{"id":7862,"date":"2025-06-27T07:26:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T07:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7862"},"modified":"2025-06-27T07:26:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T07:26:20","slug":"chester-weger-convicted-in-starved-rock-murders-dead-at-86-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7862","title":{"rendered":"Chester Weger, convicted in Starved Rock murders, dead at 86 – Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"


(File photo) Chester Weger exits the La Salle County Government Complex last fall in Ottawa. Weger died June 22. <\/span>(Scott Anderson)
Chester Weger<\/a>, who was convicted in 1960 of a murder in Starved Rock State Park<\/a>, has died.
Weger, 86, spent almost six decades in prison for killing Lillian Oetting, one of three women fatally bludgeoned in St. Louis Canyon. He died June 22, according to Forensic Medical of Kansas. The agency provides coroner\u2019s services for Clay County, Missouri, where Weger was moved this spring.
Chester Weger 1961 <\/span>
Andy Hale, one of the attorneys who pushed to exonerate Weger, did not return messages seeking a comment or statement. Hours later, however, Hale issued a statement on social media.
\u201cIt is with great sadness that we share the passing of Andy\u2019s client of nearly eight years, Chester Weger,\u201d Hale wrote. \u201cMany of you know that earlier this month our long legal fight to prove his innocence in the 1960 Starved Rock murders reached a turning point when the judge denied our post-conviction petition.
\u201cDespite this outcome, and despite Chester\u2019s passing, the fight is far from over. Andy and his team are actively exploring next steps and will begin sharing more behind-the-scenes details, evidence, testimony, legal arguments and key moments from the case. … We assure you, you haven\u2019t heard the last of this case.\u201d
Weger was convicted of murder in 1960 after confessing to bludgeoning the women in what he said was a botched robbery. He recanted, however, and spent the rest of his life insisting that his statement was coerced.
Although Weger was never able to persuade a court to exonerate him \u2013 his conviction was repeatedly upheld on appeal \u2013 Weger did leave many in the Illinois Valley convinced that he was wrongly convicted or was a patsy in a larger conspiracy.
Author Steve Stout researched the case in a book he published in the 1980s, and he never wavered from the belief that Weger was guilty and properly convicted. Nevertheless, Stout said Tuesday that he took no joy in the news of Weger\u2019s death.
\u201cI just hope people remember this is a tragedy for the Weger family,\u201d Stout said. \u201cPeople forget that: This was as much a tragedy for the Weger family as it was for the victims\u2019 families.\u201d
The saga began in March 1960, when Oetting was sexually assaulted before being bludgeoned to death along with friends Mildred Lindquist and Frances Murphy.
The investigation was halted until then-State\u2019s Attorney Harland Warren matched the cords used to bind the women\u2019s hands to kitchen twine that matched a spool in the kitchen at Starved Rock Lodge, where Weger was employed as a dishwasher. Weger was pursued as a suspect and eventually implicated himself in interviews with police.
Weger and several of his attorneys later would argue that the confession was tainted by police misconduct.
\u201cIt was only as a result of the beating and of the months of psychological coercion, the threats of the electric chair, over and over again, that this man, who then was a young man, confessed,\u201d Weger\u2019s former attorney Donna Kelly said in a 2005 hearing before the Illinois Prisoner Review Board. \u201cNow I submit to this board that anyone who reads the substance of these confessions … would know that these accounts are fiction.\u201d
Weger\u2019s prosecutor, the late Anthony C. Raccuglia, acknowledged that police brutality and tainted confessions were common in that era, but he disavowed Weger\u2019s accusations that the confession was tainted.
Raccuglia did, however, say in 2002 that he never believed one portion of Weger\u2019s interview was false. Raccuglia said he never believed that the murders were the result of a botched robbery, but rather, a botched sexual assault.
After long contemplation, Raccuglia reluctantly decided to let Weger\u2019s lie pass unchallenged. By challenging Weger\u2019s version of the events, Raccuglia said, he risked undermining Weger\u2019s admission that he killed Oetting and two companions. Additionally, Raccuglia said he lacked the forensic ability to prove sexual contact.
Weger\u2019s arguments fell flat with appellate courts, including the Illinois Supreme Court, which took up his appeals in the 1960s. He did, however, win a few adherents on the Illinois Prisoner Review Board.
In 2011, the board voted 8-5 against releasing Weger, who was then 72 and Illinois\u2019 second-longest-serving inmate after William \u201cThe Lipstick Killer\u201d Heirens. Raccuglia and then-La Salle County State\u2019s Attorney Brian Towne said that he could not recall a parole hearing when Weger obtained a single vote favoring release.
Weger finally won release at a 2019 parole hearing. He was released early the next year<\/a> and initially resided under supervision in Chicago. He moved to La Salle in 2021, and then resumed trying to persuade a court to overturn his conviction.
His seemingly final effort ended June 18<\/a>, when La Salle County Judge Michael C. Jansz shot down each of Weger\u2019s witnesses and major pieces of evidence as \u201cnot reliable,\u201d \u201chearsay\u201d or \u201cinadmissible.\u201d
After the hearing, Hale said they would appeal.
\u201cThe fat lady hasn\u2019t sung,\u201d Hale said.
Weger died four days later.
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network<\/p>\n

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(File photo) Chester Weger exits the La Salle County Government Complex last fall in Ottawa. Weger died June 22. (Scott Anderson)Chester Weger, who was convicted in 1960 of a murder in Starved Rock State Park, has died.Weger, 86, spent almost six decades in prison for killing Lillian Oetting, one of three women fatally bludgeoned in St. Louis Canyon. He died<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t