I have been speaking to Glenn Wall, author of Sympathy Vote, and he shared the following link with me…
"Attorney Sues for Records About 1966 Murder"
http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/04/1 … murder.htm
CHICAGO (CN) — A New York attorney who represents families in high-profile wrongful death cases sued several Illinois agencies for refusing to release records about the 50-year-old cold case murder of a politician’s daughter.
Valerie Percy, the daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Charles Percy, was stabbed to death in 1966 when she was 21, less than two months before her father was elected. She was asleep in the family’s home in Kenilworth, Ill.
A lawsuit filed April 13 by attorney John Q. Kelly says Valerie’s stepmother Lorraine heard glass breaking, moaning and then walked in on the intruder in her bedroom
The man escaped, but left a blood-stained glove in the home and a bayonet, thought to be the murder weapon, in a lake nearby.
Three days later, the entire family took a private jet to California and refused to directly speak with any police officers.
Former investigators have admitted that the Kenilworth police force was inexperienced in dealing with serious crimes at the time, and may have missed important evidence. Chicago police were eventually called in to help with the investigation.
Police kept Valerie’s case open for over 20 years, but a suspect was never identified, according to a New York Times report.
Percy was a successful businessman before running for office, and "was a well known, wealthy and powerful public figure," according to Kelly’s Cook County lawsuit. Percy ended up serving for three terms in the U.S. Senate and had presidential ambitions at one point. He died at age 91 in 2011.
Valerie’s twin sister Sharon, who was also home when the crime was committed, went on to marry U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller.
Kelly, who represented the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Natalee Holloway, claims in his lawsuit that his requests for "all records relating to the investigation" into the 1996 murder from the Village of Kenilworth, the Illinois State Police, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County Medical Examiner have been denied.
Some offices said they had no records at all, while others are "refusing to produce records from the investigation of an unsolved murder that occurred more than 50 years ago, claiming that there is not a single record from the investigation that can be released without interfering with an allegedly ‘ongoing’ investigation," according to the 7-page complaint.
Kelly sued the agencies for violations of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). He seeks release of the requested records, with only exempt material redacted, and civil penalties.
The Illinois State Police and the Chicago Police Department said they cannot comment on pending litigation. The other defendants did not respond to an emailed request for comment from Courthouse News.
Kelly recently joined forces with Ivey, Barnum & O’Mara, a practice based in Connecticut. He is represented in Chicago by Matthew Topic of Loevy & Loevy.
A few minutes ago on a toilet not very far, far away….
cases like this will help set a precedent for foia requests in cold cases. there has to be a maturation time at which point the case can no longer be considered open and when important information should be turned over to the unwashed masses to see if we can solve it.
I believe the Percy family did their own research and had a strong suspect.
"If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl."
I believe the Percy family did their own research and had a strong suspect.
Hmmm I hadn’t heard that before, but Charles Percy seemed like the type of guy that would immediately hire a PI and want to find the truth. I wonder who that suspect was. I wonder if the Percy’s knew that the FBI were looking for Bill Thoresen to question him.
A few minutes ago on a toilet not very far, far away….
I think – and this is mere conjecture from reading Sympathy Vote – that it probably was Thoresen.
Given their religion and reserved nature, plus the fact that they were politically active in both Republican and Democrat circles, they effectively put a lid on it over the years.
"If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl."
I haven’t even read Sympathy Vote yet, but still think it was Thoresen. I also think he could have been in the area because it was the one year anniversary of his brother’s death so he may have been with his parents.
A few minutes ago on a toilet not very far, far away….
I just saw a website that said "Bernie Sanders killed Valerie Percy." People need to knock this shit off already. Seriously, how annoying!!
A few minutes ago on a toilet not very far, far away….
I just saw a website that said "Bernie Sanders killed Valerie Percy." People need to knock this shit off already. Seriously, how annoying!!
Bernie just visited Vallejo: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/56286 … artslide=0
I just saw a website that said "Bernie Sanders killed Valerie Percy." People need to knock this shit off already. Seriously, how annoying!!
Bernie just visited Vallejo: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/56286 … artslide=0
Oh, crap! I hope this one doesn’t take off like the whole "Ted Cruz is Zodiac" bs.
A few minutes ago on a toilet not very far, far away….
The judge’s decision should be coming this week.
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Formerly Clovis.
Here’s a report on the judge’s decision.
http://patch.com/illinois/wilmette/docu … ium=social
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Formerly Clovis.
UPDATE:
http://www.ibopersonalinjurylawyers.com … Later.aspx
I hope they release the files on this case. One thought that I had is that once Thoresen came to light as a suspect (three months after the murder), he became the top suspect, but the FBI backed off a little bit because they didn’t have sufficient evidence and then Thoresen was going to trial for the weapons charges so they were going to let that play out before going after him for Valerie’s murder… but then he died. Keeping the case files a secret makes me think that Kenilworth PD and/or the FBI do not want the files to be released because they messed up on something in the case. Maybe not going after Thoresen is what they want to keep hidden. Maybe not. They probably knew that he was clever enough to dodge charges or get very light punishments in several other incidents. But it would make sense that they would let the weapons trial take place and then bury him with a murder rap after the trial was over. They couldn’t have known he would die before the trial.
We know for a fact that the FBI wanted to question Thoresen about the murder because of a tip they received from Thoresen’s probation officer in San Francisco. When they caught up to him (in New York… December 1966), he refused to talk to them. They did not arrest him, so that means they didn’t have enough evidence. What happened after that is a mystery. I’m certain that the FBI would have tried to build a case against Thoresen and it could have went a couple ways. 1) They were unable to build a solid case against him, or 2) as I mentioned above, they wanted to get the weapons charges taken care of first. The night that the FBI in New York located Thoresen and tried to question him was the same night that Louise Thoresen was arrested in NY for weapons charges. Weird coincidence.
A few minutes ago on a toilet not very far, far away….
