Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Triple homicide in Marengo - re-open this case

I would like to extend an invitation to Sheriff Bill Prim and the new top echelon at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

You are invited to correct what may be one of the greatest errors ever made by a sheriff's department. Sheriff Prim has the authority to re-open this closed case and to see that a full and proper investigation is conducted. Previous key players are now out of the picture - Nygren, Zinke, Pyle. Why is Pyle's name even mentioned? He apparently shut down Detectives Popovits and Muldonado, when Doran Bloom's parents were trying to get answers.

On June 7, 2011, a triple homicide occurred in McHenry County, Illinois. At approximately 8:30PM three people died on Somerset Drive, southeast of Marengo.

In a display of amazing authority and investigative expertise (not!), by 1:00PM the next day the case was solved and, for all practical purposes, closed.

Who died? John Feldkamp (83), Audrey Feldkamp (81), Doran Bloom (27). John Feldkamp and Doran Bloom died in the house. Audrey Feldkamp was airlifted to a Rockford hospital and died there before midnight.

Who survived? Scott Feldkamp (54), son of John and Audrey Feldkamp. Scott Feldkamp was transported to an Elgin Hospital with stab wounds.

At 12:30pm on June 8, 2011, an MCSD detective interviewed Scott at the hospital. Well, let's say that "interviewed" is a very loose term in this instance. When you read the transcript (and I have), you quickly see the obvious. The detective led Scott through what happened, instead of probing for a complete story. The detective must have telephoned the Sheriff's Department with a verbal report on which Sheriff Nygren based his remarks to a closed press conference a few minutes later.

I say "closed", because Nygren locked out Cal Skinner (McHenry County Blog), Pete Gonigam (FirstElectricNewspaper.com) and me by limiting admittance to "credentialed" press.

Nygren and Zinke apparently spent only 15 minutes at the crime scene, according to the Crime Scene Log. And there is a question in my mind as to whether Nygren was even there at all, because I was told the next day that Nygren was out of town and flying back for the press conference, which was postponed from 11:00am to 1:00pm.

There was never any lab work on blood platters or any attempted matching of blood on clothing, walls or floor.

Not all the bullets were ever accounted for. The shell casings found at the scene, from Scott's pistol, exceeded the number of bullets recovered.

There was an irregularity in the Coroner's Inquests. Even though Doran Bloom died in McHenry County, his inquest was held in Winnebago County at the same time as Audrey Feldkamp's. And the Coroner's panel was given the cases two hours prior to the announced starting time and inclusion of the public. They only met in public long enough to announce their decisions. The only members of the public present were Mr. and Mrs. Bloom, Sarah Sutschek (now, Strzalka) (Northwest Herald reporter) and I.

Several police professionals outside MCSD told me that the "investigation" was the worst example of police work they had ever seen.

Will Sheriff Prim re-open this case and conduct a thorough, professional investigation? It's probably too late to call in MIAT. At this point, they would just punch holes in what was done and how it was done.

Why should the case be re-opened? Because nobody thinks it happened the way the story was told.

5 comments:

Big Daddy said...

Have you contacted Sheriff Prim and requested that this case be re-opened?

Gus said...

My belief is that a request from the Bloom and/or Feldkamp families would carry more weight than a request from me.

There must be a procedure for re-opening serious cases that were mishandled.

Sheriff Prim's early duties should include a review of all pending lawsuits and consultation with the State's Attorney. No doubt there are some (many?) that should be settled.

Prim has been in office since December 1st. Has there been ANY public word from him?

Big Daddy said...

Gus,someone has to tell the Sheriff or the SAO that the case should be re-opened. I doubt Sheriff Prim even knows about this case.
Do they have a cold case squad in McHenry County? Has the family of the deceased made a request to re-open?

Curious1 said...

I know he seems to be unavailable for comment for the past few weeks. Does anyone know if Sheriff Prim is working here in the County?

Gus said...

Bill Prim knows about this case. It's not a cold case. Nygren failed miserably, when he announced whodunit in less than 24 hours.