Family’s new hope to clear ‘wrongfully convicted’ Chester Weger’s name as triple murder case to return to court 60yrs on

The 85-year-old Chester Weger’s family has been given incredible new hope in their battle to clear his name and maybe obtain a record $120 million payment. Weger claims he was imprisoned for 60 years for a crime he did not commit.

Weger was found guilty of killing Lillian Oetting, one of three women found dead by bludgeoning in 1960 in Starved Rock State Park in Illinois, and was released from jail in 2019 after serving 60 years.

When Oetting, Frances Murphy, and Mildred Lindquist were brutally murdered, he was only 21 years old.

However, Weger claims that overzealous police officer William Dummett and his partner violently coerced him into confessing to killing Oetting.

Prior to the January 1961 criminal trial, he renounced the claim. Despite 24 attempts to defend his name, a jury declared him guilty two months later, and he was imprisoned for the next sixty years.

Officials in Will County have made a valiant effort to deny his request for exoneration and end the case.

However, the judge denied the state’s efforts, with unwavering Chicago-based lawyer Andy Hale spearheading the effort to clear his client’s name and assist in obtaining a record-setting wrongful incarceration settlement in the United States.

“Weger has presented sufficient evidence to advance this case to a third-stage evidentiary hearing, and the State’s motionto dismiss is denied,” according to the ruling.

At a fresh trial set for January 24, Hale will now have the opportunity to present the “mountain” of evidence.

“We made a huge advancement with this court decision, and we are now pounding on the door of justice. For Chester and his family, it’s been a long time coming,” Hale told The U.S. Sun with a sense of satisfaction.

“Not only was Chester excited by this development, but his sister Mary, her husband Ron, and their daughters Carrie and Nita, who have been such strong advocates for Chester all these years, were over the moon as well.”

Weger’s frantic attempt to prove his innocence and get the huge payout—which could lessen his family’s decades-long suffering—has been widely covered by the U.S. Sun.

Every year, the state of Illinois gives out between $1 million and $2 million for wrongful imprisonment.

Hale gave The U.S. Sun startling evidence earlier this year in the hopes that it would completely tear the case apart: Randy Reynolds, a local resident, testified that he overheard former police officer Dummett boast at a retirement celebration in 1981 that he knew Weger was innocent and coerced him into making a confession.

Hale has also demonstrated Weger’s innocence using state-of-the-art genetic DNA testing, all the while emphasizing that the ladies were killed as part of a horrific, premeditated mafia hit in Chicago.

And Weger’s narrative, which was the focus of an HBO documentary created by Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg’s production firm, has been given new life by an early 2022 affidavit admission given by another local guy, Roy Tyson.

In 1996, Tyson claimed to have had a long talk with Harold Smokey Wrona, who claimed that underworld individuals had approached him in search of a location to dispose of a body.

Tyson was informed by Wrona that Weger was not participating in the Starved Rock murders and that he got more intimately involved in their planning.

Tyson’s accusation was originally presented as a written transcript, but he will now give a live testimony in court. Hale is hopeful that the admission will finalize the agreement.

“Now the judge can assess his credibility,” he stated.

Judge Michael C. Jansz left the door open for additional investigation in a few weeks, even if he did not pronounce on the veracity of Tyson’s claims.

“Chester was thrilled at the court’s ruling, knowing that we will finally get a chance to present our evidence in a courtroom,” Hale stated.

According to Jansz, the affidavit “checked the three boxes” necessary to sustain Weger’s campaign since, had it been submitted, the initial trial verdict might have been changed.

In a 78-page pleading earlier this year, the case’s special prosecutor declared that Weger was guilty of murder and that any fresh attempt to prove his innocence should be denied.

But Hale has newfound optimism.

“Tyson’s testimony is crucial evidence in Chester Weger’s quest for exoneration and justice,” he said.

THREE HORRIFIC MURDERS AT STARVED ROCK

Three women on a girls’ hiking trip met a terrible end on March 14, 1960, when they were subjected to more than 100 vicious blows in what is still regarded as one of the most heinous murders in history.

In 1961, Chester Weger, a dishwasher at the lodge where the women were lodging, was found guilty of killing Lillian Oetting, then 50.

Despite this conviction, Weger was given a life sentence, and prosecutors decided not to press charges for the killings of Oetting’s friends, Mildred Lindquist, 50, and Frances Murphy, 47.

Hale, a wrongful conviction expert, took up Weger’s case decades later in 2016, attempting to clear him while maintaining for a long time that the case might be solved by unrecognized evidence and potential mob ties.

The testimony of a phone operator who claimed to have overheard two guys talking about the murders on that fateful day is one important lead.

Hale has also defended the application of genetic genealogy, arguing that it has the potential to transform the research.

A crucial piece of evidence—a hair discovered on one of the victims—was identified by recent DNA testing as belonging to a local guy who has not been named.

Hale became enraged when LaSalle County State’s Attorney James Glasgow rejected the findings, arguing that the hair should be disregarded because it was discovered on Murphy rather than Oetting, the person Weger was charged with killing.

In a 78-page motion earlier this year, Glasgow reaffirmed Weger’s guilt in Oetting’s murder, arguing that the initial conviction was fair in spite of subsequent developments and inquiries.

Colleen Griffin, a Glasgow assistant, stated that [Weger’s] repeated claims that the fake confession was the only evidence against him were just untrue.

But now, Hale is full of energy as he starts the New Year.

Chester has altered my life in a lot of ways, and I’m so happy I got to meet him. He exclaimed, “His perseverance in proving his innocence over the years has been such an inspiration.”

“While this is a fantastic outcome, we still have work to do. There is still work to be done. However, I’m excited about the journey ahead.

The U.S. Sun contacted Will State’s Attorney’s Office, but didn’t hear back.

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