The family of Chester Otto Weger, convicted in 1961 of the murders of three women in Starved Rock State Park but paroled in 2020, say he deserves a pardon from the governor.
On Monday, they filed a petition for executive clemency with the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, arguing that Weger, who died in 2025, was innocent.
“The filing today is our last hurrah,” said Andy Hale, the attorney who has been helping Weger’s remaining family try to clear his name.
Because Weger’s case came to an end when he died in 2025, there can be no new trial of finding of innocence according to Hale, and so the petition is all that remains as a way of clearing his name.
“He said he would fight this until the day died and he did,” said Weger’s sister Mary Pruett. “And we will continue as long as possible.”
Pruett was only 18 when the brother she knew as “Otto” was convicted of the brutal murders of three women found buried in a shallow grave inside a cave at Starved Rock State Park in 1960. The killings of three friends from the Chicago area, Frances Murphy, Mildred Lindquist and Lillian Oetting, drew national attention and continuing controversy.
Weger at first confessed to the crime, but later claimed that confession was coerced. He maintained that claim during his incarceration which became one of the longest in Illinois history.
“He maintained his innocence his whole, entire life,” said his niece Carrie Clancy-Judy.
Weger was paroled in 2020 and lived in a home near his sister until his death.
At a news conference Monday, Attorney Andy Hale said he has new evidence including a statement from a now deceased telephone operator who claimed to have overheard a conversation between two men discussing the Starved Rock murders and an acquaintance who was fearful because he allegedly had bloody clothes in the trunk of his car.
“This gives me goose bumps every time I tell this story because this operator cracked the case wide open,” he said.
Hale also claimed that evidence from other witnesses links the killings to a murder-for-hire plot involving the Chicago crime outfit.
The prisoner review board is scheduled to meet in October of this year. If they decide this petition is enough to give Chester Weger a pardon, it will pass that decision on to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who has the final say in the matter.
Hence then, the article about family pushes for pardon of man convicted in 1960 starved rock murders was published today ( ) and is available on NBC Chicago ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Family pushes for pardon of man convicted in 1960 Starved Rock murders )
Also on site :