IL IL - Valerie Percy, 21, Kenilworth, 18 September 1966

[Betty P]

Has anyone heard if John Q Kelley has appealed the decision to keep police files closed?

https://www.nbcchicago.com/investig...ie-Percy-Murder-Case-Are-Wrong-392659071.html

 

[Bargle]

Yes, I was recently informed by Winward1 that the decision has been appealed.

 

[Betty P]

Yes, I was recently informed by Winward1 that the decision has been appealed.

Thanks for the update. Do you know which court it's in? I'd like to check on it every once in a while .

 

[Bargle]

No, I don't. Sorry.

 

[Betty P]

Yes, I was recently informed by Winward1 that the decision has been appealed.

Answering my own question. The FOIA case is still active. Here's a link

John Q. Kelly vs the Village of Kenilworth, et al (includes Cook County Coroner, IL State Police, etc.)

Case Number: 2016-CH-05192

General Chancery Court


https://courtlink.lexisnexis.com/cookcounty/FindDock.aspx?DocketKey=CABG0CH0AFBJC0CH

 

[Luckymanuh]

Now with the results of The Golden State Killer's arrest with the use of DNA matching from crime scene to a DNA database used by public I wish KPD or ISP would use this same method if there is DNA collected at the Percy home. I will not hold my breath though.

 

[Richard]

Valerie Percy

LINK:

Police files, photos from '66 Valerie Percy slaying to remain under wraps

 

[Richard]

FBI Photos
From left to right: Harold James Evans, Francis LeRoy Hohimer, and Frederick J. Malchow - were part of a burglary gang that was investigated in connection with the Valerie Percy slaying. Evans and Hohimer told investigators that Malchow was the killer, but their claims were never proved.

 

[Richard]

52 years have passed.

 

[Betty P]

Valerie Percy

LINK:

Police files, photos from '66 Valerie Percy slaying to remain under wraps

I checked on this case last year (see post above) and it looked like there was an appeal in Dec 2017.

The burglary suspects still seem unlikely. Seems very rare for a burglar (or group of them) to break into a home to sexually assault and murder someone, without stealing anything all while several other family members and hired staff were also in the home. JMO.

Also seems, with advances in DNA and familial research, the Percy family would want to re-test evidence to develop a DNA profile of the killer.

 

[Richard]

...
The burglary suspects still seem unlikely. Seems very rare for a burglar (or group of them) to break into a home to sexually assault and murder someone, without stealing anything all while several other family members and hired staff were also in the home. JMO....

I agree with your analysis in that it would seem unlikely and illogical for a burglar to physically attack someone in this manner with the high risks of being caught. But logic does not always enter into criminal thought patterns.

In this case, two of the burglars pointed the finger of blame at the third, and in so doing, made him a suspect to be investigated. They may well have been lying to save their own skins, or may have lied after long and hard interrogation by investigators. While no solid evidence (other than the testimony of two dirtbags) was found to charge Malchow, the fact that he was identified as a suspect remains part of the history of the investigation.

 

[Betty P]

I agree with your analysis in that it would seem unlikely and illogical for a burglar to physically attack someone in this manner with the high risks of being caught. But logic does not always enter into criminal thought patterns.

In this case, two of the burglars pointed the finger of blame at the third, and in so doing, made him a suspect to be investigated. They may well have been lying to save their own skins, or may have lied after long and hard interrogation by investigators. While no solid evidence (other than the testimony of two dirtbags) was found to charge Malchow, the fact that he was identified as a suspect remains part of the history of the investigation.

Yes, agree, but he's still low on my list of suspects. Crooks can have any number of reasons to lie and point the finger at a fellow burglar. Could have been some favor offered, etc. It was Cook County after all.

Did you notice this in the 2016 article?

To demonstrate that the investigation is ongoing, Christopher Murdoch, an attorney for Kenilworth, noted that the village had requested a lab test in the case earlier this year — though Topic questioned whether that was done in response to the request for records.

BBM. I wonder what they were testing? Is it possible they were testing for DNA? What other type of lab test would they be conducting so many years later? Should we assume that surviving family members still want to keep case information secret all these years later? IDK. I wonder how much evidence is still available that might contain a DNA sample from the killer?

 

[Luckymanuh]

Since 1990 I have worked on researching this case and others. I had the opportunity to speak to people at the KPD current and retired. I do not understand their reasoning for keeping everything close to the vest. Makes no sense to me. I do not know if by family request or the KPD themselves. Honestly, that is more baffling to me than this unsolved murder.

 

[Bargle]

Since 1990 I have worked on researching this case and others. I had the opportunity to speak to people at the KPD current and retired. I do not understand their reasoning for keeping everything close to the vest. Makes no sense to me. I do not know if by family request or the KPD themselves. Honestly, that is more baffling to me than this unsolved murder.

Yes, that redacted version of the file given to the court back in 2016 was a joke. The only thing you could tell from it was a woman had been murdered. I think I remember they even had Valerie's name redacted, like the identity of the victim wasn't already publicly known.

 

[Luckymanuh]

Unfortunately, this murder will never be solved. I feel it could have been too. Especially now with DNA. Maybe the family doesn't want to go through a trial. My only guess.

 

[mickey2942]

Unfortunately, this murder will never be solved. I feel it could have been too. Especially now with DNA. Maybe the family doesn't want to go through a trial. My only guess.

I remember this, I lived in Winnetka at the time. I think that there is more to it than that. And I also believe that the crime scene may not have been contained very well. The officers in Kenilworth were not used to a murder crime scene.

 

[Betty P]

Unfortunately, this murder will never be solved. I feel it could have been too. Especially now with DNA. Maybe the family doesn't want to go through a trial. My only guess.

I rather have the same impression. The killer hasn't been identified because the family doesn't wish for that to happen. It's never a good thing, even for reasons of compassion, for influential people to circumvent the law and resist bringing a killer to justice. JMO, it's dangerous for the community to leave a killer out in society. It's not the way our judicial system is supposed to work.

 

[Betty P]

I remember this, I lived in Winnetka at the time. I think that there is more to it than that. And I also believe that the crime scene may not have been contained very well. The officers in Kenilworth were not used to a murder crime scene.

You should listen to the podcast/radio show posted several posts back. It discusses some of the investigation. Very good information from someone who wrote a book about the case and the attorney who is now trying to get the records released. Good way to catch up on the facts of the case. It was a rage killing, JMO

 

[nabb]

A few weeks ago, I had looked up something on Google, ran across the Valerie Percy murder and promptly got submerged in the mystery (so much that I don’t remember what I was checking out first).

I was 12 during the summer/fall of 1966, and well remember the chill horror of the Chicago student nurse murders and then, the murder of Valerie Percy. For those of my age then, I think it was the first time we actually realized that our homes were not the safe havens we thought.

There is so much that is baffling about the Percy murder. If there were footprints in the dew from the murderer leaving the house, why was there none leading up to the house? I was struck by the fact that the killer went down into the water—not only could he ditch the bayonet, but, had the police thought to use tracking dogs, it would have been difficult or likely impossible to track the culprit. That would have been a very smart choice if the killer were from the neighborhood and had not used a car. (Yes, I’m another who believes Thoreson is likely the killer.) Unfortunately, the police didn’t call in tracking dogs for the Percy crime or the attempted break in in the neighborhood the night before.

I do wish there were floor plans available for both floors of the Percy house, as it is so difficult to visualize the path of the killer past the other kids’ bedrooms, or the distances involved.

 

[nabb]

Why Valerie? One possibility, given Thorsen’s strange mental state (and what looks like a pattern of violence that included women) could hinge on the fact that Valerie was so visible in her father’s campaign, and clearly she and her father were shown to the public to be close.

Thoresen considered himself a “poor little rich boy”, and felt himself to be very ill-used by his parents. I do wonder if he conceived a hatred for Valerie because she was so obviously valued and loved by her father (not, of course, that Charles Percy didn’t love his other children—it’s just that Valerie was in the public eye).