WEBVTT - 7. The Trial 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:06.040 Murder in Illinois is a production of iHeartRadio. In August 0:00:06.040 --> 0:00:09.320 of twenty twelve, five years after the deaths of his family, 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.960 Christopher Vaughn's case headed to court. Vaughn's initial defense team 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:17.319 had been dismantled when its funding evaporated, so he was 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:20.840 now represented by a public defender. Here's Bill Clutter. 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:24.360 By the time the death penalty was abolished, it was 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:29.440 March of twenty eleven, so we had been investigating the 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:33.640 case and learning the case for entire four years, and 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:36.400 then once those resources went away, when it was no 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.319 longer a capital case, the funding reverted to. 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:43.520 The county prosecutors had originally planned to try this case 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.159 as a death penalty case, but in the five years 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.879 since the murder, the death penalty has been abolished here 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.320 in the state of Illinois, and the fund used to 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:56.400 pay for Christopher Vaughn's public defenders has been eliminated. 0:00:56.440 --> 0:00:58.600 He now has new attorneys. 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:00.960 Something that would have a mixed impact on Vaughn. 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:04.120 The good news is they're abolishing the death penalty. The 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:07.160 bad news is they're abolishing the death penalty, which means 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:10.560 you don't get the resources to defend yourself before trial 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:16.760 and in many cases, prosecutors were making those decisions to 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:19.840 file their intent not to seek the death penalty because 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:20.360 it would. 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:20.679 Do just that. 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:24.520 The defense that Vaughn ended up going to that courtroom 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.880 with as compared to the level that the prosecution had 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:30.520 at the time, how would you categorize it? 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:34.800 People use the analogy of David versus Goliath, but in 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:37.400 this case it was David versus Godzilla. 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.800 I'm Lauren bred Pacheco, and this is murder in Illinois. 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:55.280 But you did ja you you. 0:01:57.320 --> 0:01:57.360 Do? 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:18.040 To recap Christopher Vaughan was held without bond in the 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:21.200 Will County Jail in Illinois, So from the time he 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:24.160 was arrested at his family's funeral in two thousand and 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:27.600 seven until the time of his trial in twenty twelve, 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:30.680 he'd spent the last five years of his life in jail. 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.440 Regardless of the verdict, a man who hadn't yet been 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:38.080 convicted of a crime had already lost five years of 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:41.840 his life to incarceration, and Gale and Pierre Vaughan were 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:45.680 very wary about their son's downgraded defense as he headed 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:46.560 to court. 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:49.680 Well. 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:56.680 John Rogers and Jerry Killian were both expert lawyers, and 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:01.200 they worked very hard on it for four years, and 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:05.000 they knew the thing inside and out, and they they 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.000 were ready to go to trial, but they kept the 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.040 state kept putting them off. If you're on trial for 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:17.400 murder in Illinois, like Chris was, the state pays the 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:21.960 lawyers and pays for your defense. Once they did away 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:25.680 with the death penalty, they called our two lawyers in 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:28.839 said hey, look, unless you want to finish this thing 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:31.440 pro bono, we're not going to pay you anymore. 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:35.840 And we couldn't afford I mean, our house wasn't even 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:39.280 a fit in a bucket compared to the money that 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:41.040 we would have had to provide. 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:44.920 Right, I mean, the lawyers told us that this trial 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:50.320 was probably costing the State of Illinois somewhere into the 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:54.680 centy of ten to twenty million dollars, and I thought, well, 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:56.080 that's a lot for lawyers. 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:58.360 You know, the State of Illinois also drug it out 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:01.440 for four years. That's kind of their own fault. 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:04.520 So lawyers just said, hey, look, you know we can't 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.080 finish the thing pro bono. They offered the State of 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:08.920 Illinois like two hundred and fifty thousand If you give 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:11.400 us two hundred fifty thousand to finish the case, and 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:14.280 the state of Illinois wouldn't do it. But then they 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:18.640 hired our public defender and his two associates to get 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.919 up to speed on the case. So it was like, Okay, 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.520 you wouldn't pay our lawyers two hundred and fifty grand, 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:27.320 but you paid your three lawyers and you still had 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:30.520 to pay the prosecution lawyers to be involved with it, 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:33.960 So the money didn't add up. You know, it's just 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:39.240 a matter of getting rid of our good quality lawyers. 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:43.200 And Pierre had another issue with Chris's new defense. 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:46.680 Well, and this is my opinion, here's the thing. 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:50.640 The public defender lawyers are paid by the same people 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:56.200 who pay the prosecuting lawyers and who pay the judges. 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.000 It all comes out of the same check book. 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:07.080 So if you're person signing your check insinuates or let 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:11.039 you know that this is the way things should go, and. 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:11.839 What are you going to do? 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:15.799 As mentioned before, Chris also had the misfortune of sharing 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:19.520 a courthouse with another high profile case that was happening 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.680 at the same time, along with the press frenzy that 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:23.440 accompanied it. 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:26.919 In just the first day, attorneys agreed on twelve of 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:30.080 the eighteen jurors they'll need for the Christopher Vaughn trial. 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:32.839 It's a trial taking place by the way, in a 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:36.799 courtroom literally next door to the murder trial of Drew Peterson. 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:40.760 Christopher Vaughn's trial unfolded in the same courthouse during the 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:44.840 same time period under the same state's attorney, James Glasgow. 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:46.120 Here's perr Vaughan. 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:51.599 Jude Peterson was a police officer that had a couple 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:56.120 wives go missing, and as it turns out, his final 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:58.000 trial came up at the same time Chris did. 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:03.159 So it was a meet a circus. There was Chamers 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.239 TVs set up outside, there was a drawing for seats. 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:08.760 They had to they had to take a drawing for 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:11.200 the reporters to get in and take seats in both 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:16.920 both cases. And you know, our our judge said that 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:20.479 that Drew Peterson's case would not have any reflection on 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.720 his judgment, but it did. He was he was interviewed 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.800 by the press just like everybody else, and he wasn't 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:29.440 going to be outdone by Drew Peterson's case, let's put 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:34.120 it that way. So, yeah, there was a big media 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:37.800 circus at the end of every day after court, good 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:41.400 old Glasgow would be out there in the Street talking 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:44.120 about how he's prosecuting these two guys and everything, And 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:46.359 he never even appeared in either courtroom. 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:49.560 But he was holding a lot of press conferences. 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:53.240 Oh, yes, yes he was. He was running for election. 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:57.360 At this point, the Peterson trial had garnered national attention. 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:01.279 Drew Peterson was eventually convicted of killing his third wife, 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:05.640 Kathleen Savio, and his fourth wife, still missing to this day, 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:08.960 is suspected to have met a similar fate. The case 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:10.680 somewhat overshadowed Vaughn's. 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.720 This trial is expected to last about six weeks, and 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:19.000 interestingly enough, it's being heard right next to the courtroom 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:21.960 where the Drew Peterson murder trial is underway. 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:27.280 Running for reelection, Glasgow was quite vocal about his intention 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:31.480 to secure convictions for both Peterson and Vaughn, and his 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:35.960 opponent at the time accused Glasgow of manipulating the timing 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:40.040 of both trials for political purposes. Here's Gail Vaughan. 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:44.000 He was trying to be re elected and he actually 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.280 used Chris as one of his platforms. 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:50.680 But that wasn't a new development. Glasgow had been consistent 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:54.520 on Vaughn even before his funeral day arrest a week 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:55.800 after the murders. 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:01.640 Yeah, their very first news conference already decided he was guilty. 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.080 When it was mister Glasgow and a police commissioner and 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:10.160 they were standing up there answering questions for the reporters. 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.880 They said, yep, well we'll get it, We'll bring him in. 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:16.720 They didn't even give him a chance. 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:21.400 Here's Bill Clutter's take on whether those press conferences had 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:23.200 a negative impact on Vaughan. 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:24.800 Oh. 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.680 I have no doubt about it. I mean, he was 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:32.480 already tried and convicted in the media, and you know, 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:36.400 just having to go into will County with all of 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:41.600 that intense publicity. He was already convicted in the court 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:42.680 of public opinion. 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:46.320 Rounding out the hurdles was the police department's apparent tunnel 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:49.160 vision as to Chris's guilt. From the very day of 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.280 the murder. There never seemed to have been much doubt 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.360 from the state's attorney side of things that Kim was 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:59.480 innocent and Chris premeditated the entire thing, and the media 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:00.920 and press followed along. 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:05.280 It's typical in many of these cases, and time after 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:08.200 time that I've been involved. You know, it's hard enough 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:13.440 when you're innocent trying to prove your innocence. But it's 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:16.880 even more difficult when you have to overcome the pre 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.880 trop publicity that's already made up many of the minds 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:22.920 of jurors when they walk into that courtroom. 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:26.559 So Chris headed into court with a five year public 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:30.440 perception of guilt and very few supporters. Here's Gail. 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:33.680 There was nobody in his corner except our two lawyers 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:34.440 and Bill. 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:36.240 That was it. 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:38.960 And we come from a small family, so we didn't 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:43.439 have a lot of people to storm the court or anything. 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:47.960 During the trial, the press made much note of Chris's demeanor. 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:51.880 His flat affect in particular, was pointed out by many 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:54.880 to be indicative of his guilt or lack of remorse. 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:58.040 But there are a number of things that likely played 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:02.080 into this perception. One was that Chris Vaughn had been 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.720 in jail for five years before the trial began, and 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:08.760 there was much more to that than the public was aware. 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:13.440 After he was convicted, his parents would gain disturbing insight 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:16.679 into what Chris was going through in the time leading 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:18.680 up to and during his trial. 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.760 Let me run this past you. How about this situation 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.320 when you're brought over from the jail house to the 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:32.000 courthouse you're brought over in your jail clothes, but before 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:37.320 you leave the jail you are strip search naked, which 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:40.400 goes back on. Get on the bus, go over to 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:44.000 the courthouse. There you're given the clothes that we brought 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:47.560 him to. Go into court. There again your strip search, 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:51.319 cavity search, your closer search, and then you're allowed to addressed. 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:56.760 In the meantime, you're being physically and verbally abused by the. 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.960 Guards during the entire trial. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.559 Well, yes, and every hearing. 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:06.199 He didn't give me your. 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:09.520 Response, I'm speechless. 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:11.199 Yeah, we were too. 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:15.080 When did you find out that that was happening? 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:19.160 He was told and threatened on what to do. We 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:21.800 didn't find this out until he was in Thenard for 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:23.000 a year. 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:29.280 Manard is Illinois's largest maximum security adult male facility. It's 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:33.040 considered the toughest prison in Illinois and where Chris would 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:34.559 be sent after his conviction. 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:37.080 We finally got him opened up a little bit because 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.920 at you didn't have to go through a phone system, 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.880 and even though they had cameras on you, we were 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:48.199 able to talk to him a little more personable than 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.920 when we had been in Joliette. 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:52.000 On the phone. 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:56.200 When I pressed Chris confirmed his treatment at Joliette and 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.800 commented it actually prepared him for the reality of man 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:04.400 At Joliette, it would seem many of the people responsible 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:08.560 for overseeing Chris's well being and captivity did everything they 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:12.959 could to make life as unpleasant as possible, particularly during 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.400 his trial your scale and. 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:19.719 While he was in captivity in joliet they had the 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:24.080 night night squad that would come in and intimidate and 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:27.520 shake them down and strip them and make them stand 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:30.680 outside their cells or in their cells. 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.920 And toss theirselves looking for contrabands. 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:37.040 While you had nothing on with another group of guys. 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:42.800 I mean, Chris was just pummeled from all directions. Psychologically, 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:48.360 he was still trying to understand that his family was 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:55.280 no longer there. He's being really viciously talk to, and 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.880 you know, Chris is very sensitive mentally. 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:04.520 According to Pierre and Gale, that treatment intensified during the 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:05.840 trial and. 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:09.280 When he was waiting. If there was a break during 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:12.400 court and christ was taken out or he arrived at 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.599 the courthouse early, they were putting in a cell that 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:16.440 was unclean. 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:18.600 It reached. 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:22.480 And was nothing there, just a chair in the middle 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:27.640 of a small cell room. Period I mean this kind 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:31.800 of had something that duty or psyche just the way 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:34.320 they mean him a lot. 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:38.880 Once the trial began, the prosecution presented the jury with 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:42.680 their version of how the incident occurred. In their series 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:46.920 of events, Christopher Vaughan fatally shot everyone in his family 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.840 on a secluded stretch of the Interstate fifty five frontage road. 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:55.200 They alleged Vaughan pulled the family's forward expedition over, got 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:57.960 out under the guise of checking a cargo compartment on 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:01.360 the roof of the suv, then rabbed his wife through 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:05.559 the open passenger window, stuck a pistol wrapped in his 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:09.319 fleece to disguise it under her chin, and shot her 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:12.280 before turning his attention to his three children. 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:17.640 Prosecutors alleged Christopher Vaughan pulled their suv onto a frontage 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:21.080 road near Shanahan during a family trip, killing them in 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:24.720 shooting himself in the leg, but Vaughn says that his 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.400 wife was the one who pulled the gun. She shot 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:31.080 him in the leg, he told investigators before he ran off. 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:35.000 Then he claims she killed their kids and herself. 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:40.600 Jurors paid close attention as Fitzgerald highlighted again how blood 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:43.880 evidence at the scene of the family's suv did not 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:47.640 support Vaughn's version of events on that morning. In June 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:49.080 of two thousand and seven. 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:54.440 Recall that Vaughn told investigators repeatedly during his initial questioning 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:59.160 that he couldn't remember exactly what happened. Those gaps were 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:03.160 used against him. Highly problematic for Vaughn was the fact 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:06.560 that in the initial interrogation he gave the impression that 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:11.160 he'd left the car before Kimberly shot herself, but her 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:13.320 blood was found on the back right of the fleece 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:17.040 he'd been wearing, and there were other damning things too. 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:20.480 Prosecutor's claim it was Vaughan who pulled the trigger and 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.160 staged his own injuries. They say he was hoping to 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:25.760 cash in on a one million dollar life insurance policy 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:28.520 he had on his wife. They also planned to present 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:31.240 evidence that Christopher Vaughan had gone to a gun range 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:34.040 the night before the murders and used the same handgun 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.520 for target practice that was used in the killings. 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:40.840 The prosecution also uncovered more things about Chris that would 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:45.520 prove incredibly damaging to his defense. In October and November 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.440 of two thousand and six, the year prior to the murders, 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.760 Chris began online correspondence with a man named Steve Willett 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:58.200 on a website discussing outdoorsmanship and wilderness survival techniques. They 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:01.320 had nicknames for each other. It was Flee and Vaughn 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:05.320 was Flint. Chris never mentioned his kids on that site 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:09.520 or during the discussions between the two. What he does discuss, however, 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:13.680 are survival techniques and the prospect of moving to Canada 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:15.240 permanently in the future. 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:20.360 Prosecutors say Christopher Vaughan killed his family all because he 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:23.040 wanted to start a new life in Canada. 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:27.640 And according to the police, Vaughan had been stockpiling wilderness gear. 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:31.600 Officers uncovered a storage unit that Vaughn had rented that 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:37.000 was full of camping equipment, sleeping bags, boots, and camp tools, 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.440 in addition to a jar of peanut butter and a 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:43.560 bottle of Jameson whiskey. The prosecution was putting together a 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:46.040 picture of a man who had kept tons of secrets 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:49.560 and was potentially planning to fake his own death and 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.560 run away from his family. We will come back to 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.720 all of this later, but according to Erica Wurst, who 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.800 covered the trial as a local reporter. It wasn't a 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:03.080 flattering picture, especially in contrast to the pictures of his 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:05.240 deceased wife and kids. 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:08.840 I mean, not only were the children adorable, Kim had, 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:10.879 you know, a lot of friends, was going to school, 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:12.000 worked in the poolhouse. 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:15.159 Chris, as quiet as he was, still was. 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.480 Providing for his family. I mean, everyone. 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:23.720 Seemed to say he was a nice guy, just very demure. 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:28.960 Then you find out, like all the lies in this 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:34.399 like alter life that Chris had been having underneath. 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:37.080 Everyone's nose, finding that out, seeing all. 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:41.960 The camping equipment, talking to his online buddy, and planning everything. 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.040 When that came out, boom, that was like another shock, 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:46.000 a huge shock. 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:03.240 The prosecute intended to make mention of Chris's religious beliefs, 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:07.919 which he admitted lean towards Druidism, a modern spiritual movement 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:11.600 based on Celtic rooted mysticism that celebrates nature. 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:14.600 Attorneys fort Christopher Vaughan are asking me a judge, to 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:17.720 bar any mention of his religious beliefs in his upcoming 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:20.920 murder trial. They feel drawers will speculate on whether it's 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:24.320 a religion or a cult. Prosecutor said they won't discuss 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:27.920 Vaughn's religious beliefs, but may present drawers with postings Vaughan 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.760 made online on a mailing list. 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.359 Police had confiscated books on Druidism from von to home. 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:38.159 He later told police during a videotaped interview that his 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:42.200 wife was upset with him over his religious beliefs, Druidism, 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:45.400 and his recent admission of an afair he had during 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:47.840 a business trip to Mexico a year earlier. 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:51.080 Here again is Erica Wurst for me. 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:56.880 One of the big eye opening things was when they 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:00.440 brought up the gentlemen from Canada I believe, who Chris 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:04.959 had been corresponding with about their great walk into the wild. 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:07.879 There's a whole mission here, there's a whole goal here, 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:13.040 and not one of those planned missions or goals entail 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:16.040 your family or your child. He was lying to people 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.800 about being married, he was lying to people about having child. 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:22.320 That was a big one hearing this guy talk about 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:24.520 how he had no idea. 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:27.040 That Chris had a family and he thought that they 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:28.040 were going to go do this. 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:31.720 Steve Willett testified at the trial, and the defense walked 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.480 through all the various messages between him and Vaughn. Here's 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:37.119 Bill again, I've. 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:41.080 Read the emails years ago between him and Chris. 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:45.600 So this is the guy Chris found on a wilderness 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:49.160 website and he was kind of like an email pen pal, 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:51.240 exactly right. 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:54.520 But I mean, the thing about this is they used 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:58.840 his testimony to try to establish the narrative that Chris 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:02.640 wanted to get rid of his family by killing them 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:06.240 so he can go hiking off into the wilderness with 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:10.000 his friend that he met online. His testimony was presented 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:14.920 and they walked him through the various email communications. Was 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:19.320 used to paint Chris in this awfully bad light, you know, 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.639 just the grind of He got a guy that looks 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:24.960 like he's living the American dream. He's got this big 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:29.040 house in Oswego, Illinois, in the suburbs of Chicago. He's 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:33.720 got a job and it's a successful career. He's making 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:37.040 two hundred thousand a year. But yet he wants to 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.440 escape into the wilderness and get off the grid and 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:43.080 leave civilization and the grind of it all. But I'm 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:47.600 convinced that it wasn't Chris's intent to kill his family 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:49.960 to accomplish that. He could have gone off into the 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:53.360 woods and disappeared and never returned without having to kill 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:53.919 his family. 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.920 But then there were the strippers. Chris had spent almost 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:01.760 four thousand dollars and the weeks prior to the murder 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:02.880 in strip clubs. 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:06.960 As many as four exotic dancers are expected to testify 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.919 that Vaughn frequented strip clubs in Chicago and the suburbs. 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:14.440 Months before the murders. He told one of the strippers 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:19.120 he was single, and even made bizarre statements about ancient souls. 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:24.440 Chris Vaughn wasn't exactly coming across as a sympathetic defendant. 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:28.080 Here's journalist Jojosey, editor of the Herald News. 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:32.359 I don't think anybody really bought into his version of events. 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:36.560 And then anything started to come out, with his online 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:40.040 relationship with the guy in the Yukon and faking his 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:41.720 dad so he get away from his family and they 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:43.800 will get the life insurance or whatever it was, the 0:21:43.800 --> 0:21:46.920 strip clubs and dropping several thousand dollars in a couple 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:48.000 weeks on one of the women. 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:52.000 Prosecutors will also show the jury a cryptic poem allegedly 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:55.280 found in Vaughn's jail cell that made references to a 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:58.400 dancer named Maya that Vaughn had met at the Chicago 0:21:58.480 --> 0:21:59.080 strip Club. 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:02.679 I'm not mistaken the poems. What were they written in 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:05.960 Celtic or something. I mean, that's a unique detail and 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:08.679 it's strange. But when you're in jail for murdering your 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:13.200 family and you're writing poems about a stripper and running, 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:18.560 that's probably not a great optic. So, I mean, the 0:22:18.600 --> 0:22:22.240 stuff that was coming out, it didn't look good. 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:26.439 Here again is Erica worst When the poem that was 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:31.080 written to Maya was read out loud, that was a 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:33.080 little disturbing because it showed. 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:37.720 This illusionment of love and less knowing that like his 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:42.560 wife's anniversary was like Inja and that was just kind 0:22:42.600 --> 0:22:45.200 of that betrayal there that she wasn't even aware of 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:45.880 what's happening. 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:49.120 So that kind of stufted thousands of dollars he spent 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:51.920 on these girls. Granted he didn't get dances from them 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:56.080 or have sex with them, but I think just going 0:22:56.119 --> 0:22:59.560 there and I don't know, sort of like a retrieve 0:22:59.560 --> 0:23:02.439 for him, get away from his house's going on, all 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:05.520 the scouting trips that he lied about. I don't know, 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:07.760 tell me what of that is an evidence. 0:23:08.320 --> 0:23:10.639 At this point, one might ask why Chris would have 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:13.800 gone through all of this trouble when if his marriage 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:17.119 was supposedly so bad, he could have just gotten divorced. 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:21.760 During Chris's interrogation, the police asked the same question, and 0:23:21.800 --> 0:23:24.200 then Chris gave the response that would do him zero 0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:28.720 favors in the courtroom. Divorce is not an option. We'll 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:32.080 come back to that. And then there was the murder itself. 0:23:32.520 --> 0:23:35.959 The prosecution established what they believed to be Chris's motive 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:39.280 based on his emails with Willett and his behavior and 0:23:39.320 --> 0:23:42.399 infatuation with the strippers he was visiting, while at the 0:23:42.440 --> 0:23:45.159 same time Painting came out to be the kind of 0:23:45.280 --> 0:23:48.440 mother who could not have possibly committed the crime. And 0:23:48.560 --> 0:23:52.320 then there was the prosecution's presentation of the crime scene 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:55.879 and its emotional impact on the trial. Here's Gail. 0:23:57.800 --> 0:24:00.880