GUILTY IL - Four Hanson family members found murdered, Aurora, 28 Sept 2005

Hey Brefie,

Thanks for the link to the article! Can you do a favor and post any updates if you come across them? I would be interested in knowing what happened!

Thanks again,

S
 
I sure will, Sue. This is local (ish - as in it will be constantly updated in local news) to me, so I should be able to keep up pretty good. It's a big old mystery at the moment.
 
I'll never understand how a child can murder his parents and sibling unless the parents are truly the parents from hell. Sounds like this was all about money. I wonder if this guy worked for his brother-in-law. What a horrible thing to do.
I hope this killer never sees the light of day again.
 
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_272190327.html

Back in Aurora, police aren’t saying much about the murders or possible motive, other than to reassure neighbors.

Now, the reason for that, we’ve learned is that the working theory for the motive in this case may involve a dispute about money among the family members in Aurora. CBS 2’s Jay Levine learned that authorities are looking into the possibility that Eric Hanson may have been taking or stealing money from another family member. He was threatened with disclosure, and at that point something happened, but we’re not sure what. Again, it is a working theory that CBS 2 has learned of.
 
While investigators continued Saturday to scour the scene of last week's quadruple homicide in Aurora, a relative of the people killed still was being questioned in Wisconsin.

The 28-year-old Naperville man, who on Friday was spotted by a Wisconsin state trooper as he drove north on Interstate Highway 90/94, remains in custody in Columbia County Jail and has been questioned by DuPage County authorities. He has not been charged.

Meanwhile, a close friend of one of the four victims said the man in custody had money problems and had argued with the family recently.

Margaret Brown, 35, said that she met Jimmy Tsao seven years ago and that the two had been close friends since.

Brown last saw Tsao Tuesday night when they had dinner together at an Aurora restaurant.

There, Tsao complained of the difficulties he, his wife and her parents had with the relative in custody. The man recently had charged about $10,000 on the Hansons' credit card, she recalled him saying.

A few years ago, Kate Tsao confronted the relative about taking $2,000 from their bedroom, she remembers Tsao saying. Because of the incident, Tsao would not allow the relative in his home.

"He was always trouble," Brown said of the relative, whom she said she had met before. "It was always about money -- either him asking for it or him taking it."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0510020261oct02,1,7692722.story?coll=chi-news-hed
 
A man being questioned in the deaths of four family members whose bodies were found in an upscale suburban Chicago home is a close relative of the victims, authorities said Saturday.

The 28-year-old man was arrested on an Illinois warrant for intimidation and was being held in a Wisconsin jail, said Sheriff Steven Rowe of Columbia County, Wis. http://www.nbc5.com/news/5045718/detail.html?z=dp&dpswid=2265994&dppid=65195
 
The brother of a woman found slain with three other family members in Aurora last week had threatened her life sometime before she was killed, DuPage County State's Atty. Joseph Birkett said Sunday.

Eric Hanson, 28, of Naperville is scheduled to appear in a Wisconsin courtroom Monday to begin the process of extraditing him to Illinois on a felony intimidation charge, Birkett said.

Hanson has not been charged in the slayings, said Birkett, who called that continuing investigation "aggressive."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0510030119oct03,1,741309.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed
 
Hanson, 28, who has a criminal record for home invasions, theft and battery, is "a person of interest" in the slayings last week, said DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett. He is being held on a $4 million cash bond in Portage, Wis., on a warrant charging him with intimidating a witness.

Hanson apparently flew from Chicago to Los Angeles on Thursday, returned to Chicago on Friday, and was driving near the Wisconsin Dells that day when he was stopped by police.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-aurora03.html
 
A man whose sister, brother-in-law and parents were found dead in a Chicago suburb, their bodies severely beaten, said Monday he will fight extradition from Wisconsin on a charge of threatening his sister, Katherine Anne Hanson-Tsao.

Eric C. Hanson, 28, appeared in Columbia County Circuit Court via video conference Monday to say he will fight extradition to Illinois on a charge of intimidation, a felony. http://www.nbc5.com/news/5050310/detail.html?z=dp&dpswid=2265994&dppid=65193
 
Hanson's decision to fight extradition to Illinois could delay his return for months, authorities acknowledge.

But he is likely to remain jailed in Wisconsin after a judge there Monday set his bail at $1 million cash, despite objections from defense attorney Liz Mitchel that Hanson has been charged only with a low-level felony.

"Obviously there are suspicions of greater involvement in criminal activity by the defendant,'' Columbia County Judge Daniel George said. "Obviously our sister state has taken this matter extremely seriously.''

Columbia County District Attorney Jane Kohlwey argued that Hanson's bail should be set at $4 million, calling him a flight risk.

Hanson flew to California hours before the bodies of his relatives were discovered Thursday afternoon, returned the next day to Illinois, then drove to Wisconsin, where he was detained and questioned by police.

Appearing in the courtroom via video link, Hanson said little, answering most questions with one-syllable answers. Wearing jail fatigues, his hands cuffed at his waist, he nonetheless appeared relaxed and was respectful to the judge.

Extraditions from one state to another are routinely completed in 30 to 90 days, although sometimes the process can drag on in courts for months, DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-fourdead04.html
 
This is one that hits close to home.I know my brother is on neurotin and lithium now. But his behavior has not been acknowleged. Nor categorized for almost as many years as I have been alive. Even though I understand and recognize mental illness this is beyond what we can hope we are looking at the last vestiges of hope.We are looking at lapses that encompass all that are around.Denial is what we see and people are subject to that denial.
 
http://www.heraldsun.com/nationworld/14-655135.html

A man jailed in Wisconsin denied involvement in the killings of his parents, sister and brother-in-law, saying he was stunned anyone would think he was involved.

Eric C. Hanson, 28, spoke to the Chicago Tribune in his first public comments since he was arrested Sept. 30 on a charge of felony intimidation involving his sister. The woman, her husband and the siblings' parents were found slain inside a home Sept. 29.

"Who's saying I'm a suspect?" asked Hanson, speaking to a Tribune reporter by videoconference Saturday at a Portage, Wis., jail. "I'm just shocked that anyone would think that. ... I loved my family."

DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said Saturday that Hanson was a suspect, but he has not been charged with crimes related to the deaths.
 
Quadruple homicide suspect Eric Hanson said Saturday he did not kill his parents, sister and brother-in-law, and he doesn't know who did.

In his first interview since his arrest Sept. 30, at a jail in central Wisconsin, Hanson sounded alternately disbelieving and defensive as he told the Tribune he was not involved in the deaths of his relatives, whose bodies were found last month in an upscale Aurora home.

"Who's saying I'm a suspect? Are police telling you that?" asked Hanson, 28, speaking through a videoconference linkup at the Columbia County Jail. "I'm just shocked that anyone would think that. ... I loved my family."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0510090391oct09,1,6639563.story?coll=chi-news-hed
 
PFM, I've been following this one and one of the most interesting aspects has been how they tracked the suspect to California, back to IL and then up to WI through his cell phone.

Interesting to know that you can run, but you can't hide . . .
 
This struck me:

As authorities logged him into the Columbia County jail, they asked Hanson to list a next of kin on his booking sheet.

"None," he responded.

From PrayerforMaura's link.
 

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