JOLIET, Ill. (Sun-Times Media Wire) -
Illinois State Police Sgt. Gary Lawson took a break in his long interrogation of Christopher Vaughn in June 2007, and he told Vaughn he should "at least" eat some of the McDonald's fries he'd offered the Oswego man.
But Vaughn said it didn't matter.
"Why do you keep saying it doesn't really matter?" Lawson said.
Vaughn, still wearing his hospital gown in the small, plain police interview room said, "They're gone."
He was referring to his 34-year-old wife, Kimberly, and his three children -- 12-year-old Abigayle, 11-year-old Cassandra and 8-year-old Blake. They'd been found just hours earlier shot to death in the family sport-utility vehicle, which was parked along a secluded frontage road west of Interstate 55. Vaughn was shot too, found nursing minor gunshot wounds in his left leg and wrist by a passing motorist. He told the driver who stopped he thought his wife had shot him.
Five years later, Vaughn is on trial for all four murders. Prosecutors have accused him of worrying more about damage to his cowboy boots and jacket than his family as paramedics treated him. But in the videotaped police interview jurors continued watching Tuesday, Vaughn acted like he didn't realize his family was gone until he was confronted by Lawson.
Later in the interview, state Trooper Cornelious Monroe brought out pictures of the Vaughn children and placed them on a table in front of Vaughn.
"Look at these kids here. Look, look at these f------g pictures," said Monroe, who at point chided Vaughn for talking "like a little girl. "You can't look at it? This is your own blood, right?"
Vaughn replied that he "lost everything."
"Anything that means anything to me is gone, like that," Vaughn said.
"This is your reaction?" Monroe retorted. "If it was my kids, I'd be f------g crying."
"Good for you," Vaughn replied.
As the questioning grew intense, Lawson began to refer to Vaughn as "Lucky Chris" and then "New Chris," because he no longer had any obligations.
"Lucky Chris is telling me a story with so many f-----g holes in it, it doesn't make sense," he said at one point.
Lawson asked Vaughn what he thought happened in that SUV.
"She shot me. She shot the kids," Vaughn responded.
"You think your wife shot your kids?" Lawson said.
"I was just guessing. You said they're all gone," Vaughn said.
"I said they're all dead," Lawson said.
Eventually, they took a break to allow Vaughn to rest. When the investigators left Vaughn alone in the room, he pushed the photos of his family away from him.
Later, Monroe and Lawson picked up right where they left off, with Monroe showing Vaughn a magazine police found in his home that contained an article on how to make a homicide look like a suicide. Vaughn, though, said he never read the article.
Earlier, Vaughn denied harming his family. He even denied they were dead. But Lawson was relentless.
"Say it," Lawson said. "Say, ‘My wife and kids are dead.' They're not gone. Gone is going to the store. They're not gone. They're dead. You can shake your head, cover your eyes. The answer's not in the palm of your hands."
Vaughn slumped forward during much of the interview, resting his head in his right hand. When Lawson left the room Vaughn would often lay his head on the desk where he sat.
"I have no one to go home to," Vaughn said. "No one to take to soccer. No reason to do anything."
Vaughn signed a consent form without reading it so police could search the Jeep he'd left at home, and he said the shootings weren't part of some "master plan."
He said his wife couldn't have possibly pulled the trigger either. He said he didn't hear any gunshots. He only realized his leg was bleeding when he returned to the driver's seat after checking on the luggage carrier on the roof of his Ford Expedition.
The family was supposed to be on its way to a water park in Springfield on June 14, 2007, the day of the shootings. Vaughn has said he pulled off the road because Kimberly felt sick. He said he chose a secluded gravel driveway next to a cell phone tower to give her some privacy.
Monday was the first time jurors heard his recollection of that morning's events. As the video continued Tuesday they heard Vaughn talk about his trip to a gun range the night before and the large amount of money he'd spent at local strip clubs.
"Did you kill your wife? Did you kill your kids?" Lawson asked, peppering Vaughn with questions about his marriage and the problems with it.
"I could never," Vaughn said. "I didn't do it. Kimberly didn't do it . . . If what you're saying is true, find whoever did it."
"Let's not make up imaginary people," Lawson shot back.
Vaughn maintained his innocence throughout the interview with the investigators. More than 11 hours of tape were taken on June 14 and 15, 2007.
"How did they die?" Lawson asked Vaughn.
"They're not dead," Vaughn shot back.
