Paige Davis 3rd Period Forensics Mr. Ellis
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Christopher Vaughn, a 32-year-old former private investigator who specialized in cyber-crime detection and computer security, lived with his wife and their three children in Oswego, Illinois, a suburban community of
30,000 west of Chicago. His 34-year-old wife Kimberly had just earned a college degree in criminal justice administration. Clearly a successful family.
With both parents having degrees in similar fields you would think they were the perfect couple. But an outside appearance can be deceiving.. In preparation for a weekend excursion to a water park in downstate
Springfield, the couple and their children--Abigayle 12, Cassandra 11, and
Blake 8--had set out early on June 14, 2007.
That morning at 5:40, Christopher Vaughn, standing near his car parked on the shoulder of Interstate 55 in Channahon Township, Illinois, waved down a motorist. Vaughn had been shot in the left wrist and left thigh. His wife Kimberly and their three children were inside the 2004 Ford
Expedition. They had been shot to death. The motorist called 911. But let’s backtrack to the weeks and days following up to this tragic event.
Just days before the murders, Christopher Vaughn had spent five thousand dollars at a suburban strip club. There he had vented to a pole dancer that he was having marital problems. Vaughn had also told friends that he dreamed of escaping the hard family life by moving into a remote

Paige Davis 3rd Period Forensics Mr. Ellis
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cabin in Canada's Yukon Territory. Detectives found he had purchased the handgun used in the killings in the state of Washington, and that on the day before the murders, he had practiced shooting it at a firing range. He also stood to inherit $1 million in life insurance benefits. Giving investigators a clear motive they believed that Vaughn had murdered his family because they stood between him and his desire to start a new life.
On June 14th, after being treated for his bullet which turned out to be very minor, Vaughn was submitted for questioning by Illinois State Police.
Vaughn created a story saying that his wife had asked him to pull off the road because she was feeling ill. After bringing the car to a stop, he got out of the vehicle to check on the luggage tied to the rack on the roof of the
SUV. When he got back into the vehicle she shot him twice with a pistol.
Wounded, he somehow managed to get out of the Ford without being hit again. Once out of her line of fire, he heard the gun go off several times from inside the vehicle. When he returned to the SUV to check on his family, he found that his wife had murdered the children, and had turned the gun on herself. None of the detectives questioning Vaughn bought the murder-suicide scenario. They were convinced Vaughn murdered his family and then shot himself to create an alibi.

Paige Davis 3rd Period Forensics Mr. Ellis
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Following the prosecution, On June 20, 2007, members of the Illinois
State Police seized three computers and several boxes full of personal items.
Included in the things removed from the Vaughn family dwelling that day was a magazine containing an article on how to make a murder look like a suicide. Now that they had a reason, the next thing to do was look at all the blood evidence from the scene.
On Tuesday, blood-spatter expert Paul Kish told jurors that the blood-spatter evidence does not fit with Vaughn's story.
Vaughn's blood was found on the center console,