WEBVTT - 6. Initial Defense 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:07.360 Murder in Illinois is a production of iHeartRadio. Nine days 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:10.639 after they were killed, Christopher Vaughan was arrested for the 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:14.600 murders of his wife and three children. Vaughn's arrest occurred 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:17.360 at seven point fifty am once he arrived at a 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:22.560 Missouri funeral home to bury his family. For investigator Bill Clutter, 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:27.120 that timeline and the decisions driving the events is telling. 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:30.680 I mean, they charged him so they believed he was guilty, 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:33.919 and then just to rub salt in his wounds, they 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:38.240 snatched him away right before he's to attend the funeral 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:40.920 of his children, his wife. And that's a pretty harsh 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:45.760 sentence right there, just punishing him before he's actually convicted. 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:48.600 Do you think that was intentional? 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.520 Sure it was. Yeah. They could have waited. 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:55.920 They could have They were decent human beings, they would 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:58.920 have waited until after the funeral, pulled him aside and 0:00:58.960 --> 0:00:59.680 then put. 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:02.760 Him into hand and cuffs, just in terms of the 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.640 message that it would have sent the media and the public. 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:08.720 Do you think timing was intended? 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:09.880 Oh? 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:13.240 Yeah, that was also the thing that's part of the 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:17.400 media show voting is because the media was right there 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:18.520 prepared to cover it. 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:22.800 Many at the time, watched the arrest unfold in real 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:24.039 time on the news. 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.680 Well, I mean, what a perfect state. And maybe they didn't. 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:29.880 Tip off the media that he was going to be arrested, 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.520 but they knew the media was going to be outside the. 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:34.160 Fumor because it's a high profile case. 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:38.319 It's part of the theatrics of the publicity, and there 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:42.240 was no presumption of innocence. They decided they would punish 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:46.720 him before he's even tried or convicted, and. 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:49.360 To go back to that earlier point because they knew 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:52.240 the press would be on hand. They also knew that 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:54.160 they could arrest him quite publicly. 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:56.720 Oh yeah, and they did. And that's what happened. 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:02.080 I'm Lauren Brett Pacheco and is murder in Illinois. 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:10.320 Calloy guy afty. 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:14.200 Gay You fear. 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:20.040 The ground, hay hay. 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:50.480 The Once arrested, the prosecution made it clear Chris Vaughn 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.040 was likely facing the death penalty. At this point in time, 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:58.080 in Illinois, a death penalty case was advantageous in terms 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:02.480 of defense because of what's ref to as heightened due process. 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:07.000 Individual death penalty cases were provided hundreds of thousands of 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:12.160 dollars from the state for top tier lawyers, experts, investigators, 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:15.480 and anything needed to provide the accused with a proper 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:20.040 legal team and fair defense. But Christopher Vaughan's public image 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:23.519 was under scrutiny from the start, and his guilt seemed 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:28.400 presumed from the beginning. Bill Clutter recalls seeing the initial 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:30.760 stages of the case on television. 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.080 This was a high profile case. It was in the media, 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.720 was in the state drone register, and it was on 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:43.360 the news. I did CNN covered it live. They flew 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:45.000 helicopters over the crime. 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:48.640 Scene at the time, so I was aware of the case, 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:53.560 and my initial impression, just based off the news coverage 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:56.080 was that this is probably a sensing case rather than 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:57.280 a guilt Innison's phase. 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.920 The media immediately began to to Chris's background in history. 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:06.280 What they uncovered didn't paint the best picture and only 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:10.360 served to solidify his increasingly unflattering image to the public. 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:14.800 Christopher Vaughan was not a perfect husband or father. 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:18.599 Once detectives started questioning him, at one point saying that 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:22.480 he didn't remember what had happened in the suv now. 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.960 While in the emergency room after the shootings, he reportedly 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.720 was upset about blood on his cowboy boots. 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:32.400 I mean, right off the bat, the media reports, and 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:36.520 this happens in so many cases where a person is 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:39.640 really tried and convicted in the media before they even 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.760 hit a courtroom. The media reports picked up on some 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:44.480 sensational facts. 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.599 Vaughn frequented strip clubs in Chicago and the suburbs. Months 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:51.800 before the murders. He told one of the strippers he 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:52.840 was single. 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:55.159 And he made two visits to a strip club and 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:59.400 spent an enormous amount of money I think over four 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:03.160 thousand dollars. And of course this is a guy who 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.160 was making I mean he moved to Chicago to take 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:08.640 a job that was paying him almost two hundred thousand 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.800 a year, which there's very few people that make that 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:16.840 kind of salary. Those things really, I think turned public 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:18.080 opinion against him. 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:22.160 Lots up theirs, visits to strip clubs and plans which 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:24.080 did not include his family, and. 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:28.200 As many as four exotic dancers are expected to testify. 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.560 The media's salacious covering of those strip club visits and 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:36.920 other extramarital activities would later prove detrimental to Chris at 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:37.480 his trial. 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.000 Up to that point, they had the first major lead 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:42.320 was the strip club. 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:44.360 The interviewed the dancer. 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:49.440 At Scores, so that was in between his initial interrogation 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:51.200 and the arrest. 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:52.560 Before the funeral. 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:58.159 They had that, and then they discovered the email cats 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:00.840 with Steve Willett in Canada, and so. 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:02.000 That became ability. 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:05.200 He's aha mobids, He's wanted to hike into the Yukon 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:06.200 and leave his family. 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:08.839 That's why he killed them. And so, which is all 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:09.599 really weak. 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:14.600 We'll revisit those strip club and wilderness fantasies later in 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:15.440 greater detail. 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:20.440 There's no stronger compelling probable cause that he did. And 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:25.919 then it was Bob Dieal's report where he interpreted that 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.440 the large satury blood on the passenger's seat belt had 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:31.760 to have been from her bleeding onto it while the 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:32.480 seat belt was. 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:35.680 Buckled, I mean, nathological explanation. 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:38.440 But then after the DNA comes back that no, that's 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:39.320 not how it happened. 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.120 But they ran with that and lost in. 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:46.320 Sergeant Lawson, who was the case agent who deal disagreed 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:50.800 with used that as evidence that he staged the crime scene. 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:54.680 He unbuckled the passenger seat after Kim was killed, and 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:55.760 that didn't happen. 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.720 The prosecution's initial theory, which was based on the initial 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:04.240 crime seen investigator Bob Deal's observations and report, hinged on 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:09.000 the fact that the retracted passenger side seat belt, once extended, 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:14.120 revealed sections that were saturated with blood. The prosecution's original 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.400 theory was that Kimberly Vaughn was wearing that safety belt 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.960 when she was shot, and that Christopher Vaughan unbuckled it 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.960 to stage the crime scene by making it appear she'd 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.800 removed it to enable turning around to shoot the children 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:31.520 over her left shoulder. The problem what investigators didn't know 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.080 at the time of Chris Vaughn's arrest was that the 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:38.119 blood on the retracted safety belt didn't belong to Kimberly Vaughn. 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:42.040 It belonged to Chris. This will prove significant as we 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.120 dive deeper into the investigation and the way in which 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:49.640 it was handled. Bill Clutter believes tunnel vision, largely based 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:53.640 on that initial theory, was firmly in place even before 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:55.760 the crime scene was properly analyzed. 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.840 Sergeant Gary Lawson was driving that bus, but it heads 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:04.120 with Bob Deal, the crime scene investigator, who pointed out 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:06.600 all the flaws of this theory that he had that 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:12.120 Christopher Vaughan did it and never conducted a complete investigation, 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:17.480 never delved into him state of mind. Of course, later 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:22.160 the FDA would issue its findings regarding the medication she 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:22.760 was taken. 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:26.640 There were safeguards that were meant to be in place 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:32.000 to protect people from that rush to judgment. Yeah, did 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:34.160 that work out for Chris No. Not. 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:39.960 The recommendations of the Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment. That report, 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:43.120 I think was released in April of two thousand and two, 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:49.960 and that's the report that retrospectively studied the innocent people 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.440 who had been wrongfully convicted. 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:53.040 And put on death row. 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:57.240 And one of the recommendations of that Governor's Commission was 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:02.280 that law enforcement agencies need guard against tunnel vision. And 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:05.040 they defined what tunnel vision is, and it's this rush 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:08.200 to judgment and you disregard other evidence, you know, such 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.440 as Bob Deal's point was the bullet trajectories all support 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.160 a murder suicide, and they do. And our crime scene 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:19.199 investigator Katie Hartman, who's reviewing deals work, so he concurs 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:22.080 with that and points to that as strong evidence of 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:24.000 supporting a murder suicide. 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.240 But none of that was done. It was a rush 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:27.840 to judgment. 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:30.600 They had their suspect and they were going to forge 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:32.800 the facts to fit their theory, which is what Bob 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:37.440 Deal's deposition describes. It's classic tunnel vision. And that was 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:41.320 one of the things that the Governor's Commission warned was 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:44.680 that at play in many of these wrongful convictions that 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:47.480 sent innocent people to death row. And of course, at 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:49.160 the time Chris is facing the death. 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:53.440 Penalty, that tunnel vision, coupled with the emotional bias the 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:58.760 media was fully projecting, became a significant challenge in defending Vaughn. 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:01.360 In so many cases. 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:05.840 And there's that initial outrage, especially once you make the 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:08.640 accusation that he did it, and oh my god, what 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:12.680 an awful thing to kill your own these adorable children 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:16.240 who were innocent to any of the marital conflict that 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:17.120 they might have had. 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.040 That's the part of it that people have a. 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:24.360 Hard time understanding the emotion of that, and the media 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:29.000 really ramping up and pointing the finger at him. 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:31.000 He really had no chance. 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:35.600 Clutter believes that outrage proved an insurmountable hurdle. 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.480 You know, people can get caught up in the emotion 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:44.200 of a crime and forget about the same guards that 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:48.480 we are supposed to have the guardrails to protect an 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:51.880 innocent person from being thrown into the meat grinder of 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:53.000 the justice system. 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:55.520 And do you feel that that's what happened to Chris. 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:06.319 That's absolutely what happened to him. 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.720 Chris and his family started putting together a legal team 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:13.559 with John Rogers, a defense attorney from Saint Louis. Rogers 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.120 brought on Bill Clutter as one of the investigators for 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:16.559 the case. 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.960 I received a phone call from John Rogers that he 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:24.440 was getting involved, you know. I asked if I would 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.480 be interested if it looked like they were pursuing the 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:31.080 death penalty. A few weeks later that I traveled up 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:34.920 to Joliet and had a meeting with Jerry Killian, who 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:38.200 was the local council, and John Rogers. That was the 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.640 first time I had worked with Kerry Killy and I 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.720 had worked with John Rogers on another case that attempted 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:48.959 murdered case in which our client had poisoned his girlfriend 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:53.640 with dallium. It's a rat poison that had been banned 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:56.600 years ago, so we had worked before. 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:00.000 Because of their history, I was interested in Clutter's thoughts 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:01.080 on Rogers. 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:06.079 He's a very thorough attorney and very thoughtful and how 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:07.240 he approaches cases. 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:11.920 John has a reputation of being a sought out. 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:13.000 Criminal defense attorney. 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.480 Started out, I think as a public defender, went into 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:22.280 private practice, and just enjoyed a very successful law practice 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:26.559 as a criminal defense attorney. By the time we got 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:30.240 together as a defense team, you know, Jerry had gone 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:35.640 through the twenty hours of videotape interrogation of Chris, and 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.839 I just remember in that additional meeting, Jerry had some 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:45.240 doubts about Chris's guild based on what he saw in 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:46.600 the video interviews. 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:48.920 Why would she bring a gun into the car with 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:49.679 the kids? 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:57.240 I don't know why, he said, I can't. I can't 0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:03.440 see her doing that. I can't see her shooting me. 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:08.480 I can't see her ever shooting the kids. 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:10.160 I don't know. 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:14.720 When he was given every opportunity to blame her, he 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:19.720 defended her to the hilt. I mean, he never took 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.079 that bait that they put in front of him, which 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.480 you know, if somebody were guilty, they would jump on 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.640 that and be delighted. The police were inviting him to 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:33.320 point the finger at his wife, and he defended her 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:34.880 the entire time. 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:40.880 I don't think she's not capable of of herting somebody 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:41.120 like that. 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.880 Then who possibly could have done it one of the kids. 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:50.520 No, I didn't see her do it. 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:56.720 I don't know, but interrogation tape observations aside. Like most 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.360 of the public, Bill came on to the defense team 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:03.640 believe Vaughn was likely guilty. And then he met him. 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:08.120 My first meeting with him, I went in with my 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.439 ex wife, who was at the time working as a 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:15.600 mitigation specialist, and I recall going into the Will County 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:18.000 jail being introduced to Chris. 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:20.520 I just was struck. 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:24.760 By how he didn't strike me as as a killer. 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:27.880 I mean, he just didn't. And you know, I have 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:31.320 many clients who do, and I really was. 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:34.120 It was one of. 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:38.560 Those things where, you know, my initial thoughts of the case, 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:43.520 expecting to meet this cold budded killer who was charged 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:47.000 and facing the death penalty for having killed his family, 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:51.840 and coming away from that initial meeting just there was 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:57.200 an incongruity between the charges he was facing and the 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:00.400 person that I encountered in the Will County jail. I 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:05.640 mean he was very meek, a mild individual, very introverted. 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:11.320 The last personnel prolocu would expect to be facing those 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:12.360 types of charges. 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.920 I asked Bill to describe that meeting and it's setting 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:17.040 in greater detail. 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:21.840 You know, the initial meeting wasn't subsidient, but it was 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.000 more of just trying to make an introduction with the 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:28.520 client and to gather some impromation that would assist with 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:30.120 the fact investigation. 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:35.720 Bill elicited details about Vaughn's relationship, difficulties behind the scenes 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:38.520 of his marriage, and some of the issues the couple 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:43.400 had been struggling with. Based on Christopher's responses, any number 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.080 of recent events within the household could have led to 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:47.360 the tragedy. 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:52.880 He referred to this as a perfect storm. A lot of. 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:57.600 Things in the relationship with his wife, Kim were reaching 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:02.520 a point where, I mean, he had recently confessed to 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:05.880 her that he had had a relationship when he was 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:09.920 out of the country in Mexico, when he was interrogated 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:11.840 by police, he disclosed that. 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:14.800 But I was trying to make things right. I was 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:18.200 taking her on a honeymoon this weekend. We're going to 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.920 go back to Herman where we had her first honeymoon. 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:24.560 Two things all over again. 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:28.040 Who's gonna watch kids? My mom and her sister were 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:31.080 coming up on Friday. 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:39.120 Tahaw, Yeah, there comes in the house to watch the 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:40.160 kids for the weekend. 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:43.800 Kim, and I was surprised. 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:45.320 I didn't want her to have to worry about any 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:47.000 of the details or anything like that. 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:49.360 So I set it up. 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:52.520 And I told her parents. I told my parents to 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:54.000 kind of coordinate the details. 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:56.200 But I'm going to take her. 0:16:56.920 --> 0:17:01.000 So your mom and your sister know my mom and 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:06.160 my hands her sister. We're gonna come up Friday. 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:07.120 When were they. 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:10.680 Supposed to show up around you or so maybe something? 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:12.680 And Kim had no idea they were coming. 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:17.560 I was gonna tell her later today, what. 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:20.000 If she would have said a going. 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.960 Ain't gonna happen? Why should have said that this is? 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:26.560 It was gonna be good. 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:37.280 Do you think one weekend sex with your wife is 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:40.119 gonna make her forget that you've been having sex with 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:40.880 all these other women? 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:43.639 You think who wasn't all these other one It was 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:47.040 just one time in Mexico, and it was a start. 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:52.760 Remember, Vaughan agreed to that interrogation, waving his right to 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:53.320 a lawyer. 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:57.000 There was just a lot of things going on. What 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:01.280 struck me is is his characterization of this being a 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:07.199 perfect storm. It's really an apt description now that I 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:10.560 know what I know about the case, because she was 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:12.560 under tremendous stress. 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.240 She was taking an online. 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:19.520 Class, was hoping to become a private investigator like he 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:24.439 had been in Washington State. That was their goal as 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:27.800 a couple, was to have a business together. That she 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:32.000 would take this online class get her degree in criminal justice. 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:35.800 But in the meantime, she was experiencing a stress related 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:40.800 migraine headaches and was prescribed topamax, which we later discovered 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:46.000 had an FDA warning six months after this had happened again. 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:50.399 Topamax, or to pyramate, is a medication used to treat 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:54.400 migraines and sometimes by polar disorder. In two thousand and eight, 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:58.679 a year after the tragedy, the FDA stopped just short 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.840 of issuing a black Boy warning for the drug, their 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:06.399 firmest guidance against using a medication, and instead released a 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:10.520 strong warning that people on top pyramid maybe twice as 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:15.000 likely to experience suicidal thoughts. But we'll come back to 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:16.879 that now. 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:23.639 Well, that first meeting in Joliet, I just remember going 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:29.800 back to Jerry Killian's office and my ex wife raised 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:34.000 the possibility that he could be innocent. Jerry Killian, you know, 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:38.000 I had watched the twenty hours of the video interrogation 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:42.760 of Christopher Vaughn, and Jerry gave an example where in 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:46.280 the interrogation the police are telling him that, well, you know, 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:50.840 the vehicle was parked under a cell phone tower, and 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:54.520 because of nine to eleven, we now have cameras on 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:56.879 cell phone towers, which wasn't true. I mean, they were 0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:00.920 lying to them to extract a confession. But the way 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:04.880 he reacted was genuine and like he wanted to know 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:05.680 what did they show? 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:08.639 Why can't that one guy get the video camera that 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:09.600 he was talking about? 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:12.440 What are you talking about? 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:15.919 I don't know what other detective or sergeants said. He 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:19.760 had a video camera the whole deal, in front of 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:22.280 the truck in some tower, a video camera. 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:23.720 It recorded everything. 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:29.000 This remains a pretty compelling question. Why would a guilty 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:32.160 person be so eager for police to provide what they 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:36.480 claimed was security footage of the crime scene. And this 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:40.280 began the foundation of the defense's case in support of Christopher. 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:43.800 The next thing they needed to do was to examine 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:44.400 the vehicle. 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:50.880 The aha moment was when we inspected the vehicle. It 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:54.000 was at the Joliet prison, the one in the Blues 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:57.560 Brothers in the opening scene where Juliet Jake walks out 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:02.160 of prison with That's where the four exposition was being stored. 0:21:02.640 --> 0:21:08.199 We had our bloodstain expert Tom Bevell there and he 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:11.879 was interested in doing a trajectory of one of the 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:14.439 shots that killed the child that was seated in the 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:16.080 middle Sander. 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:20.439 That examination of the vehicle became a critical moment for 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:21.040 the defense. 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:25.080 There was a shot that penetrated the chest and it 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:29.159 went through the back of the seat into the third 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:33.919 seat in the Ford expedition, it's a large vehicle, so 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:38.320 it has two bench seats in the back well. This 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:42.720 trajectory when we asked the crime scene services for the 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:47.360 Wedn Estate Police to lend us a doll rod, and 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:50.560 these are typically used to show the trajectory of the 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:54.800 path of a bullet. When the doll rod was inserted 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:58.679 through the bullet hole in the seat into the hole 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:03.400 where the bullet came to rest and extended that dog bot. 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:07.119 That shot was clearly fired by the person who was 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:10.720 seated in the passenger seat, and that person was Gimbon, 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:13.480 and that was really the ah moment when there was 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:17.760 this realization that this indeed was a murder suicide. 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:22.560 In Bill's opinion, the bullet trajectory made it impossible for 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:25.760 Chris to have been the shooter. There was also DNA, 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:29.040 the blood on the retracted seat belt, and other problematic 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:31.360 things about the crime scene and the way in which 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:35.120 it was handled. For example, the white terry cloth towel 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:37.879 the gun was stored in was neatly laid out on 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:41.560 Kimberly Vaughn's left thigh when our body was found. Crime 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:44.680 scene photos clearly show its placement and that it was 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:49.120 splattered with blood. For some reason, that towel was not 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:53.080 saved as evidence. In fact, it was somehow discarded before 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:57.639 the autopsy. This reflects an apparent pattern of evidence not 0:22:57.840 --> 0:23:01.840 pointing at Chris Vaughn as the shooter being discounted. And 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:05.040 when the initial police crime scene investigator on the case, 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:10.159 Bob Deal, expressed his concern over the investigation's nearly immediate 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:14.199 tunnel vision, he was removed from the case. Deal was 0:23:14.240 --> 0:23:17.359 deposed by the defense in twenty eleven and shared his 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:19.959 thoughts on the experience. Here's Bill Clutter. 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:25.199 Normally, in Illinois, defense attorneys don't get to take depositions. 0:23:25.359 --> 0:23:27.680 But because this was a capital case. 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:30.640 One of the reforms to prevent an innocent person from 0:23:30.720 --> 0:23:35.560 facing the death penalty was to allow depositions in criminal cases. 0:23:36.400 --> 0:23:38.840 And when we took the deposition of the crime scene 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:43.040 investigator of the Illna State Police, I mean, he described 0:23:43.400 --> 0:23:47.120 this rushed to judgment, this tunnel vision. As a matter 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:51.680 of fact, I documented this in a letter to the 0:23:53.040 --> 0:23:56.000 office of the Executive Inspector General, and I wanted an 0:23:56.080 --> 0:24:00.920 internal investigation when you got to the deposition of Bob Dial. 0:24:01.200 --> 0:24:05.440 The crime scene investigator describes this pressure from day one. 0:24:05.880 --> 0:24:10.879 He described getting a phone call from the Sowne commander 0:24:11.520 --> 0:24:16.000