La Salle County judge grants Starved Rock murderer’s request for order of protection

A Minonk woman was ordered Monday to stay 500 feet from the Starved Rock murderer and to have no contact with him for the next two years.

Paroled murderer Chester Weger asked for an extension of the emergency no-contact order he obtained last month against Brooke VanCoppenolle. After a 45-minute hearing in La Salle County Circuit Court, Judge Michelle A. Vescogni approved the extension and barred VanCoppenolle from having any contact with Weger until summer 2023.

Acting as her own lawyer, VanCoppenolle opposed the no-contact order and disputed she was in any way stalking Weger. Rather, she cultivated an interest in the 1960 murder case and sought him out after his parole in late 2019.

To hear VanCoppenolle tell it, she phoned Weger at the Chicago ministry where he stayed after his parole and he agreed to let her visit. Weger, she said, was unhappy in Chicago — he complained of drive-by shootings — and expressed an interest in returning to La Salle County where he could live quietly and go fishing.

They became friendly enough that Weger, she said, provided her with his Social Security number so that she could rent him an apartment in Wenona.

“I was only trying to help,” she said.

Though Weger filed the no-contact order on his own, he appeared Monday with Chicago attorney Andy Hale, who put Weger on the stand to contradict her testimony and the characterization of their exchanges. Hale said she made more than 50 calls to Weger after he was hospitalized (she denied this) and attempted to procure housing without the blessing of Weger, his lawyers or his family.

“Did you find her contact harassing?” Hale asked.

“Yes,” Weger answered.

“Would you like the contact to stop?”

“Yes.”

Notably, Hale messaged VanCoppenolle and told her to cease and desist, reminding her Weger could be returned to prison for making any unauthorized visit or move. (Weger remains on parole for the 1960 murder Lillian Oetting, one of three women found bludgeoned to death at Starved Rock State Park.)

Weger answered all questions in a near-monotone — until VanCoppenolle was given a chance to cross-examine him.

“When I visited you,” she asked, “did you ever feel threatened by me or scared by me?”

“Yes,” Weger answered, his voice rising.

Things came to a head on July 21, 2021. That day, VanCoppenolle went to Weger’s La Salle home to take him fishing and was bluntly told to get off the property. Weger soon filed, and was granted, an emergency no-contact order.

Monday, VanCoppenolle offered to voluntarily stay away from Weger if Vescogni would dismiss the no-contact order. VanCoppenolle said having it on her record would impede her career as a home-health nurse.

Vescogni, however, decided the two-year extension was warranted, calling the July 21 visit to Weger’s home “weird.”

“It’s very strange a complete stranger would contact him under the auspices of trying to help him,” Vescogni ruled.

After the hearing, VanCoppenolle issued a statement via social media:

“My intentions were in the best interest of Chester. I in no way was stalking him. This is the reason the world is so hard and unkind. Then I tried to do the right thing, the judge questions my intentions? I wanted Chester to know that not everyone thinks he is guilty and that people are on his side. He is a courageously brave man! He came back to a town that wrongfully placed him behind bars for 61 years. He is a fighter, I admire him for this!”