Background info on the murder of Valerie Percy, daughter of former Bell & Howell CEO and Republican Senator Charles Percy, on September 18, 1966, in the Chicago suburb of Kenilworth, Illinois. A brutal home invasion murder by knife and blunt hammer like object.
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/valerie_percy/index.html
Background info on a case possibly related to the Percy murder, happened just a week later and four hours away, September 25 -27, 1966, in the Cincinnati suburbs, brutal home invasion murder of Monsanto chemical engineer and father Jerry Bricca, mother Linda Bricca and daughter Debbie Bricca, all bound and fatally stabbed.
http://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/article.aspx?id=47780
Thanks to Cimm for info and AweShucks for help with the graphics work and side by side comparisons that will follow.
INTRODUCTION TO MURDER OF VALERIE PERCY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1966 KENILWORTH, ILLINOIS
The following is information pertaining to the murder of Valerie Percy, which took place in Kenilworth, Illinois on September 18, 1966. Valerie Percy was the daughter of Charles Percy, the CEO of Bell & Howell, a leading manufacturer of cameras and business equipment. Mr. Percy was the Republican nominee for the US Senate. He went on to win the election.
And the time of Valerie's murder, her twin sister Sharon was engaged to Jay Rockefeller, who later became a Senator.
The killer had a flashlight and entered the home by cutting glass. Valerie was stabbed 12 to 14 times and bludgeoned with a hammer like object in the head. The tragic case remains unsolved.
SKETCH OF SUSPECT IN MURDER OF VALERIE PERCY AND PHOTOGRAPH OF A YOUNG MAN LATER CONVICTED OF MURDER WHO LIVED IN THE CHICAGO SUBURBS IN 1966
NEW SUSPECT AND EVIDENCE IN THE MURDER OF VALERIE PERCY
This suspect grew up and went to High School in Evergreen Park, Il. His family home was in Evergreen Park, though they moved to Iowa for a brief time in 1966, and later settled in Lombard, Il. So this suspect was very familiar with suburban Chicago, as that is where he had lived most of his life up until that point. In September of 1966 he was enrolled at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan but as he only had his thesis work to complete, was not required to be physically present on campus.
If you study carefully the above pictures I think you will agree he obviously bears a strong similarity to the suspect sketch in the Percy murder - long face, unusual slanted hair, puffiness under the eyes, prominent jaw, jutting chin, large forehead, hair frames the face the same way, large hawk like nose, general face structure, ears, lips, etc. The description from the stepmother Mrs. Percy - 5'8", 160 pounds - also is an exact match for this suspect.
This suspect is a convicted murderer. He killed at least three men that we know of for sure, and wounded over two dozen people. Most of those he attacked were , like Mr. Percy, involved in either the technological world and/or the field of big business.
SEPTEMBER 1966: A YOUNG MAN IS "BORN AGAIN" WITH AN "ANGRY, VICIOUS DETERMINATION" TO "REALLY KILL EVERYONE I HATE"
In the summer of 1966, most likely late August/early September 1966, just weeks before the murder of Valerie Percy, he records a break through moment in his life. Out of despair and self described "acute sexual starvation", he records in his journal that instead of killing himself he will "really kill everyone I hate."
The people he says he hates and wants to kill are many, but they include two distinct groups. One group is what he calls "bigshots", and these include "scientists", "big businessmen" and "politicians". In his eyes Sen. Percy would clearly be a "bigshot", as CEO of Bell & Howell which makes cameras and business machines he would be somewhat like a "scientist" and certainly a "big businessman", and as the Republican nominee for Senate, a soon to be "politician".
The other group of people he hated and wanted to kill included love making "couples", "rowdy college students" and those college men and women he deems "promiscuous". Valerie Percy was a beautiful young college student and would fit into this grouping in his demented mind. I would ask you to please read carefully all of the following, from the government psychiatric report on this man:
In the summer after his fourth year [of graduate school, the summer of 1966], he describes experiencing a period of several weeks where he was sexually excited nearly all the time and was fantasizing himself as a woman and being unable to obtain any sexual relief. He decided to make an effort to have a sex change operation. When he returned to the University of Michigan [no earlier than May 1966 and most likely in late August or early September 1966] he made an appointment to see a psychiatrist to be examined to determine if the sex change would be good for him. He claimed that by putting on an act he could con the psychiatrist into thinking him suitable for a feminine role even though his motive was exclusively erotic. As he was sitting in the waiting room, he turned completely against the idea of the operation and thus, when he saw the doctor, instead claimed he was depressed about the possibility of being drafted. He describes the following:
"As I walked away from the building afterwards, I felt disgusted about what my uncontrolled sexual cravings had almost led me to do and I felt humiliated, and I violently hated the psychiatrist.
Just then there came a major turning point in my life. Like a Phoenix, I burst from the ashes of my despair to a glorious new hope. I thought I wanted to kill that psychiatrist because the future looked utterly empty to me. I felt I wouldn't care if I died.
And so I said to myself why not really kill the psychiatrist and anyone else whom I hate. What is important is not the words that ran through my mind but the way I felt about them.
What was entirely new was the fact that I really felt I could kill someone. My very hopelessness had liberated me because I no longer cared about death. I no longer cared about consequences
and I said to myself that I really could break out of my rut in life an do things that were daring, irresponsible or criminal." [Psych Report] {Emphasis added}
SEPTEMBER 1966: BOMBS, MURDER AND MAYHEM IN THE MIDWEST
That happened sometime in the summer of 1966, no earlier than May 1966 and most likely in late August/early September 1966. Probably mere days later, on or around September 3, 1966,
bombs go off at the suburban Chicago house of Elmwood Park Mayor Elmer Conti and at a glass company on Paulina St. in Chicago. Within two weeks there is another attack on a home of an Illinois politician, this one far more brutal and lethal, and Valerie Percy is murdered on September 18, bludgeoned and stabbed 12 to 14 times. One week later (September 25 - 27) in suburban Cincinnati the entire Bricca family is killed. Jerry Bricca was a chemical engineer for the Monsanto chemicals and plastics company, his wife Linda was a former United Airlines stewardess, their daughter Debbie just four years old. Jerry was stabbed 9 times, Linda 8 times, even little debbie horrifically stabbed 4 times. They were bound before being killed.
The man who decided he could "really kill everyone he hated" in September 1966 was convicted murderer, math genius and bomb maker Theodore Kaczynski. The pictures above - which look so much like the suspect sketch in the Percy case - are of Ted Kaczynski. I would ask you to set aside for the moment the image of him as portrayed in the media as
just a politically motivated terrorist against technology and business. That is only part of the truth.
His first confirmed Unabomber crime was in 1978, when he was 36 years old.
Yet we know from research that the most active and violent period for the majority of serial killers is from their late teens to late twenties. And we see that Kaczynski reports the motivation, desire and ability to kill at least as early as the
summer of 1966.
In 1966 he was a sexually frustrated and confused young man who resolved to kill those he hated, which included "bigshots" but also college students and young women. He later recorded a fantasy of mutiliating a woman's face with a knife. He also wanted to - and did - kill "bigshots" like "big businessmen" and "politicians", and Bell & Howell CEO and soon to be Senator Charles Percy would represent those things to him, as well being a man associated with high technology through his company. And Mr. Bricca was a scientist working for a major corporation.
In September 1966, of course, Ted was officially enrolled at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But his TA duties and course work were done, and his thesis almost finished. There was nothing to require him to be physically present at the campus. We know that sometime in the later Fall and/or Winter of 1966 evidence shows he went to California for job interviews at the University of California, Berkeley. Ann Arbor is only a four hour trip by car or train to Kenilworth, Illinois and a four hour trip by car to Cincinnati, Ohio. After his moment of being "reborn" in late August or early September and deciding to "really kill everyone I hate", he might well have not wanted to kill anyone near his listed residence in Ann Arbor, but instead return either to the area he had lived in most of his life and knew the layout of, suburban Chicago, and/or one which he had no known connection to, suburban Cincinnati.
Based on all the evidence I have gathered, I believe that it is possible Ted Kaczynski is the young man depicted in the sketch and that he killed Valerie Percy, and that he should also be considered a suspect in the Bricca slaying.
EVIDENCE
Press reports indicate that there were bloody palm prints almost certainly left by the killer on the staircase bannister of the Percy mansion, and at least one good fingerprint found on the cut glass. In theory, and hopefully in reality, the Kenilworth PD should be able to quickly compare these suspect palm and fingerprints with the ones on file for Ted Kaczynski.
Also, press reports indicate that some hair was found at the scene in Valerie's bedroom that could be from the suspect (and which has no doubt yielded mitochondrial DNA, or as it is called, mtDNA) and that other items have been sent to test for possible nuclear DNA that could have come from the killers blood, sweat, saliva or skin cells. In his work on another series of cases of home invasion murders in which Ted Kaczynski is a suspect, and which have a chillingly similar MO to the Percy and Bricca murders (called the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker case, or EAR/ONS), an investigator has determined that Ted Kaczynski has never had his DNA put into CODIS (the FBI run DNA database) and indeed has never had DNA or mtDNA drawn from his body. Two existing federal laws require Kaczynski to have DNA drawn, but he is among the thousands of convicts in the backlog waiting for this to happen. Several investigators are now requesting that it be done.
THE PHYSICAL SIMILARITIES AND CLOTHING MATCH
In looking at what the police thought was the possibly related incident of the attack on Sharon Bubes of Evanston, Illinois on 6/30/66 a number of things are of interest. The attacker entered at night, had a flashlight, struck her in the head with a hammer - all similar MO factors to the Percy murder. The Bubes attacker was described as being about 17 years old, 5'10", slim to medium build and wearing a green
plaid shirt. All of which is a fair match to the description of the Percy attacker, and to Kaczynski himself. Kaczynski would have just turned 24 in 1966, but he looked a few years younger, as you can see in the pictures below.
The Percy attacker was also described as wearing a
short sleeve shirt with a large checkered pattern. Going by both witness statements and pictures, Ted Kaczynski wore checkered pattern and/or plaid short sleeve shirts on a daily basis. That is what he wore virtually every single day in this time period. Every picture I have of him in that time period that is what he is wearing. You can look at these pictures for the shirts and also to see how the face and hair matches up with the suspect descriptions and sketch.
COULD KACZYNSKI KILL UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH A KNIFE, BLUNT OBJECT OR GUN?
One of the main objections some people will make to the evidence about Kaczynski being the killer of Valerie Percy and/or the Bricca family - and I admit it is at first glance a reasonable objection - is that Ted was mainly known to kill with bombs, not up close and personal with a gun, blunt object or knife.
If at some point you talk to an FBI Agent, criminal psychologist or serial killer profiler, they will no doubt tell you that the majority of "distance killers", those who kill by bomb or poison, do not typically also commit "up close and personal" crimes with a gun, knife or blunt object.
First, even if studies of known cases show that majority did not also do personal crimes, there is a minority who did. Kaczynski had a unique pathology - a specific hatred of technology, business leaders and politicians (which shows up in his Unabomber crimes from 1978 to 1996 and also may have played in a role in the selection of the Percy and Bricca homes as a target),
but also the general rage expressed in 1966, in which he wanted to kill "college students" and women. So Kaczynski may well be in the minority of distance killers who also kill up close and personal.
Second, there is evidence Kaczynski actually thought about and even did kill up close and personal.
The FBI states he actually did shoot and wound a miner with a rifle. In his journal that recorded in detail all of his bombing crimes, he also wrote of unspecified
other crimes whose evidence he had destroyed and accounts of had burned or buried, because their revelation (in light of his growing reputation as a political terrorist and anti-technology activist) could prove "dangerous, embarassing" or "just very bad public relations." Certainly the brutal murder of a young college girl like Valerie Percy or the slaughter of the Bricca family would not be something he would want publicly known, when some on the fringes of the radical environmental and anarchist movements touted him as a hero of sorts.
He recorded a desire to kill people by "bomb
or other means". He wrote fantasies about
mutilating a women's face with a knife and raping a woman in front of her husband. He spent a year and made a one shot .22 pistol from wood and junk parts that he wrote he intended to use as a "homicide weapon".
As a one shot untraceable weapon, it would best be used in situations were the victim was immobile, such as being bound or asleep.
The first Unabomber crime was in 1978 - yet Ted wrote in the
early seventies about the society which he says has caused him "
to rebel, as violently as I have."
He created a shoe device to leave false sole prints of sizes other than his own. That would not help for the known Unabomber crimes, but would for up close and personal crimes. The FBI records he had black and green canvas and denim
HOODS and MASKS in his cabin - again, only suitable for personal crimes. He was a known peeper on love making couples,
armed burglar, house trasher and arsonist.
COLLEGE GIRL MURDERS 1966 - 1969: CASES THAT MAY BE RELATED - PERCY, BATES, AARDSMA
Sharon Bubes, Evanston, IL - Attacked in her bedroom with a hammer,
6/30/66
Valerie Percy, Kenilworth, IL - Murdered in her bedroom by hammer like object and knife, 9/18/66
Bricca Family, Cincinnati, OH - Found bound and murdered in bedrooms by knife,
9/27/66
Cheri Jo Bates, Riverside, CA - Murdered at campus library by knife,
10/30/66
Confession letter in Cheri Jo Bates murder, Riverside, CA - mailed on
11/28/66
Cecelia Shepard, Lake Berryessa, CA - Bound and murdered by knife,
9/27/69
Betsy Aardsma, State College, PA - Murdered in campus library by knife,
11/28/69
PICTURES
Left: Valerie Percy
Middle: Cheri Jo Bates
Bottom: Betsy Aardsma
THE VICTIMS
We know that it is most likely around late August/early September of 1966 when Kaczynski states he was "born again" and decided to "really kill everyone I hate." He states he was suffering from "acute sexual starvation" and that some of the people he wants to kill are love making couples, "college students" and young men and women. Looking at these cases we see possible links between them.
Note also that
the Zodiac Killer is a prime suspect in the death of Ms. Bates, and that the interest in Kaczynski as a suspect for the Zodiac has been renewed and is ongoing. Kaczynski was in the SF Bay area at the time of the Zodiac murders, and like the Zodiac, wrote to newspapers demanding his words on the front page and was an expert in codes and bombs. On the three year anniversary of the discovery of the Bricca murders, September 27, 1969, the Zodiac attacked a couple at Lake Berryessa, CA, and bound them with rope before stabbing them. The woman, Cecelia Shepard, was stabbed 10 times and was killed.
Looking at the pictures of Valerie Percy, Cheri Jo Bates and Betsy Aardsma, there are clear similarities (and I think Linda Bricca and Cecelia Shepard would fit in here as well). All the girls are beautiful, with fresh faces and mid length hair. If perhaps not looking quite like sisters, they certainly look like they could be cousins, all from the same family.
All these women were in the same age range and all were college students. All were intelligent, charming, independent and assertive. All were "good girls" to use the language of the times. All lead clean lives with no clear suspects in their murders.
Percy and Aardsma were both graduate students. Percy had graduated from Cornell and was to start graduate school at John Hopkins; Aardsma had graduated from the University of Michigan and had just started grad school at Penn State.
It seems Ted Kaczynski had either actually or potentially crossed paths with each of these women, had a tie to the area they were in and was actually in each of the three different states they were in when they were killed.
* Percy's Kenilworth home was within 30 minutes of where Kaczynski's family home in Evergreen Park was located, and four hours from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
* Before enrolling at the University of Michigan, Aardsma visited and spent extensive time in Ann Arbor in 1966-1967, Ted's last year there, they both shared an interest Native American Indian cultures and in politics, Aardsma was researching a mathematician when killed and most importantly a witness has placed Ted at the murder scene, in the Penn State library the day before the murder.
* Bates was killed in Riverside, California during the time that evidence shows Ted went out there in the late Fall/early Winter of 1966 to interview with the University of California, Berkeley, which also has campuses in LA and Riverside.
Percy was stabbed multiple times and bludgeoned in the head; Bates was stabbed multiple times and kicked in the head; Aardsma was killed by a single brutal knife thrust to the heart.
MO MATCHES AND OTHER SIMILARITIES IN THE MURDERS
In particular, there are very notable similarities between the murder of Ms. Bates in California on October 30, 1966 (when evidence shows Kaczynski was in that state), and the murder of Ms. Aardsma on November 28, 1969 at the Penn State library (when evidence shows Kaczynski was there,
at that library). In some instances there are also similarities to the Percy murder. University of Michigan graduate Betsy Aardsma, attending Penn State graduate school, was brutally murdered. Like the murder of Ms. Bates:
* The murder took place within one day of a major Fall Holiday (Bates Halloween, Aardsma Thanksgiving). (Percy near the Autumnal Equinox and Harvest Moon, Bricca and Shepard on the Norse Harvest Festival).
* The murder took place at or in a campus library (Bates at the library, Aardsma actually in the library).
* The weapon was a short knife, approximately 1 inch wide and 3 1/2 to 4 inches long. (I don't know the length of knife used on Percy but a bayonet was found in the lake nearby, Bricca was killed by a 6 1/2 inch knife, perhaps a bayonet, and Shepard may have also been killed with a bayonet or bayonet sized weapon).
* The attack was brutal and the victims led clean lives with no obvious suspects. (Also true of Percy, Bricca and Shepard).
* In both cases taunting letters were sent after the crime. (A threat letter was sent to Charles Percy in May 1966, Zodiac letter sent after Shepard murder).
* A poem found at the Riverside college talked about killing a girl in a red dress, and Aardsma was wearing a red dress when killed. (Zodiac wrote a message on the car door where Shepard was killed).
After the Zodiac murder of cab driver Paul Stine in October 1969, and the release of the Zodiac composite sketch in early November 1969, the SF area would have been very hot for the Zodiac. It would be prudent for him to leave, and in fact, Ted's brother David says Ted did leave California at that time and came home to Illinois.
That puts him in the eastern half of the US and a days drive from PA when Aardsma is killed. Ted's father was from PA. Prior to the murder of Aardsma, Zodiac claimed 7 victims - but in his Christmas letter to Melvin Belli he says he may take a ninth and tenth victim. Who was number 8? Could it have been Aardsma?
Most importantly, a witness picked out a picture of Ted Kaczynski as being present in the Penn State library the day before Aardsma was killed, acting strangely and perhaps wearing a wig.
THE SUSPECT SKETCHES AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF KACZYNSKI
You can see there is a similarity between Ted and a suspect sketch in the Aardsma case. And there are similarities between the Percy suspect sketch and the Aardsma suspect sketch, including the general face structure, prominent jaw, jutting chin, nose, as well as the same type of glasses.
Given that the attacker of Ms. Bubes and the killer of Ms. Percy were only seen briefly, in very poor light and at an unknown angle, certain aspects may not have been observed correctly. It is possible the narrowness of the face was slightly overstated. In addition, the murder of Aardsma was three years and two months after the murder of Percy. In that time frame, it is reasonable to speculate that as the suspect grew older he may have put on a little bit of weight in the face.
Given those two factors, as an experiment, I took the first and second suspect sketches in the murder of Valerie Percy and MODIFIED THEM BY WIDENING 18%. You can see them below and compare it to the Aardsma suspect sketch and the pictures of Ted Kaczynski in between them.
