Parole denied again for man convicted of 1960 Starved Rock murders
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois officials have again denied parole to a 79-year-old inmate sentenced to life in prison for the 1960 killings of three suburban Chicago women in a state park.
The Illinois Prisoner Review Board voted 7-7 Thursday on Chester Weger’s request, leaving him short of the needed majority vote for his release. The Chicago Tribune reports his attorneys protested, noting that one board member was absent.
Weger has continued to deny he killed the women from Riverside, whose badly beaten bodies were found in a Starved Rock State Park cave. Weger was 21 years old and worked as a dishwasher at the state park lodge. Jurors convicted him in 1961.
The board has denied his parole requests dating to 1972, although it also deadlocked 7-7 last year. AP
AG Madigan says her investigation led Archdiocese to add names to sex abuse list
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said her probe into the sex abuse scandal roiling the Catholic Church is what led the Archdiocese of Chicago to add 10 more names to a list of clergy with “substantiated” allegations against them.
The names were released late Wednesday night. Church officials gave few details on the men, but said they were releasing the names because previously clergy who had died when allegations were received — among other reasons — hadn’t been included on the public list maintained by the archdiocese.
On Thursday, Madigan put out a statement saying it was her investigation that had prompted the disclosure of the new names in Chicago and at other Catholic dioceses in Illinois.
“Our initial review has found the number of Catholic clergy in Illinois with credible allegations of sexual abuse against minors is more extensive than the church previously has disclosed to the public,” Madigan said. “My investigation will continue in order to provide victims, parishioners and the public with a complete and accurate accounting of sexually abusive behavior with minors involving priests in Illinois.”
The Rockford Diocese, which includes McHenry County, also “has disclosed 11 additional names,” according to Madigan’s office. Robert Herguth
Man shot, killed in Avondale
A man was shot to death Wednesday in the Avondale neighborhood on the Northwest Side.
Officers responded to a call of a person shot about 10 p.m. and found the 32-year-old unresponsive on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound to his head in the 2800 block of West Melrose Street, according to Chicago police.
Witnesses told police that someone inside a silver car fired shots and then the car stopped and another male got out, firing several more shots, police said. Taylor Hartz
Season’s 5th cold death
A man found dead in south suburban Dolton is the season’s fifth cold-related death, the Cook County medical examiner’s office announced Thursday.
Walter Hunter, 61, was found dead shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday in the 1200 block of East 142nd Street, the medical examiner’s office reported.
An autopsy Thursday determined he died of cold exposure, with heart disease listed as a contributing factor, authorities said.