Police: June 2007 Archives

BY DAVE PARRO

As if solving 22 cold-case gang murders wasn't stunning enough, Aurora Police Chief Bill Powell promises more arrests in other unsolved killings by the end of the year. And he says he's not just talking about one or two more.

While some victim family members were overjoyed with Friday's news, others no doubt were devastated that their loved ones weren't on the list of cases cracked. Powell's request: Be patient.

"I know after today they might be feeling a little anguish because they aren't the cases we're dealing with," Powell said Friday. "It's hard to say, 'Give us more time,' but that's what I have to say. Please bear with us."

Here's an interactive look at the 28 suspects in custody and the murders police say they committed:

BY DAVE PARRO

The Aurora Police Department on Friday announced charges against 31 suspects in almost two dozen cold-case murders dating back to 1989. All of the slayings were allegedly carried out by the Latin Kings.

When the Cold Case Task Force was formed in 2004, police targeted 11 specific murders. Now they've doubled that total. For a department that has been criticized in the past for not solving murders, this is quite a coup.

Read the press release here, which includes a list of suspects arrested and the murders they allegedly committed. Take a look at all the accused killers in the Beacon photo gallery and read the full story here.

HEATHER EIDSON / BEACON NEWS
New memorial crosses have been placed
on the Vaughn family lawn in Oswego.

BY DENISE CROSBY

The crosses go up; the crosses come down ... and the debate goes on and on about just how long a community should mourn when tragedy strikes. In the Oswego cul-de-sac where Kimberly Vaughn and her children once lived before being brutally murdered, that issue is even more sensitive because the privacy of neighbors has been trampled on by nosey media, police investigators and curiosity seekers drawn to the home where the so-called perfect family once lived. Can you blame the folks next door for getting a little cranky?

BY DAVE PARRO

The Aurora Police Department is looking for volunteers to serve on a panel being formed to improve communication with residents. But Police Advisory Committee meetings will be closed to the public to encourage "open and frank discussion."

Does anyone else find that ironic and self-defeating?

JOHN J. KIM / SUN-TIMES
Reporters surround a car as it exits the Baue
Funeral and Memorial Center on Friday after
the wake of Kimberly Vaughn and her three
children in St. Charles, Mo.

BY DENISE CROSBY

What the heck. Isn't our local murder as newsworthy as the one in Ohio? While the national media has dabbled with the story of the Oswego family murder, it's been overshadowed by the blanket of attention given to the slaying of 26-year-old Jessie Davis.

BY MIKE CETERA

They seemed like such nice people.

How many times have we heard these or similar words when tragedy strikes? It's a common refrain that expresses our disbelief that bad things can happen. But does such a simple comment also betray something about ourselves, that we really don't know who lives next door?

BY MIKE CETERA

Did he do it? Did she do it? It was the watercooler question of the week.

The mystery apparently is solved. That won't, however, keep all the rubberneckers from continuing the speculation.

SUBMITTED PHOTO
Kimberly Vaughn and her three
children were found shot to death
June 14 in their SUV.

BY MIKE CETERA

The Chicago Sun-Times and other media are reporting that police are looking into a possible connection between the deaths of an Oswego woman and her three children and a recent episode of "Law & Order."