Comparing murders in McHenry County

Paul Scharff's book, Murder in McHenry, got me thinking (more) about how murders are investigated in McHenry County. Particularly about the murders that occurred in McHenry County two years ago near Marengo, when Jack Feldkamp, Audrey Feldkamp and Doran Bloom died on Somerset Drive.

Author Paul Scharff and I had a long conversation recently, and I had delayed reading his book until he and I spoke. Now it's time to read it.

Paul was almost 11 years old, when his father was murdered in the apartment of a tavern in Lakemoor, Ill. on June 2, 1981. That's just east of the City of McHenry. I've not read the reports for that case, but the murderer of Ron Scharff, 37, and Patrician Freeman, an employee at the tavern, was never identified at the time.

At least, not for 28 years.

I got the impression that Paul is not happy with the way the 1981 murders were investigated by the McHenry County Sheriff's Department. According to the website of the Illinois Sheriffs' Association, the Sheriff of McHenry County at that time was Henry A. Nulle, Jr., who was succeeded in 1986 by George Hendle. According to Scharff, Hendle was the lead investigator in the 1981 case and had gone to San Diego in 1982 to interview Frank Cullotta and may have spoken with him for only 30 minutes.

Now, fast-forward to June 2011. Jack and Audrey Feldkamp died on June 7, 2011, of stab wounds and Doran Bloom died by gunshot on June 7. The one other person in the house was hospitalized, and a McHenry County Sheriff's Deputy interviewed that person on June 8 for less than 30 minutes.

Minutes after that hospital-room conversation (it could hardly be called an "interview"), Sheriff Keith Nygren told the media that Bloom had done it  That was before any crime scene analysis. Report-writing kept a bunch of deputies busy for weeks, but there doesn't appear that evidence was ever sent to any crime laboratory for analysis.

Blood transfers on clothing, floors and walls were never matched up, and no murder weapon was matched to the deaths. Assumptions were made, but proof was lacking. MCSD deputies just didn't bother to do a thorough job, even though three people died that night.

Certain elements of a crime (especially of a murder) should be pursued to the end; ex., motive, opportunity and means.

The triple homicide near Marengo is now almost two years old. This case belongs under the microscope of an independent law enforcement agency that knows how to conduct murder investigations. Carelessness was immediately present, when senior MCSD personnel (both the Sheriff and the Undersheriff were recorded as being at the crime scene for only 15 minutes) failed to activate the Major Investigations Assistance Team (MIAT).

The "elephant in the room" in this case is that failure. Skilled investigators could have been called in from various police departments in the County. Those independent officers would have looked at everything and would have asked questions that never got asked. And there wouldn't have been any conclusion announced less that 24 hours after the murders. After the conclusion was announced by Sheriff Nygren, not one deputy would dare to question anything about the case.