was aware of that attended college. My parents told him 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:54.760 pretty directly that they didn't anticipate his relationship with Kimberly 0:23:54.920 --> 0:23:58.320 to be a long term the situation because they wanted 0:23:58.359 --> 0:24:02.480 them to focus on school, and Chris, of course took 0:24:02.480 --> 0:24:08.320 offense to that, as most hot blooded teenage boys will, 0:24:09.080 --> 0:24:11.680 and said he would find a way to make it work. 0:24:12.119 --> 0:24:14.800 Did you ever think in a million years that Chris 0:24:14.800 --> 0:24:17.439 would come home from college and tell you guys he 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:18.200 was getting married. 0:24:18.960 --> 0:24:24.199 No, well that's not entirely true. I remember one Friday 0:24:24.280 --> 0:24:28.679 night at Pizza Hut, we had a conversation basically to 0:24:28.720 --> 0:24:33.359 the effect that with three boys, this was my dad talking, 0:24:33.640 --> 0:24:36.800 do you expect us at some point to be curious 0:24:36.840 --> 0:24:40.919 and eventually to want to be a girl? It was 0:24:40.920 --> 0:24:44.120 my dad's attempt at telling us to use protection if 0:24:44.160 --> 0:24:47.240 we ever chose to go that group that got me thinking, oh, wow, 0:24:47.320 --> 0:24:50.679 I guess my brothers are into things more advanced than 0:24:51.040 --> 0:24:52.080 where I was. 0:25:04.960 --> 0:25:08.320 During Chris's first and only year of college in Missouri, 0:25:08.800 --> 0:25:12.400 he was traveling to see Kim fairly often. Here's Gail. 0:25:12.800 --> 0:25:15.280 She was going to Missou at the time in Colombia, 0:25:16.480 --> 0:25:18.800