BABY HEATHER’S MURDER

                           BABY  HEATHER’S  MURDER

NORMAN  V.  KELLY

I have said it before murder is always a surprise and most definitely a shock to the loved ones and acquaintances of the victim. I believe that most everyone would put murder in that compact box. But where do we put the murder of a baby? I’m not talking about a late abortion I am talking about the actual murder…the killing of an innocent baby. I can tell you this if you know the murdered child, or the family of a murdered baby, the answer to the question is simple. Pain…agonizing pain, and between sobs the question that is always asked is…WHY?

The story I am about to tell you began near Alton, Illinois in June of 1989.

I decided to bring this story to you because it touched the hearts of folks here in Peoria, Illinois because some of them were jurors in the trial held right here in River City.

Paula and Robert Sims were just another married couple. She came from a farm in southern Missouri and Bob worked the nightshift in Alton, Illinois.

They were no different than the thousands of newly married, and like the others their lives were ordinary. Then on June 17, 1986 Paula made a call to the local police, screaming into the telephone that a man had stolen her baby girl. Well, now that is news that will catapult a person into the spotlight rather quickly.

It was 10:00 that June night and Paula Sims was watching the news on TV

while her husband was off to work. At that time they lived in a rural setting in Brighton, Illinois. Paula was stunned senseless as she saw a man standing in front of her with a masked face and a mean looking gun in his hand. She had a habit of watching TV in her basement and locked the rear door only after she was ready to go upstairs to bed. The gunman forced her to lie on the floor warning her to stay there at least ten minutes. The moment she heard the door close she got up and raced to check on her baby. Her infant girl, Lora lei was gone!

We are all aware of the uproar and the publicity connected with a kidnapping of a child, and this case was no different. The local press down there in Alton and Saint Louis and surrounding areas raced to get the story to the public. The first person to be quoted was Paula’s father, Orville Blew.

                  “Somebody’s got to be sick to do something like

                   this or have no feelings at all. It could be somebody

                   in the market for selling babies or maybe somebody who

                   lost theirs and wants another.”

Paula and Robert were much too distraught to speak to the press, but finally

on June 20^th Robert appealed to the press. “They could have stolen anything I have,” he said, standing in his driveway and pointing toward the house,

“They could have fired me, sent me back to war, nothing compares with this.”

The couple appeared in newspapers, heads together, tears on their faces holding up a poster they had made. “Have you seen Lora lei?  She abducted

from Brighton home Tuesday Nite, June 17.”

Seven thousand fliers were sent out by I-Search, describing little Lora lei

as light-haired and 19 inches long. Five thousand photos were made up and sent out and within a few days over $8,000.00 were offered as a reward for information. Authorities made every effort to find the infant as they waited for a ransom note, but none came.

                            THE  WORST  NEWS  POSSIBLE

On June 24, 1986, one week after the baby was kidnapped the decomposed remains of an infant were found in a deep ravine less than 150 feet from the Sims home. The bones had been scattered about apparently from animals and no clothing or anything else was found at the scene. Hospital x-rays could not reveal whether the bones were those of a boy or a girl, only that they were human. Were those pathetic remains that of little Lora lei?

The police immediately asked Robert and Paula to take lie detector tests. Coming out of the police inquiry, the press asked them how they did.

Robert smiled, “We passed with flying colors.” The truth was that they had not only not passed with ‘flying colors,’ they had indeed failed the tests.

What did that mean? Could it be possible that this nice couple murdered their daughter? For the folks that knew them that thought was absolutely

ludicrous.

Right after the tests the Sims moved away telling friends that the pressure on them from the media was just too much…so they left. A month or so later

Dr. James McGivney, a forensic dentist, told the press that the remains were those of a thirteen-day-old baby, based on the tooth buds he found in the  jaw bone. Later the police had experts compare the bone marrow and reported that their experts reported that they were 97.2 percent positive that the baby found in the ravine was that of Lora lei Sims. Paul and Robert rejected that idea completely. It was not their daughter, they were sure of that fact. To counter that even more sophisticated tests were made and the results were that the experts were now 99.75 percent sure that the baby was Lora lei. Remember the sophistication of today’s DNA tests were yet to come.

The couple then told the press that they had accepted the death of their daughter and were just barely “Keeping their sanity.” However, Robert hedged a bit by adding, “But I can’t say, down in my heart, that I absolutely know it’s her,” The father, whom many suspected, struck out at his tormentors. “What I can’t believe is how little support we’ve got from the

world in general. We’ve been condemned.”

The family of little Lora lei buried her in Woodland Cemetery over in Wood River, Illinois just a few miles from where her grandparents lived. No death

date was carved on the stone because the date is uncertain. Also, although they buried the remains of the infant, the Sims family left the cemetery not exactly sure that they had indeed buried Lora lei Sims.

                               

In March, 1987, the grand jury met to consider the death of the infant, which

told the reading public that authorities must believe that the baby was murdered by one or both of her parents. Both Robert and Paula were asked to appear which they did but they invoked the Fifth Amendment and did not answer the questions put to them. The public assumed at that point, since  they had flunked the lie detector tests and refused to answer questions from the grand jury, that they were guilty of murder. That was how it was then and as the months went on they never changed their minds. Paul and Robert Sims were guilty of killing their baby…why aren’t they in jail?

                          CAN  LIGHTINING  STRIKE TWICE?

On February 1, 1988, there were grins on the faces of hard-luck parents, Robert and Paula Sims. They had a baby boy. The happy parents then announced to the suspicious world that another child was born to them thirteen months later, a little girl named Heather. Joy settled over the distraught parents and even the folks that believed the couple had killed Lora lei were now willing to give them some space. After all, in spite of the hell they had gone through they had a boy named Randy and sweet, beautiful Heather to raise. They would prove they were decent parents given a chance. Interest in the couple waned and like always life moved on.

And then the impossible happened. On April 29, 1989, a Saturday at 10:20

P.M., Paula was taking the trash out when she was accosted by a masked man. The armed man forced her back into the house then smashed her with some kind of Karate chop across the back of the neck. She lay there unconscious for as much as forty-five minutes. That’s when Robert returned from work to revive her and call police. The couple dashed through the house to check on Randy and Heather. Randy was just fine but Heather was gone!

The news raced through the community like a tornado and as in the last case, soon was a national story. The doubters quickly said “I told you so,” and soon the Sims house was the center of crowds and TV cameras. The folks would buy the first case, well some of them, but not this one. These two cases were so similar that the people were now positive of the guilt of the young couple. How could the authorities have allowed this to happen? They should have had one or both of those people in jail after the death of Lora lei. That was the sentiment of the folks who had not quite gotten over the horror of the first case three years previously.

The couple took their only son and raced over to the Blew’s house to take refuge. People showed up there as well, some carrying placards, others just stood staring at the house. One lady told the press that they should not judge these people “Only God can judge them.” The media circus kicked up a notch when police found pornography in Robert’s garage. There were soft-porn magazines in his locker, one of them, Abnormal Wife, had a picture of a naked woman sitting on a human skull.  The media took some pains to inform the people that the police found a picture of the son in his locker but none of his daughter.

                               ANOTHER  INFANT  BODY

Just four days after the baby’s disappearance a man was searching a park area near the Mississippi River. He’d often found a few cans in the trash- cans, and when he saw a large green garbage bag he immediately opened it. To his utter horror what he saw was not aluminum cans. No, what he saw was the frozen body of a very small infant! Authorities were summoned and they soon identified the pitiful remains as those of the missing infant, Heather Lee Sims. The news bumped the case up to international coverage, and the media converged once again upon Paula and Robert Sims.

More and more TV cameras were aimed at the couple but before long they seemed to zero in on Paula Sims alone. After all she was with the two infants when they were kidnapped, and as far as people were concerned she was guilty of their murders. Of course the media did not say that but by their very actions the finger pointing was obvious. A lot of people reduced the number of suspects to two, and they had already made up their minds which two. They made it clear that they thought either Paula and Robert did it together or Paula did it on her own…one or the other.

                             WOULD  THEY  CHARGE  PAULA?

The first kidnapping and murder were in 1986, which cost the life of Lora lei

and then in 1989, the murder of Heather. The authorities did not charge Robert or Paula for the 1986 murder so what was different about the 1989 murder? If they had nothing on her then how could they charge her now? That was the question that bounced around among the people who followed the Sims case. What were they going to do? In 1986, Sheriff Frank Yocum  

of Jersey County, who with the help of  dogs found the body of Lora lei certainly did everything he could possibly do to get the evidence needed to charge Paula. Three frustrating years, following every lead, countless hours of endless investigations…tip after tip…all for naught. Finally he took what he had to Lee Plummer, the Jersey County State’s Attorney, who decided that they did not have enough evidence to proceed.

Sheriff Yocum expressed his concern over so many inconsistencies in the case, shaking his head and totally frustrated he let them be known to the public. He told reporters that the tear in the screen door where the intruder made his entry was not only too small it was on the wrong side of the screen. He wondered why neither Robert nor Paula had ever gone on any of the searches for the bodies. Also the sheriff pondered the fact that no clothing, no baby clothing was ever found on or near either one of the infant’s bodies. Despite all of Yocum’s suspicions and hard work there was nothing in the years between the two cases that ever tipped the scales of justice his way. Lora lei’s fate remained a deep, dark mystery not only to him but everyone else as well. Yocum was stunned when he arrived at the Sims house once

again to investigate yet another kidnapping and another murder. He stood looking at the crying couple. He said he could see them cry “But I’ve never

been able to put an adjective as to what Paula’s emotions were that night. To this day I can’t.”

                                        NOW  WHAT?

There is no Statute of Limitation on murder. However, there is on the other charges that the SA could charge Paula with, so with time running out he did file them. Lee Plummer had Paula arrested and arraigned on concealing a homicide and three counts of obstructing justice, all in connection with the death and disappearance of Lora lei Sims. So finally the mystery lady from  La Plata, population 1,423, was under the jurisdiction of Illinois law. Now all the public could do was wait and see what developed.

The little town she grew up in was known as “The soybean capital of the

world.” The town is a nice little farm town, it even has a nine-hole golf course, and most everyone there certainly knew Paula as the “Pleasant tomboy from Bates Street.” She busied herself taking care of her disabled brother and never showed any signs of having a bad disposition. The town had its dark side, as reporters found out when they went there to find out about Paula, who she was and why she would kill her kids. Reporters said that at one time there was a sign along Route 63 that read “Nigger don’t let the sun set on your head in La Plata.” But, hell, that was 1965 a long time ago.  Surely folks had changed their attitude…hopefully.

Reporters found the town a bit protective of Paula. The folks admitted they never locked their doors, and left their keys in their cars, but those same folks carried guns in their cars. There was a sizeable marijuana crop there as well, according to some of the more snoopy reporters. The principal of the school told reporters that he “Had nothing to say,” and other folks told the intruders the same thing. Paula’s smiling picture in the 1970 high school book was proudly shown with the hint that if she went wrong it was after she left La Plata. Some local folks resented the press calling her a La Plata girl. “She was born here but she didn’t even graduate high school here.” The reporters never really got the answers to the “Why” Paula Sims would kill her children, but they learned a lot about her and reported much of it to their readers.

One interesting thing did pop up from the reporter’s investigation when she interviewed a high school student that was in school with Paula. “If anything ever come up missing at school, every finger would point at her. She’d get real paranoid about it. ‘Why do you always say I did it?’ Paula would ask. “Well because 99 chances out of 100 you did it that’s why.”

Another young lady that spent some time with Paula quickly added          “she didn’t act very feminine; she was tall and not much of a figure. She was prone to fighting…fists and cat fights. She was tough and she didn’t bluff.”

So that’s enough about Paula, what any of that has to do with why she would kill her kids, is beyond me. Also…keep in mind she was not even charged with murder when all these interviews took place…but people love to talk…my how they love to talk.

                       FINALLY  THE  CHARGE  IS  MURDER

On May 12, Paula was charged with concealing a homicide and obstructing justice for the death of Lora Lei. That trial would take place after the murder charges have been concluded. July 1, the same charges are filed only this time they are in connection with the death of Heather Sims. On July 11 Paula Sims is charged with Heather’s murder and this time she is charged without the possibility of a bond. A major surprise is that the Madison County judge transferred the trial to Peoria, Illinois because of pre-trial publicity. Now all the publicity would be generated here in Peoria, Illinois. Of course that trial will mean a pretty penny for the hotels and merchants here in town so authorities eagerly awaited the trial.

                     FROM  MADISON  COUNTY  TO  PEORIA

Paula spent her time secluded in her Madison County Jail, rarely talking to anyone, sitting, reading…staring out into space. Publicity still surrounded the case and every time a pre-trial motion or hearing was held, the crowds swarmed and the media frenzy continued. Roadblocks were put up on the street where the Sims family lived but still the parade of people going by never stopped. One TV reporter from KMOV-TV said to reporters that contacted the station by phone “you’d have to be here to see the circus atmosphere.” What would it be like here in Peoria, Illinois?

A very important decision by the judge in Madison County ordered that information about the death of Loralei could be used in the trial of Paula for the murder of her second daughter, Heather Sims. This was huge as far as the prosecutor was concerned. Just think of it from the juror’s viewpoint. They sit there and for a few days and they hear that this woman, according to the prosecutor, killed her first daughter. The judge allowed this under some section of the law consistent with ‘showing a consistent pattern of crime.’ It was a devastating ruling, and one that a Peoria jury would get a chance to listen to. Many lawyers interviewed felt that in the end this just might be reversible error,

PEORIA, ILLINOIS                                                                  1-08-1990

Reporters flocked into Peoria, Illinois where the TV vans took up valuable

parking spaces, and crowds flooded the courthouse. That was the scene that cold January morning when the Paula Simses jury waited in the Jury Commission Room to be called for questioning. This was another one of those ‘hot tickets’ I told you about, but less spectators would see this show.

Since so many visiting reporters took the good seats, and other VIP’s were allowed in, frustration prevailed even among the very early seat hopefuls.

Judge Matoesian from Madison County would preside and local reporters quickly told the Peoria readers that Andy Matoesian was a graduate of the Peoria Barber College. Most folks hoped that the man had also gone to law school. The media coverage was a blitz not only TV, newspaper and radio, there were live broadcasts back to the Alton, Illinois area as well. The death

penalty would be sought by the county’s prosecutor, William Haine and his two valuable assistants, Kit Morrisey and Donald Weber. Paula Sims had as her lawyer Donald Groshong, a very competent defense attorney. The actors were in place, the judge was ready, and the bit players were waiting to become jurors. Camera…action!

Judge Matoesian questioned 97 jurors himself excusing many before either side got to talk to them. The questions centered around what the prospective juror knew about the case and what their views were concerning the death penalty. It was a long, sometimes boring process, but eventually the deed was done. The jurors were finally in the box and the alternates were sitting in ready to take over when the judge asked both sides if they were ready to go. “Ready your honor” came the answers and the opening statements were delivered. I can tell you after 22 years of hearing and watching the beginning of trials I was never able to quiet my heart… it’s better than TV that’s for sure.

                                 A  PARADE  OF  WITNESSES

Frank Yocum the Jersey County Sheriff, led by the SA went through the three years of frustrating investigation in the first murder and was off the stand before he even got to the second murder. The strategy of the People was now apparent. For the first three days they put on witness after witness

who discussed the first death, that of Lora Lei Sims. The sheriff told the jury that Paula had a dog, a big, very alert dog, named Shadow. Neighbors reported to him that not once during the night of the kidnapping did Shadow bark. Why not? That’s what the prosecutor asked the jury. How could a man come up into the yard, enter the house and not even cause a whimper from the dog? Damn good questions?

The eight-men and four-women jury, leaned a bit forward as the first 16 witnesses, which included investigators, neighbors and forensic experts,

paraded in front of them. Each brought with them a piece of the puzzle the prosecutors hoped to fit into the complicated motives that caused Paula Sims to kill her two beautiful baby girls. Prosecutors even put on a roommate of Paula’s who had her baby the same day that Paula did. The lady told the jurors that she heard Paula talking to someone on the telephone. “I’m sorry I had a little girl,” Paula said to someone on the other end of the telephone.

By the time the jury had heard from 26 witnesses the spectators had already made up their mind about Paula Sims. Reporters talked to a lot of them during the breaks, reporting their comments. “Guilty as sin,” was the general

consensus. There was also a call-in public poll being conducted but the results would be published after the trial.

Nurse Diane Seavers testified that in all the time she saw Robert Sims at the hospital he never once looked at the new baby girl. State investigators repeatedly told the jury that they did not believe the kidnapping story and at one time told Paula that to her face. She abruptly got up and walked out of the room leaving the police looking at each other.

The State put on the physician that did the autopsy on the body of Heather once they had finally gotten around to the second murder. There are very few surprises in a murder trial what with all the discovery and pre-trial motions, but there was in this trial. As the good doctor took the stand, the defense attorney for Paula Sims led her out of the courtroom. He did that without explanation, which was his right, but later he told reporters she did not want to hear the details concerning her beloved daughter’s death. It was while she was out of the courtroom that Dr. Kay dropped the bomb. Since the doctor was not only a pathologist, but a neurologist as well, the judge let her testify beyond the autopsy. She told the jury that in her opinion based on a degree of medical certainty that she did not believe Paul Sims was knocked unconscious. She went into an elaborate medical explanation about memory loss and recovery that probably went over most heads. It was devastating to the defense and Mr. Groshong did everything he could to keep it out.

“Overruled,” said the judge, “the doctor may continue.”

After Doctor Mary Kay’s dissertation on retrograde amnesia was allowed to sink in the prosecution rested its case. The 215 exhibits would fill a damn pickup truck and the testimony from 51 witnesses that went with them must have jammed the juror’s brains to the limit. Somehow they had gotten through it, sequestered at the Pere Marquette, herded around like cattle and now they faced the long anticipated defense. To me it was magic to watch a jury, and to this day I am amazed that in most cases they got it right.

                                  ACT  TWO: THE  DEFENSE

Of course the defense started during the opening statements and continued with every witness the People put on the stand. Every exhibit is subject to objection and every word out of every witness is scrutinized and often attacked. When the case is finally in the hands of the defense attorney, many of those very same witnesses are back on the stand. It is a time consuming, grueling procedure especially when the evidence seems stacked against the defendant as it was in this case. Donald Groshong was a master at his craft, and his main task was to show the jury that the State had no real evidence against his client…they had nothing but circumstantial evidence and a lot of

innuendo and gossip.

Robert Sims was not charged with a crime in the murder of his two daughters. He would be a key defense witness and as it is in all murder trials the big question was, ‘will the defendant take the stand?’

Several relatives of Paula Sims told the jury that Robert and Paula loved the baby girls and the idea that either one of them would harm them was absurd. Linda Condray, a sister-in-law showed dozens of pictures depicting scenes of love and affection on the part of Paula toward both the baby girls. She was also very upset that the police had searched her home some ten miles from the Sims home. She told the jury that she thought the search was “a bit absurd.” In all the defense put on 18 witnesses that testified that the children were loved and that they did not show any special interest in their son. “Robert and Paula loved their kids,” it was that simple. The spectators were anxious to see what Paula and Robert Sims had to say.

                                 

                             

                                  THE  INNOCENT  PARENTS

Robert Sims looked over at the jury “I wouldn’t cover for one minute for anyone that would harm a hair on my children no matter how much I loved them.” He choked up a bit before he said “I believe Paula absolutely and she

is a good mother and an excellent wife.” The defense took Robert through all the accusations the witnesses had testified to and one by one he denied them.

One important aspect of the testimony from Robert was that he disagreed with his sister-in-law about what time Paula had visited her the day of the murder. He told the jury it was ten in the morning and the sister-in-law said it was three in the afternoon. This was important because police maintain that it was in the afternoon while Paula was supposed to be over at the sister-in-law’s home that she removed the body from the freezer and disposed of it. Robert endured a brutal cross-examination from two of the prosecuting lawyers.

The shy, withdrawn Defendant, Paula Sims took the stand. The crowded courtroom was hushed as the soft-spoken woman, now 30 looked over at her lawyer as he walked up to her. Gently her lawyer led her through the horrible ordeal of losing her two daughters. He asked question deliberately, nodding as his client answered. It was a very well rehearsed sensible examination of an innocent woman.

“I loved my daughters and I had a lot of plans for them. I wanted to give them these dresses. This dress was mine when I was fifteen months old and I wanted to give it to Heather. She held up two tiny dresses for the jury to see. The defense held up a deflated balloon that had ‘It’s A Girl!’ printed on it. Paula sobbed, “we were going to put that in her room.”

Paula’s testimony went well. She was believable, answering her lawyer’s question in a straight-forward manner and looking like the distraught innocent woman that she said she was. The cross-examination was not so kind and not so forthcoming on the part of the witness. She was at one point courteous, even kind, but the flip side was anger and resentment. The prosecutors tore in to her on the discrepancies of her earlier statements and it was brutal.

The SA questioned her about a visit to a card shop when she and her husband walked into the store carrying Heather. The SA pointed a finger at her. “That child was dead wasn’t she? Your baby was dead and you carried it in there in a blanket to establish an alibi didn’t you?” Paula bristled

as she yelled back, “I was never in that card shop!”

                                THE  CLOSING  ARGUMENTS

In the ideal world closing arguments should not win a trial. But we all know better than that. Lawyers are supposed to use the closing arguments to summarize the evidence garnered from the witnesses. They are allowed some leeway, and I don’t have to tell you, leeway to a lawyer means freedom to go off on a rant. Good lawyers are good public speakers and damn good actors. The closing arguments in this case were dramatic and aggressive. The urge to object is overwhelming to the opposing lawyers but forcibly subdued for one simple reason, If one objects…the other will follow suit.  After eleven days of testimony three days to pick a jury, the end was in sight. Hell…get on with it, the jury would like to visit their kids before they graduate from college. That was the sentiment of the jury and even the press was getting anxious to get home.

The trial was over! After 84 witnesses, and four and one half-hours of closing arguments, the end was near. The long, sometime arduous task

by the judge of instructing the jury as to the law can often empty a courtroom in a hurry. Once the jury is charged, they are sworn in and from that moment on they are the sole holders of justice. Soon they would select a foreman and began their deliberations. Would they reach a verdict or would they become deadlocked? Paula Sims was on trial in Peoria, Illinois for the murder of her child. If they found her guilty she could and probably would be executed. Think about it a minute, that is one hell of a responsibility. How would you vote?  If guilty would you have her put to death?

That last day of the trial Paula and Robert Sims ate lunch together and he stood and watched as guards took her back inside the courthouse. The judge would now instruct the jury as to the law in the case, and soon the jury would have the case. The end was near to the case that had brought as much interest as did the Richard Speck trial twenty-three years earlier. Would Robert Sims get his wife back or would he lose her forever?

                         A  JUROR’S  WORK  IS  NEVER  EASY

It was a cold January 30, 1990, the jury had deliberated for seven hours and

speculation was high. A lot of people indicated to the press that they assumed the jury would take a couple of hours to find the defendant guilty. They were certainly surprised how long they had been out and still no verdict. What was wrong with those people?

The folks in Peoria were also talking about the closing of Bishop’s Cafeteria after 61 years in business and fretting about the Varsity Theater shutting its

doors as well. The good news was that the old Apollo Theater was going to be refurbished and there was talk about the riverfront project. Other than that, all eyes were on the media for news about the jury.

The jury had gotten the case at 5:30 on Monday, they had to eat dinner, get settled down, pick a foreman, take a few votes, hell, it all took time. Once

they did all that they asked the judge for a transcript of the trial, which of course was not available. They would have to go by memory, exhibits and notes.                               

Suddenly the word came that the jury had reached a verdict and it was

ready to meet with the judge. The moment had arrived. The courtroom filled up quickly and excitement was in the air. The jury is in the box…it’s over. GUILTY!

                                 LIFE  OR  DEATH?

Thursday 2-2-1990 the jury is back in the box and the courtroom is once

again filled up for the final phase of People vs Paula Sims case. This day

Is the second birthday for Paula’s son whom she has not held since her incarceration. Paula was led into the courthouse dressed in a long sleeved

V-necked striped sweater. Her hair was long and pulled back behind her bare ears. Two county officers guided her between them as all eyes swept over her. She was now the convicted killer of Heather Sims, her infant daughter. The charges against her concerning Laura lei would be tried in March. She was now waiting to hear the verdict of life or death against her. At least that’s what the spectators assumed.

The truth of the matter was simple. Once the jury had found her guilty they had decided that they would not impose the death sentence upon her. So the threat of death row was not even to be considered. But many of the folks that crowded the courthouse that day seemed to be unaware of that. The judge, after a hearing would decide what the penalty would be. Would it be life or something less? That is the question that would be answered  by Judge Matoesian of Madison County, not whether she lived or died.

The judge finally had the decision in his hands. He looked down at Paula Sims, pausing in thought he said “you will serve your natural life behind bars.” Sims did not move, showed no signs she even heard the judge. “That means in plain English that you’re not eligible for parole.” Only a hand full of spectators heard the final sentence that would bring to close the trial that had created an uproar for three weeks. The judge then ordered that Sims be escorted to the Illinois Department of Corrections’ women’s prison in Dwight, Illinois.

That poll I told you about, was finally published in the Peoria Journal

Star: Of the 2,268 people that responded to Dial-A-Vote, 2,034 said she was guilty and deserved the death penalty. The remaining 234 said that she did not deserve the death penalty. Hell, Illinois is not a state that is quick to execute. Also the means of execution had changed from the electric chair to lethal injection in 1983. Now after Governor Ryan signed into law his legislation it will be another fifteen years before Illinois even gets close to an execution. It is my guess that we never will. Have any idea how long ago it was that Illinois executed a prisoner? Good guess…it was 1962.

So, let’s leave this case with some questions unanswered. Will Robert Sims eventually be indicted for his part, if any, in the death of his two baby girls?  Will Paula Sims be sentenced additionally when she is tried for the charges against her in connection with Lora Lei’s death? Maybe, if I ever write another book like Murder In Your Own Backyard,  I’ll answer

those questions for you.

Editor’s Note:  Norm Kelly is a retired private investigator, author and historian.    He welcomes you comments.                                         norman.kelly@sbcglobal.net