Ten years ago: Christopher Vaughn kills his family

In this new series, Herald-News senior reporter Brian Stanley looks back at some of the most notorious crimes in the area’s history. June 14 marked the 10th anniversary of the slaying of the Vaughn family near Channahon.

By BRIAN STANLEY -
bstanley@shawmedia.com

The state trooper had taped off the area out to the end of the blood trail going along the road. But once the investigators arrived, they’d decided they needed to first look and see what they were dealing with.

“The paramedics had determined everyone inside was dead and then left the doors open as they got out of the crime scene,” retired State Police Capt. Carl Dobrich said. “The first impression hit me like a sledge hammer. One of the little girls was clutching a Harry Potter book, she was about the same age as my daughter who was also reading them.”

Abigayle Vaughn, 12, had been shot once in the head and once in the chest – the same as her sister Cassandra, 11, and brother Blake, 8. Evidence would show the boy was holding his arms out in a defensive position and likely saw what was coming. The body of their mother, Kimberly Vaughn, was slumped in the passenger seat. Her purse and a handgun at her feet.

“It was a surreal scene. Mom and the kids. There should have been life, but nothing was moving,” Dobrich said.

The missing member of the family, Christopher Vaughn, was at the hospital being treated for gunshot wounds. Vaughn said they’d been on their way to a water park in Springfield when his wife felt ill and they’d pulled off Interstate 55 onto a frontage road. He claimed his wife had shot him and the children before killing herself. Defense attorneys would argue she’d become suicidal from mixing medications she was taking for migraines and anxiety.

But the evidence and Christopher Vaughn’s behavior was beginning to tell a different story.

After being released from the hospital, Christopher Vaughn was interviewed at District 5 police headquarters. While he seemed understandably stunned at first, Dobrich said Vaughn’s later reactions raised the scrutiny of police – especially those captured by hidden video cameras when officers would leave the room.

“Investigators put a photo they’d gotten from the newspaper of the family together in their home on the table and left the room. He grabbed the paper, crumpled it up and threw it in the corner,” Dobrich said.

Forensic tests would later show Christopher Vaughn was likely standing still, not moving frantically, while he bled near the car.

Although Kimberly Vaughn was not wearing her seat belt when the vehicle was discovered, her husband’s blood was found on the belt inside its housing. Christopher Vaughn’s clothes taken from the hospital also showed he’d sat in her blood.

Christopher Vaughn was not arrested until nine days after the slayings when he was taken into custody shortly before funeral services for his family began in Missouri.

“We weren’t in a rush to judgment. We were taking the time to look at all the evidence as it came in and we knew he’d be there then,” Dobrich said. Christopher Vaughn was charged with murder and initially faced the death penalty.

Retired Judge Daniel Rozak said Christopher Vaughn seemed cooperative with his lawyers, but stayed quiet and reserved during his courtroom appearances.

Rozak said the questionnaire given to potential jurors for this case was 15 pages, while the standard questionnaire is two pages. During the trial, the jury learned Christopher Vaughn had spent the months leading up to the murders making secret plans to live “off-the-grid” in the Canadian wilderness and filled a storage locker with camping and survival gear.

After six weeks of testimony, it took jurors less than an hour to return with a guilty verdict.

“It was no surprise to see [what they’d marked],” Rozak said. Illinois ended capital punishment while Vaughn’s case was pending and mandated a sentence of life in prison.

“If that case didn’t qualify for the death penalty, I don’t know what would,” Rozak said this week.

The man who dreamed of being alone in the wilderness will spend the rest of his days under guard in a prison cell. Why couldn’t Christopher Vaughn have just packed his gear and left his family behind to achieve precisely what he wanted?

“That’s the question nobody will ever be able to answer. ... Why’d he have to kill them,” Dobrich said.