IL IL - Karen Phillips, 24, Oak Park, 3 Oct 1980

Richard

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Karen Ann Phillips, 24, murdered 3 October 1980 Oak Park, IL

Karen Ann Phillips, age 24, was a nursing student at the Good News Mission in Oak Park, Illinois. On 3 October 1980, she was found murdered.

Steven Linscott, age 26, was a Psych major and supervisor at the Mission. He sometimes had premonitions or visions and came forward to police investigators offering to assist. He told them of a dream he had, in which he saw a blond man beating a woman to death.

Police were very interested and questioned him at length. Although there were a number of discrepancies between Linscott's dream and their actual case, investigators arrested him and he was charged with Karen's murder.

No evidence was presented in court that Linscott even knew Karen Ann Phillips. The sole evidence presented was the story of his dream.

A jury convicted him of murder and sentenced him to 40 years in prison. Linscott appealed. A court threw out his conviction and another re-instated it. Appeals continued. In 1992, after 12 years in prison, a new trial was ordered.

A week before his retrial was to begin, a new DNA test ruled him out conclusively, and he was set free.

Karen Ann's murder remains unsolved.
 
Did LE have any other suspects EVER??? I wonder how much zero-ing in on SL clouded their judgment on collecting evidence, etc if at all.
 
Every few years this murder comes to mind. I lived near there at the time. I wonder now if after all this time they can do new DNA analysis. They had a semen sample was always my understanding, hair and fingerprints. When was the last time any of this was every run?
 
Bumping this thread up.

Karen Ann Phillips was murdered over 42 years ago on 3 October 1980. A psychic named Stephen Linscott came forward hoping to assist in the investigation. He soon found himself charged with her murder, convicted and sentenced to prison.

He filed a number of appeals which went back and forth for years.

In 1992, one week before a retrial of Stephen Linscott was to begin, the results of a DNA test cleared him and he was set free.

No other suspect was named, and the murder remains unsolved.
 

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