Unamused Cat
March 3rd, 2009, 02:24 PM
The weapon used by a Wilmette man to kill his wife and her teenage son and then himself was a sawed-off “Civil War replica, black-powder, muzzle-loading” rifle, police in the north suburb said this morning.
The police said Richard C. Wiley, 54, had had an argument with his wife, Kathy Wiley-Motes, that prompted his shooting spree.
The North Regional Major Crimes Task Force Forensic Specialist Unit and Wilmette police investigate outside the house where the mother, son and husband were found slain Monday.
They said Wiley, who did time for murder in the death of his first wife, left behind “a written account” and, in it, “Richard Wiley indicated in the note that he would not go back to prison.”
The police are tracing the origin of the weapon, which deputy police chief Brian King said might have come from the son, Christopher, 17, who had an interest in the Civil War and reenactments of battles.
“Given Christopher’s interest in Civil War reenactment, we believe that the weapon may have had some relationship to that interest,” King said.
The police had found the bodies of Wiley, his wife and her son around 1:30 p.m. Monday in the First Presbyterian Church of Wilmette parsonage, 826 Greenleaf. Wiley-Motes was a church secretary.
King said it appears that Wiley-Motes and her son were killed sometime after 2:30 in the afternoon Saturday and that Richard Wiley killed himself sometime Sunday night.
“Mr. Wiley’s account suggests that Kathryn was killed during an argument, and Christopher was killed after that,” King said.
The police hadn’t gotten any prior complaints about domestice problems at the Wiley home, and King said Wiley-Motes had never reported her husband was violent toward her.
"There is nothing that would have predicted this level of violence in that home," King said. Umm... The fact that he viciously killed his first wife didn't set off any bells?
“Wiley-Motes was found in a second-floor bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head,” King said. “Christopher Motes was found in a second-floor bathroom with a gunshot wound to the head. Richard Wiley was found in a second-floor bedroom with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.”
In 1987, Wiley was sentenced to 30 years in prison for fatally stabbing his wife Ruth, then 25 years old, according to a former prosecutor. Wiley unsuccessfully claimed insanity because of a rare mental disease called an “intermittent explosive disorder” and was convicted. Wiley served 15 years of the sentence and was released in 2000.
"She was fully aware of his background," the Rev. Sarah Sarchet Butter, pastor of First Presbyterian, said this morning. She said the couple met in church and were married about 10 years.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1457591,wilmette-man-used-civil-war-replica-030309.article
Wiley's first crime, stabbing wife over and over with antique dagger: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1457590,cst-nws-wside03w.article
The police said Richard C. Wiley, 54, had had an argument with his wife, Kathy Wiley-Motes, that prompted his shooting spree.
The North Regional Major Crimes Task Force Forensic Specialist Unit and Wilmette police investigate outside the house where the mother, son and husband were found slain Monday.
They said Wiley, who did time for murder in the death of his first wife, left behind “a written account” and, in it, “Richard Wiley indicated in the note that he would not go back to prison.”
The police are tracing the origin of the weapon, which deputy police chief Brian King said might have come from the son, Christopher, 17, who had an interest in the Civil War and reenactments of battles.
“Given Christopher’s interest in Civil War reenactment, we believe that the weapon may have had some relationship to that interest,” King said.
The police had found the bodies of Wiley, his wife and her son around 1:30 p.m. Monday in the First Presbyterian Church of Wilmette parsonage, 826 Greenleaf. Wiley-Motes was a church secretary.
King said it appears that Wiley-Motes and her son were killed sometime after 2:30 in the afternoon Saturday and that Richard Wiley killed himself sometime Sunday night.
“Mr. Wiley’s account suggests that Kathryn was killed during an argument, and Christopher was killed after that,” King said.
The police hadn’t gotten any prior complaints about domestice problems at the Wiley home, and King said Wiley-Motes had never reported her husband was violent toward her.
"There is nothing that would have predicted this level of violence in that home," King said. Umm... The fact that he viciously killed his first wife didn't set off any bells?
“Wiley-Motes was found in a second-floor bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head,” King said. “Christopher Motes was found in a second-floor bathroom with a gunshot wound to the head. Richard Wiley was found in a second-floor bedroom with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.”
In 1987, Wiley was sentenced to 30 years in prison for fatally stabbing his wife Ruth, then 25 years old, according to a former prosecutor. Wiley unsuccessfully claimed insanity because of a rare mental disease called an “intermittent explosive disorder” and was convicted. Wiley served 15 years of the sentence and was released in 2000.
"She was fully aware of his background," the Rev. Sarah Sarchet Butter, pastor of First Presbyterian, said this morning. She said the couple met in church and were married about 10 years.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1457591,wilmette-man-used-civil-war-replica-030309.article
Wiley's first crime, stabbing wife over and over with antique dagger: http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1457590,cst-nws-wside03w.article