Going West: True Crime - The Starved Rock Murders // 84

Episode Date: September 2, 2020

In 1960, three Chicago women set off on a week-day getaway to a nearby lodge. After spending their first afternoon enjoying some lunch, they left for a stroll through the snowy park nearby- and they never returned. When a blizzard hit the following night and none of the staff realized the women were missing, the investigation started late- and potential evidence was lost from the new blankets of snow in the area. But one piece of evidence left at the scene would help put the pieces together. These are the murders of Lillian Oetting, Frances Murphy, and Mildred Linquist. Also known, as the Starved Rock Murders. PATREON BONUS EPISODES: patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-08-25-9103030676-story.html https://www.pantagraph.com/news/state-and-regional/chester-weger-convicted-of-1960-starved-rock-murders-granted-parole/article_5b103509-9505-56f2-a593-e791373e0ba9.html https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2019/11/21/20974071/man-who-confessed-starved-rock-killings-paroled-after-nearly-six-decades-in-prison https://www.chicagotribune.com/investigations/ct-chester-weger-starved-rock-killer-parole-20200221-njirg2g4pngcncp4wt7r76pi3e-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-viz-chester-weger-starved-rock-murders-htmlstory.html https://www.americanhauntingsink.com/the-starved-rock-murders https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40910100/lillian-isabelle-oetting https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/80164560/frances-murphy https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40910035/mildred-monika_emma-lindquist Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans? I'm your host He and I'm your other host Daphne and you're listening to Going West. We have a big announcement today, but first, I just wanted to say thank you so much to Adrian Alexander over on Instagram. They suggested this case for us, and I had never heard of it, but we had a really interesting time diving into it. So thank you so much, Adrian. Yes, thank you so much.

In this episode, we're gonna go back to 1960, which we don't do very often, but we're gonna do it today. Alright Heath, you wanna tell them the announcement? Oh yeah, big announcement. So, uh, yesterday actually, we just released the trailer for our new podcast, a second podcast that we're working on called The Dark Parts. The Dark Parts is a chilling history podcast, so we go back and tell thought to be true horror stories and urban legends and hauntings and it's a lot of fun. It's a little bit less serious than, well, a lot less

serious than going west, so we're really excited about it. Yeah, and that's going to drop on October 1st, so just in time for the spooky season of Halloween, which we love. And we're gonna release three episodes on October 1st, so you guys can binge it and, you know, kind of fall in love with it like we are. Yeah, if this is something that you guys are interested in, make sure you go over to our Instagram page at the Dark Parts podcast, or you can head over to our Twitter page

at the Dark Parts pod. And we also have a Facebook group as well. Yeah, so go and follow the social media accounts. You guys can stay up to date. We are gonna be announcing some stuff regarding the dark parts here and in one month from today, you guys can be listening to it.

So we're super excited for you to hear it. Oh, and also we just released yesterday a brand new bonus episode on Patreon about Robert Fisher. This was such a crazy case to dive into and discuss with Heath like such a wild twisted case. So if you guys are interested in bonus episodes, if you're all caught up on going west, the link is in the description below or just head over to patreon.com slash going west podcast. Yeah, that's P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com slash going West podcast. And thank you guys so much for all of the amazing reviews that we got and for

joining Patreon. We're gonna give those shout-outs in the end of the episode as usual. All right guys, without any further ado, this is episode 84 of going West, so let's get into it. In 1960, three Chicago women set off on a weekday getaway to a nearby lodge. After spending their first afternoon enjoying some lunch, they left for a stroll through the snowy park nearby, and they never returned. When a blizzard hit the following night, and none of the staff realized the women were missing, the investigation started late, and potential evidence was lost from the new blankets of snow in the area. But one piece of evidence left at the scene would help put the pieces together.

These are the murders of Lillian Oding, Francis Murphy, and Mildred Lindquist, also known as the starved rock murders. In March of 1960, three middle-aged women from Chicago wanted to go on a little weekday getaway trip together in Utica, Illinois. Lillian Oating was born in 1910 in Northern Ireland and eventually made her way to the United States, settling in Illinois. In 1960, she was 49 years old. So when the story takes place, she's 49. Frances Murphy, who went by Frankie, was born in 1912 in Farmington, Illinois, so she was a local to the state all her life and was 47 years old in 1960. And lastly, we have a milledrid Lindquist who was born on September 10th, 1906 in Chicago, so she was the oldest of the bunch and a Chicago resident her whole life. And so she was 53 in 1960.

So these three friends, 49, 47 and 53, all lived in a suburban area of Chicago and were married to very prominent and successful business executives. They were all mothers and after talking together at their church, which was Riverside Presbyterian Church, on Sunday, March 13, 1960, they decided that they needed a little vacation, so they went immediately. Later that same afternoon, Lillian, Francis, and Mildred all bought groceries for their families to make sure that they had enough food for the week while they were gone. They all agree that they wanted to get out of the city and into nature, and that's when they settled on a rustic winter trip to the starved rock lodge at the starved rock state park.

In this destination was less than a two hour drive from where they lived, so it was a super easy vacation. And the lodge kinda advertised that how it's just 90 miles outside of Chicago, so it's the perfect historic getaway. The next morning, which was Monday, March 14, 1960, the three women set off to Utica in Frankie's Grey Station wagon, and were really excited when they arrived because the rustic wooden lodge that they were going to stay in was surrounded by snowy views and the rooms had that very quintessential kind of cabin feel. It was just all around a very charming place and really nice destination.

And we're not exactly sure what amenities were offered at this time, but right now they have a restaurant, a nice looking outdoor lounge, a massage parlor, live music, and they also host weddings and business meetings. We know at least the restaurant was available, and it gives you a nice, lodgy dining option for those that are staying at the facility. And of course, a big amenity was the hiking trails at the State Park right outside their front door. And that's where this story really takes place, the hiking trail. When they arrived, a woman named Esther was working at the desk and put them in two adjoining rooms.

Room 109, where Lillian would stay, and Room 110, which Mildred and Francis would stay. Since their trip was short, they wanted to make the most of their time there. So they settled into the rooms and just kind of dropped off their bags before heading off to lunch at the lodge's restaurant. And after lunch, they prepared for a mile-long hike. And it wasn't a very difficult hike, so they probably just wanted to get a little bit of time outdoors, but not too much since the ground was covered in snow, and it appeared

to be a very chilly day. And by the way, we did post photos of them on our social media, so you can see, but they're dressed in long skirts, jackets, and rubber galoshes, or rain boots. So it definitely seems like this was more of a scenic stroll, opposed to a rigorous hike. So they'd likely be gone for around 30 minutes or maybe up to an hour or so if they stopped for photos and to take in the views. But anyway, they left for their hike that Monday afternoon and they never came back.

And there was no immediate alarm because it's not like they had people waiting for them back at their rooms, but Lillian's husband George, who was actually an executive for Illinois Bell, which is a phone company that AT&T later acquired, had a heart condition. So she told him before she left that she would call him that evening to check in on him and make sure that he was doing well. And this was a big reason why Lillian was so eager to go on this trip, because George had a particularly difficult winter health wise, and Lillian was caring for him that

whole time. So the idea of getting away to spend time outdoors and birdwatch and hike sounded really perfect to her. But when Monday evening came and George didn't get a call from Lillian, he decided to call the starved rock lodge to see if he could reach her. The operator patched George to room 109, but there was no answer. So he called the front desk to ask if they knew anything about his wife's whereabouts, and she told him that they checked in, had lunch, and that the women mentioned how beautiful of a day it was for a hike, and they left the lodge holding a camera. So she just kind of assumed that that's where they went. And the women at the front desk assured George that she was sure that they were fine and maybe they were just enjoying dinner and would call when they

got back to their room. And George wasn't worried at that point. He understood that his wife was probably just out enjoying her night and would call when she could. The following day, which was Tuesday, a postcard arrived at the starved rock lodge and it was addressed to Lillian, Frankie, and Mildred. So the same desk clerk that checked them in, whose name is Esther, put the letter in the mail cubby for either Room 109 or Room 110. She later didn't remember which, but both rooms belonged to the women, so it really didn't matter.

And it was just a postcard from their friend that said that she hoped that they were having a good time. That morning, George called again, because he still hadn't heard from Lilian. When he spoke with an employee at the front desk, she assured George that the three women had been seen having breakfast that morning and then left the lodge. But this wasn't true. This employee had been misinformed and no one had actually seen Lillian, Frankie or Mildred that morning at all. But since she had told that to George, he again didn't worry. And that Tuesday evening, a blizzard hit and covered the area with a few more inches of

snow, which would prove to be very unfortunate to this case, because it covered up a lot of vital pieces of evidence regarding the three women's disappearance. The next morning, Wednesday, George called the lodge yet again to ask to speak to his wife, because now it was weird. Now it was two whole nights that Lillian didn't call him. And that wasn't like her. So when he got another front desk clerk, he demanded that they check on their rooms and find them.

And when an employee did that, they were confused to find that no one was in the room, and it didn't look like the beds had been slept in. And to top it off, all the luggage was still on the floor, and it looked as if it had just been dropped right inside the room. It didn't look like anyone had been in there, or unpacked their belongings or anything of the sort. Then they went out and checked the parking lot to see if Frankie's car was still there, and it was.

It was in the exact same spot she had parked two days prior. When the employee informed George of this, he couldn't believe it. Because that meant that the two other times that he had called, they were missing, and not fine as he was led to believe. And the three women had now been missing for 40 hours. Which makes everything harder, because with these appearances, and murders, you want to act immediately, and they lost two whole days of searching and collecting evidence. And on top of that, there was the storm.

So had they have gotten ahead of this before the Tuesday evening storm, it would have made everything much easier. And the employee also had thought that the women were fine because the postcard that she put in the cubby was gone at that point. So she figured that they had picked it up. Oh, that's kind of strange that this postcard is missing now. Yeah, we'll get into that a little bit later, but you know, that was another reason. She's like, someone had told her that they were spotted at breakfast.

Their mail was gone, so someone had picked up their mail. Like, by all accounts, these women weren't missing, nothing had happened. Yeah, so this misinformation was really... by all accounts, these women weren't missing nothing had happened. Yeah, so this misinformation was really... Determental. Yeah, exactly. George knew something had to be wrong, and one of his good buddies actually happened to be the director of the Chicago Crime Commission,

which is a nonprofit that strives to help the Chicago criminal justice system. So George called up his buddy Virgil and explained to him what was going on. And Virgil immediately contacted law enforcement in the area because he naturally had a great relationship with them thanks to his job. So the LaSalle County Sheriff's Office, which is where Utica and the starved rock state park are located,

began organizing search parties right away to help find the women, and George joined them as well, of course. They first gathered at the lodge to get information regarding the women's whereabouts and planned where they were going to be searching. But while they were doing this, a local newspaper reporter named Bill Danley had gone to the star of Rock State Park after hearing about the disappearances in hopes of catching the scoop. And when he got there, he heard some young boys running and yelling that there were dead

bodies in a cave nearby. So Bill called the lodge to tell them and the area immediately became flooded with law enforcement and media. And this was huge news, not just in the area, but also nationally, because of how brutal and confusing these crimes were. Here we had three completely lovely middle-aged women taking a daytime stroll through a park, and somehow they were savagely murdered without anyone noticing for two days. When state police arrived at the scene, they had a difficult time locating exactly where the bodies were because there was six inches of snow, and they knew that the women were

somewhere underneath that snow. So they had to be very careful where they stepped, and it was also night time at this point, making it super difficult. But they did find the bodies of Lillian Oating, Frankie Murphy, and Mildred Linquist, side-by-side on their backs, and police had concluded that they had definitely been murdered, and we'll go into these autopsies here in a minute. They were found in a very shallow cave or a ledge, which we posted a photo of on our social media accounts. So it looks like someone had somewhat attempted to hide the bodies, but there was still lots of visible blood. And they could tell that

the bodies had been dragged into that area and that they were killed on the trail. About 10 feet away from the bodies was Frankie's camera, which had blood on it and a broken strap. Nearby was also a pair of bloody binoculars which belonged to one of the women, and near those was a large frozen tree branch that was covered in blood, and there was even blood under it. So they determined that this was likely the murder weapon due to the amount of blood that was on that tree branch. Once they finished processing the crime scene, the bodies were taken to a local funeral home to perform the autopsy. And it was there that a medical examiner determined that all these women

had likely been molested, but it couldn't be determined if they had been raped. They were all found with their legs open and they were partially nude. But there wasn't enough evidence to determine exactly what kind of sexual assault had occurred since it was only 1960. They also determined that they had died shortly after eating lunch, and they were only found one mile up the trail, which was so close to where they would have ultimately turned around to head back to the lodge, but were instead met by a monster. So they had only been hiking for probably about 15 to 20 minutes before being murdered. When they were found, two of them were bound with thick white twine, and we couldn't determine

which two. No article that I found said which two women, but two of them were tied with twine, and all of their legs were exposed and black from bruises. They all died from being bludgeoned to death, and they all had over 100 blows to the head and other parts of their body. And remember, this was done with a heavy tree branch. So, I mean, this is just such an angry and brutal crime, and over 100 blows each with a heavy tree branch, I mean, that's a hard job.

And why would someone do this? Yeah, that seems... it almost seems like a crime of passion because... And opportunity. Well, yeah, absolutely opportunity for sure, but also a crime of passion just because of, like, the brutality of what happened I mean usually when somebody Is trying to cover up like the fact that they had raped somebody usually it seems it seems in my mind to be a quick job But if somebody's literally taking the time to hit each woman a hundred times in the head

That to me seems like they were either very very pissed off or they knew these women Right, which is so weird because they had traveled to this area So this crime just didn't make any sense exactly and they couldn't figure out why anybody would want to do this And the only motive that they had originally was that maybe it was a robbery that was gone wrong But they didn't have any money or jewelry on them when they went on this hike. And like you said, these were such brutal killings, so it doesn't really seem like someone would do something like this over a robbery anyway. And they didn't know how many people could have done this either. Because at first, they thought it had to be more than one person because this is three women we're talking about. And potentially one person, that would be kind of tough.

But since we know that they were tied up, it's possible that it was just one guy who scared them into letting him tie them up, so maybe he used a gun to, um, scare them or what have you, and then he beat them that way. So, they really just didn't know what to expect here and why anyone would want these innocent women dead. And since it was so senseless, everyone in the area was just terrified. And this really affected the amount of guests staying at the lodge because they all felt like there was this sex maniac on the loose. So almost every guest checked out and canceled their reservations at this time to avoid the area. This honestly seems like a real life horror movie, like 70s horror or something, like a Stephen King novel or something. It totally does. It's kind of that perfect setting,

a lodge, a woodsy rustic lodge in the snow, and it's winter, and there's a blizzard, and these women go missing. Yeah, and then you have this sex craze, maniac running around killing middle aged women. Like, yeah, it's definitely set up like a book or a movie. It totally is. I was thinking the exact same thing. So because of the blizzard, like I had said, a lot of potential evidence was lost. You know, they couldn't get footprints and obviously DNA testing was pretty much out

the window since it was 1960. But they did have one really interesting piece of evidence. And that was the thick white twine that the women were tied up with. There wasn't very much money available for this investigation because it was already proving to be insanely expensive. But the LaSalle County State Attorney, Harold Warren, had a lot of pressure on him to solve the case, and he wanted to do whatever he could to make it happen. So he went out and used his own money to buy a microscope and study this white twine

and research all he could about this type of twine. And I think that's so interesting that he went out and bought his own microscope, because I think that really kind of goes along with this novel-esque narrative that we're talking about. It just seems so perfect that this detective or the state's attorney goes out there and is trying to solve this crime himself using a microscope really looking at this twine. I just think that's really interesting. Yes, somehow he turns into this scientist and now he's like looking through microscopes to find any evidence. Which is good because they said they

couldn't really give much money for this investigation and he's like, well, someone's got to figure out what's going on. Right, and even as strange as this sounds, he was actually able to find some really useful information during his research. He found that there were two kinds of twine that were used, a 12 ply cord and a 20 ply cord. His first thought was to compare the twine samples from the crime scene to the starved rock lodge. So he and a couple trusted detectives went to investigate this because his thoughts were, if there's twine at the lodge and it matches, then he'd know someone at the lodge was possibly responsible, and that was the most logical place to start.

They initially wanted to check the kitchen because twine can be used for many purposes while cooking, and lo and behold, the starved rock lodges kitchen had two different kinds of twine, and they appeared to be a match. But to be sure, they tracked down the manufacturer of the twine from the kitchen to find out more about it. And they determined that without a doubt, it was the exact same twine used at the crime scene. So now they knew that the killer had to either be someone

who worked in the kitchen at the lodge in general, or someone who was close enough to someone who worked in the kitchen, at the lodge in general, or someone who was close enough to someone that worked there where they could have acquired said twine. Either way, they suddenly felt a-friendly sponsor to tell you guys about today. It's real paper. Real paper is tree-free toilet paper. Yes, you heard that right. No trees were harmed in the making of this toilet paper, because it's made from 100% recyclable bamboo.

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That's B-E-T-T-E-R-HELP.com slash going west. Join over 1 million people and counting, taking charge of their mental health. Again, that's betterhelp.com slash going west. The state's attorney Harold Warren felt confident that the killer worked at the lodge. But the problem was they had already questioned all of the employees and given everyone a polygraph test. And everyone passed their polygraphs. And I had also read that they had fingerprinted like over 500 people from this lodge. And it was like the biggest fingerprint printing in Illinois state history at that

point, which I thought was really interesting. So they really were looking at all of these employees, but nothing really came up at all. So now Harold Warren wasn't so sure that these polygraphs were working correctly, as we know since they often aren't very reliable. So Harold Warren decided to hire a specialist in the polygraph field who was located in Chicago to conduct another round of tests. But this time, he only wanted to test employees that worked at the lodge the week that Lillian, Frankie, and Mildred were murdered. And he wanted to conduct said tests in a cabin near the lodge. I don't know if that was to like kind of creep people out or what, but

it seems like that would kind of put the pressure on more if we're just in this cabin and we're near the lodge where the crime was committed. Yeah, it seems a little spooky. Yeah, I don't know what the reason for that was though. So anyways, most of the employees were cooperative and genuinely seemed innocent of the crimes in question. So they really started to doubt this second round of questioning as they tested a number of employees, like dozens. But as they made their way through the kitchen employees, one of the dishwasher was questioned

and stood out to investigators. And this employee was Chester Weeger, born March 3rd, 1939. He was a thin 21-year-old at this time, and he had a wife and two children who were very young, one being one-years-old and the other three-years-old. He had previously been in the Marine Corps and was a boxer, and he'd been working as a dishwasher at the lodge, and had arrived to work the day after the murders with scratches on his face. During Chester's polygraph test, State's attorney Harold Warren looked at the polygraph examiner who was conducting the test and noticed that he appeared to have seen a ghost. His face just looked drained of life, which Harold

wondered about. And as soon as Chester left the cabin when the test was done, the examiner confidently said, that's your man, meaning that he had so beyond failed the test. But again, he passed the first time, so which are you gonna believe this first test or the second one?

Well, Chester had recently quit his job at the lodge around the summertime, so he could go work with his dad as a house painter. And investigators really set their sights on him, especially after learning he had a buckskin jacket that had dark stains on it. And once they submitted the jacket for testing, it turned out that those dark stains were human blood.

But again, due to it being 1960, they couldn't conclusively match it to any of the three women, so all they knew was that it was human blood. But of course, there's no reason for this guy to have a human blood stain on his jacket. So this is very suspicious. They then decided to give him yet another polygraph test, which he once again failed. My issue with this is, as we know, polygraph tests are not very reliable tests anyway, and I imagine they were less reliable in 1960, but you can also imagine that he's more likely to fail in these circumstances because he's being looked at as a suspect and being subjected to tons of testing in interviews.

Because that would make sense why he passed the first one and then failed the rest, because there was more fear. But I mean, that's my opinion, or maybe he failed because he's guilty. I don't know. True, but we do know that this guy is a bad dude, because state's attorney Harold Warren checked in on other police reports in that area within like a year's spanner so and there was a reported rape and robbery of a 17 year old girl just a mile from the starved rock lodge the year prior to these murders. And she and her boyfriend had been bound together with twine while the crimes occurred.

And what are the coincidences? Right, I mean it's just, I mean what are the coincidences? Right. I mean, it's just, I mean, what are the chances? It just seems too close. So Harold Warren got the idea to interview this young woman and see if she would react to a series of photographs of potential suspects. And one of the photos included was that of Chester Weeger. She sifted through the photographs with no reactions,

except for when she got to Chester's photo. When she saw his face, she became afraid and started screaming that that was the guy. And she hadn't seen his face since the night he robbed and sexually assaulted her so a year ago. So I think this is a pretty good confirmation on Chester having criminal intent. Yeah, I do agree that this is a pretty good indicator. So as far as that rape and robbery goes,

I know that they really wanted to arrest him right then and there for that, because they felt like they could get him on it because here's this woman who experienced the rape and robbery saying that's him. But they really also wanted to try him on the murders of Lillian, Frankie, and Mildred before that kind of got screwed up. Yeah, and that makes sense because if they try him on the rape and the robbery, there's a possibility that he gets out of jail after that and then they lose track of him.

So they're like, let's not screw this one up. Let's get him for the big one, you know. Exactly. So that's what they were thinking. But then simultaneously, State's attorney Harold Warren was running for reelection. So lately, he wasn't putting very much time towards his campaign because he had been up to his elbows in this triple homicide case. And as annoying as it is, if he had arrested Chester before the election,

defense attorneys would use this against him in the trial and say that he only arrested Chester so that he could show that he's a good state's attorney and is capturing the bad guy and then in turn get reelected. And that would potentially make the jury believe that Chester was innocent. So they put this whole thing on hold, hoping that he would be reelected and then could move forward with pressing charges. Well guess what?

He lost the election by 3,500 votes out of 60,000 votes total because his opponent actually used the lack of arrest in the starved rock murders against him. Wow, that's kind of a plot twist there. Yeah, so it's like he didn't want a rest chester before because he thought it would negatively impact his election when it turned out to negatively

impact his election, not to do it. Yeah, sucks for that guy. But even though he lost the election, he still had some time left an office to carry out with an arrest before the new guy came in. But he didn't feel like his evidence was necessarily good enough yet. But he had to go through with it anyway. So they first arrested him on the rape and robbery case, hoping that Chester would just confess to the murderers while they had him, but they didn't just go to his house and put him under arrest. They went there

and said that they had more questions for him, and needed him to come down to the station, which he eventually did. Can you do that? I guess so. That just seems really sneaky. Yeah, I think there was another case, maybe it was on a bonus episode where they did the same thing. Oh, it was with the David Scherer case where they said that they're like, Hey, we need to bring you in for questioning and then they're like, hey, we need to bring you in for questioning and then they're like, hey, by the way, you're under arrest.

That just seems really sneaky to me. Yeah, I mean, but it's for a good cause. So after interrogating him for hours about the rape and the murders, Chester wasn't giving anything up. And they had him in there until midnight, so he was getting pretty exhausted and asked to see his parents. With that, his parents were called down to the station and they were allowed to speak for a few minutes by themselves.

But after they left, one of the detectives asked Chester to just tell him what happened, that it was just the two of them and that he could confide in him. And that's when Chester blurted. Alright, I did it. I got scared. I tried to grab their pocketbook, theyed. Alright, I did it. I got scared. I tried to grab their pocketbook, they fought, and then I hit them. The weird thing about this is that the women didn't have pocketbooks, also known as a purse, and they didn't have any money, they didn't have jewelry, like nothing of value

other than Frankie's camera. And as we stated earlier, the camera strap was found broken. While the women were hiking, they took a few photos with Frankie's camera, and as we stated earlier, the camera strap was found broken. While the women were hiking, they took a few photos with Frankie's camera and the police had this film developed, and it's pretty sad to look at them because they look so happy and it's just minutes before they're murders. But in one of the photos that Lillian took of Mildred and Frankie, you can see that they don't have purses or wallets on them, and these are known to have been found back in their room anyway. So the only thing that they had on them was Frankie's pair of binoculars hanging around

her neck and they were sitting on her chest. And if you look at that photo, you can see something small, possibly under Frankie's arm, but I can't tell what it is, but we know that all their stuff was at the room. So my whole thing with this pocketbook story is that the ladies had nothing on armed, but I can't tell what it is, but we know that all their stuff was at the room. So my whole thing with this pocketbook story is that the ladies had nothing on them. But the investigator started to say, oh, he thought Frankie's camera was a pocketbook and just tried to grab that, which is why the strap broke. Now I don't have a photo of said camera, but I think in broad daylight, we all know what a camera looks like versus a purse. And I mean sure it has a strap so they have that in common. But I

don't know it just seems kind of fishy to me, but I will say that Chester supposedly stated, I was taking a walk through the woods when I turned into the canyon and spotted them coming toward me. I got the idea to rob them. I grabbed at what I thought was a purse, one of the women was carrying the strap broke. So could have very well been the camera, I just don't know why he would have bludgeoned them over 100 times each. Like why not run away? Yeah and that's the thing about this case is in my opinion, he was definitely not there to rob them.

I think that there was an ulterior motive there. Their hand to have been because it was so freaking violent and that's why his whole story to me is so strange for him to just say, oh, I thought I would rob them. And you think you're grabbing a purse, but you're very obviously grabbing a camera. And then you brutally murder three middle-aged women like it doesn't make sense. Yeah, and we see this happen with shitheads like this all the time where they try to make their crimes seem a little less brutal and a little less harsh so that they maybe get less punishment all in all I mean regardless of how it happened you still murdered three women. Right, but that's the whole thing to me is, if he was just there to rob them, then after

that didn't work and it wasn't a purse, why didn't he just run away? Apparently, he stated that he did actually run, but that one of the women came running after him and hit him in the head with her binoculars, which was likely Frankie, and that's when he picked up the tree limb and started swinging it. That statement made by Chester was his confession, and they wrote it down and had him sign it stating that it was, in fact, what he actually said. But of course, it wasn't enough. They needed details, so they asked Chester why he moved the bodies, and he said it was because he saw an airplane, and was afraid that it was police, why he moved the bodies, and he said it was because he saw an airplane and was

afraid that it was police so he moved them under the ledge in that cave like area so that they couldn't be seen from above. Chester confessed to doing it again the next day, but when he met up with his attorney days later, he changed his story. He said that he didn't commit the murders at all, and that he only confessed because the detectives threatened him with a gun, and coerced his confession. He said that the only reason why he signed that confession was because he was scared. And he said that the investigators had fed him the information about the crime scene and the plane flying overhead that day, which was confirmed with a pilot's log book.

So at this point, it's the investigators' word against Chester's for what actually went down during the interrogation. But the investigators had the upper leg thanks to that signed confession. And Chester had claimed that he was one town over in Oglesby since he didn't work that afternoon, but they weren't able to confirm this alibi for sure. Chester Weeger was set to go on trial the following year on January 20th, 1961, so just a month and a half shy of one year after the murders were committed. The jury selection took about two weeks because this trial was getting attention from the entire country, and the prosecutors

on the case had never worked a murder trial before. So they only tried him for one murder because they figured if there was a mistrial or something went wrong, they'd be able to get him for one of the others. But on March 4, 1961, one day after Chester's 22nd birthday, and just about a week before the one-year anniversary of the murders, the jury found Chester Weeger guilty of the murder and rape charges and sentenced him to life in prison. And he was spared the death penalty because the jurors weren't aware that life in prison meant that you could be

paroled within a few years. So that just goes to show you how unorganized this whole thing was, because murder trials just weren't a huge thing yet, and I guess the prosecutors didn't communicate to the jury what the rules were. So this was just all like, ridiculously done. That's so strange that they had no idea that a life sentence doesn't really mean that you're going to spend your entire life in prison. I mean, it could, but there's also the possibility of parole.

Right, and none of them knew that. And apparently, after they had already sent and sent a life in prison, they learned about the possibility of parole. And they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, if we knew that, we would have sent him to the chair, and it was like, okay, well, too late. So pretty, pretty crazy details there.

Chester was sent to the state's Phil Penitentiary, and applied for parole over 24 times, and he was denied every single time. But throughout all these years, he maintained his innocence in this crime. And weirdly enough, in 1982, a Chicago police sergeant was called to a local hospital after a woman said she wanted to clear her conscience. She was on her deathbed and said that when she was younger, she and some of her friends had been in a state park and something happened. She said that things got out of hand and there were multiple victims and that she and her friends had to drag the bodies. She didn't say it took place

at Starved Rock and she didn't mention any other details because her daughter stopped her from talking and told the sergeant that their mom was out of her mind. Which is definitely possible that she was out of her mind, but what a weird thing to say and I just think deathbed Confessions are so so fascinating. They really are and it's like in this case it's so strange because it's like did he do this or is this woman telling the truth? Is she lying? You know, does she have a mental illness? Does she have dementia or is she just remembering this crime from when she was a mental illness? Does she have dementia? Or is she just remembering this crime from when she was a kid?

Like, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's a good point that maybe she just lived. She had just knew of this case and it was coming back to her in a weird memory not that she did it, but just that she remembers hearing about it. So definitely just a weird confession there. And I don't know if the daughter said that she was out

of her mind because she actually was or they were just trying to save her from saying something that she shouldn't be saying, but I don't know, it's super weird. And I know you guys are probably wondering if they had tested the DNA with modern technology. So there was a motion filed in 2006 to get all the DNA found at the crime scene retested. But unfortunately, the evidence had been tainted over those 46 years, and it was impossible to test. Because apparently the prosecutors let high school students go through the evidence, and a deputy at the time put the bloody murder weapon, aka the log, over his mantle as a trophy what in the actual fuck can you believe that like that's disgusting you have a bloody log that this guy's just

thinking I got the guy and this is this is my reminder that I'm a good cop like what the fuck well that and just just the m the miss handling of all of this evidence. And I know that this was early, and the, you know, hindsight's 2020, they probably didn't know that there would be a way to test that DNA later on in the future, or what have you, but come on guys, you let high school kids sort through evidence. Like, what the hell's wrong with you?

Yeah, I'm sure that they probably didn't think that there was going to be an opportunity to figure out who the DNA belonged to later, but what a stupid thing to do and then what a creepy ass thing to do. I mean, on your mantle to look at every day, what a gruesome trophy anyway. Seriously, why would you want to be reminded every time you're like sitting in your living room, you're like just enjoying the nice fire and your fireplace and then you look up and you're like, yeah, that that weapon killed three women. Yeah, oh god, cheese. Different times, I guess. I guess, god. As the years went on, Chester got new lawyers who tried to remind the board that things were mishandled so often in the 1960s and that false confessions did occur all the time. Because people understand now that the long hours of questions and the way that investigators

ask questions can be really sneaky and can get you to think that you did something you didn't do. And people kind of understand that a lot more now. In fact, in 2016, one of the jurors that was on Chester's trial says that she regrets helping convict him of the crimes because she's not sure anymore that he did it. And because of all of this realization that Chester was convicted on a confession that they were not even sure was legit, Chester was paroled and he was released from prison just before his 84th birthday on February 21st, 2020.

In an interview, he once again stated that he did not commit these crimes, and he looks forward to moving to the Chicago suburbs to be with his children and now grandchildren. And what a strange world he entered, because this was right as COVID was starting and things were shutting down. So what a confusing time to re-enter the world after 60 years. If this guy's innocent, whoo, a man he paid his debts. Yes, exactly. So I do want to go back to some things. I don't think that they should have necessarily put him in prison for almost his entire life without any hard evidence, and I do believe that detectives can be very pushy and coerce confessions. But the whole rape thing is weird, because that

girl was confident that it was Chester. But what about the postcard? So the women were dead before the postcard even arrived. So who took it out of their cubby? Also, something we totally forgot to mention earlier, was the fact that on Tuesday morning, so the morning after the murders, the day that Chester showed up to work with scratches on his face, the lodge's housekeeper found two damp towels on the floor of the bathroom in either room 109 or 110, and a ring of greasy dirt in the bathtub and a wet soap bar. She said that when she arrived to clean the room that morning, the beds were made and didn't appear to be slept in, except one of the beds in room 110 had an impression on the pillow and part of the blanket was pulled down, like maybe as if someone had possibly laid in it.

And since she didn't know that murders had occurred, she just kind of cleaned the room without thought. And only remembered this whole situation after the police talked to her. So we know that the women didn't sleep there at all, and all they did was drop off their stuff and then immediately grab lunch. So who bathed and possibly either laid on the better slept there and who took the postcard? You know, I feel like they would have had to have a key to the room so it makes sense that it would have been an employee. But was it Chester? I don't know. But apparently while Chester was at work before the murders occurred, he wrote a love letter to his wife

and it was found ripped up on the trail to St. Louis Canyon, which is the walk that the women took. And the whole thing about human blood being found on his jacket, like I do feel there's a lot going against him. And I'd probably say that he likely did commit these murders. I just wish we had something a bit more solid like DNA. Yeah, the strangest thing in the story to me is where that postcard went. If it was known to be in that cubby, at some point, and then it disappeared, like who took it out of there? And yeah, I find all of the soap and the towels and the bed imprant.

I find all that strange as well, but there's also a possibility to me that maybe she just didn't remember which room it actually was, or that maybe, I don't know, sometimes things like that happen after the fact, like you, you misremember things. Well, and it is also possible that the women, like maybe one of them, you know, you get to a hotel, I don't know about you guys, but the first thing I gotta do is lay in the bed, like that's just the first thing that you do. I mean, do you do you do that, right? Am I alone on that? No, no, yeah, no, that's the first thing I do. I go, I go and I just plot myself down and I see how comfy the bed is Exactly, and it's not hard to imagine that

Maybe somebody took a quick shower. I don't know. Is it possible that somebody took a quick shower? Yes, before they went to lunch, absolutely. Or even that they washed their feet or something simple like that and that someone did lay on the bed. So it is really creepy to think that the killer could have slept in their room overnight knowing that it was going to be empty. But there is technically a possibility that one of them laid on the bed and the other one washed their feet in the bath really quick and then they went to lunch because we know that they weren't in the room for an extended period of time, but even 10 minutes could explain those two things.

But the postcard? Why would somebody take the postcard out? I don't know. But Esther, the woman who worked at the front desk who put the postcard in the cubby, was like, I know I put it there, like I remember putting it there. And that's what she told police. So who took it? Yeah, yeah, that's the strangest thing in this case.

I think it's likely, I think it's very unlikely that the killer was inside these women's rooms. I think it's more likely that they had ran into trouble on the actual trail. And I think it's very possible that Chester did commit these crimes due to the evidence that we do have. It just sucks that like all of the evidence was mishandled for so long that now it's impossible to really be 100%. I agree and that's what's so frustrating about the DNA is that they do have the evidence, they have a lot of that still on file, but it was tampered with.

So testing it doesn't really make sense because there's probably like 10 high school fingerprints on everything. I did read a theory that someone had online that whether it was Chester or not, that someone had been following these women specifically to kill them. Since they had just gotten to the hotel,

to the hotel, it's possible that somebody watched them check in and saw what room they went to and then followed them on their hike and then killed them then. And some people think that maybe someone was trying to kill them because they're connected to successful men and it had to do with that. But then of course, there's Chester who went to prison for it.

And I think the first question is, did he do it or not? I think the fact that we don't have DNA evidence, the one thing that we can really hang on, is the twine. So thank God Harold Warren had actually done his research on that twine and had found out that that twine had was, you know, identically matched to the twine that was in the kitchen of the lodge. So we have to remember that that twine was found in the kitchen in that lodge. Right, that's super important because that's really the only definitive connection that we have because it's the only evidence that we have. And we also have to not forget that Chester did work at the lodge as a dishwasher.

So, regardless of when it was, is it possible that he took a role of Twine home with him? Yeah, absolutely. Right. And then there goes back to the rape where the girl and her boyfriend were tied up with Twine. I mean, it's weird listening to an interview of him now. And he just sounds like this sweet old man who's like I didn't commit those crimes Which we'll put a video on Instagram of him saying that but To me there's just a lot that does really connect him to this. So what do you guys think? Is Chester Wieger guilty or did someone else murder Lillian Oating?

Francis Murphy and Mildred Linquist. That winter day at the Star of Rock State Park. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening, And next week we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. Thank you so much to everybody as well, who gave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts this week. You guys are amazing. I know not everybody uses Apple Podcasts,

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