BODY PARTS AND PLASTIC BAGS

                                                            

                                                              NORMAN V. KELLY

                                  

                                                  A  GHASTLY  FIND

 

It was a nice day for a bike ride that May 19, 1983 when two young men stopped their bikes on a small bridge over Funk’s Run Creek. They had traveled at their leisure in Tazwell County, crossed over into Woodford County and stopped to rest and stretch.  The sun was going down, as they talked about the day’s ride.  There was a slight, warm spring breeze kicking up and the boys enjoyed the moment.  One of them commented about an odor in the air, his companion sniffed and walked east as the aroma got stronger.  They stopped in horror as they looked down at something sticking out of a green, plastic bag.  They inched closer until the realization of what they were looking at dawned on them. Once they slowed their heart rate down enough to act, they hopped on their bikes and raced off toward the nearest telephone to call the sheriff.

 

It was dark now as a Woodford County Deputy pulled his patrol car up to the edge of the bridge the boy’s had described.  He sat a moment listening to the noise of the evening outside his rolled down window.  He snapped on the cruiser’s flashing lights, grabbed his flashlight and got out of the car.  The breeze had kicked up and the smell was coming directly at him.  The deputy trained the light ahead and walked to the side of the bridge.  Moments later he was back at his vehicle, radioing in his gruesome discovery.  The officer was careful not to be too descriptive as he reported to the sheriff.

 

                                “I’m two miles north of Route 116 right here at

                                               Funk’s Run Bridge.  No doubt it’s ours here in

                                               Woodford County, Upper Spring Bay Road.

                                               It’s real rural out here so we’ll need some lights.”

 

                                   A  VERY BUSY NIGHT

 

The deputy repositioned his squad car and put out some flares on both sides of the road.  He would turn back any car that happened by, but none ever approached the bridge.   A few minutes later the officer heard the siren off in the distance and moments later the flashing lights of the Spring Bay Fire Department.  Snapping on his flashlight, he stood ready to guide the truck up to the bridge.  As it pulled up he greeted the driver and told him to position the truck close enough so he could shine the powerful truck’s spotlight on the object.  Soon, the firemen and deputy were staring down at a green bag that had been tossed off to the side by the bridge.  One of the firemen made a move toward it but was stopped by the deputy.  “Better wait until the sheriff gets here.”

 

The sheriff’s car could be seen coming down the rural road followed by a couple of other vehicles.  The deputy greeted his boss, as the other cars parked behind the sheriff’s car.  Once out of the car, Sheriff Quentin (Jim)  Durst instructed everyone with a flashlight to make a thorough search of the grounds. He told them to be careful, and to bring back anything that looked out of place. He then went with his deputy over to the green bags, to have a look for himself.

 

The powerful light bathed the bags in an eerie cast of light and shadow as Durst snapped on his own flashlight.  He squatted down moving his flashlight back and forth.  With his gloved hand he pulled one of the bags open and viewed the grisly contents. He ordered photographs as he turned to his deputy.

 

                          “It’s a murder no doubt, but it doesn’t look

                               like the killing was done here.  No, the body

                               was dumped here.”

 

The sheriff started assigning his men to tasks as he began to make contact with nearby towns and departments he needed to aid him.  He called the State of Illinois to ask for the services of Robert DuBois, a crime scene investigator. The press, the TV media and anyone that thought they belonged at the scene flocked out to the old rural bridge.  The officers began blocking off the road and flashing lights filled the night with colorful hues.

 

They worked well into the night, taking more pictures, continuing the search around and under the bridge.  The media sniffed out the scene and soon their camera lights added to the brightness of the night.  The coroner soon took over and he made a lot of requests as the men scurried about trying to secure the scene. Once the coroner ordered the remains, or what was left of them, taken away, soil samples under the body were taken.  More photographs and finally the squad lights were turned off. One lone deputy was left at the scene as the eastern sky lit up with the first signs of a new May morning dawning.

 

                                THE BODY IN THE BAGS

 

Cars from the sheriff’s office were back at the scene before the sun came up with orders to make another thorough search of the entire area. The sheriff would talk to the boys that discovered the body and of course a house-to- house investigation would be made of the surrounding area.  Someone might have seen something that would help with the investigation.  Sheriff Durst was at his office conferring with the coroner, deputies and waiting for the photographs to be developed and handed to him. He also had a few more telephone calls to make.

 

Later in the day Sheriff Durst called the Chief of Police in Peoria, Illinois. As far as the sheriff was concerned, most of his job was done.  Of course he would continue his questioning of local folks but the important information he had discovered would send the case back over to Peoria County.

 

                        “Afternoon, chief, I wanted to get back to you on that

                              body we found in the trash bag over here. The dead man

                              is Jeffrey J. Williams, age 26.  His listed address is 401

                              Hayward over there in Peoria.  No doubt the body was

                              dumped over here, chief.  I think you got yourself a

                              murder.  I’ll wait to hear from you once you check out

                              his address.”

 

                                     THE  SHERIIF  WAS  RIGHT  ON

 

Once the Peoria Detectives followed up on the sheriff’s clue the rest seemed to come easy to the Peoria officers.  The detectives quickly visited the Hayward address and the case seemed to simply come together. Armed with search warrants, police investigators swarmed over the house at 401 Hayward, searching every square inch of the place with every forensic piece of equipment they had available in 1983.  It took very little time to convince them that Jeffrey Williams had been murdered and butchered in that very house.  Detectives outside the house were making headway in running down the girlfriend of the victim, and soon the pieces fell into place like a horror jigsaw puzzle.

 

                             

 

                                  SOME  PARTS  ARE MISSING

 

Once the body of Mr. Williams was taken to a funeral home another horrible discovery was made…some of his body parts were missing! Both his legs, as a matter of fact, and now the case took on a more bizarre twist and the media swarmed over it from all over the area.  Police were piling up the evidence collected from the house. Bloody towels, blood samples from the sinks and bathtub, and scores of other evidence that needed to be analyzed.  They went to work on the neighborhood convinced that someone must have heard the shots and knew a lot more that the police knew.  They talked to every single person they could, but got very little information.  The connection between the dead man and his girlfriend seemed to be about all they really needed.

 

Thirty hours after The Woodford County Sheriff had handed the case to them, they arrested Jeffrey Willams’ lady friend. They charged her with concealing a homicide.  This is what the state’s attorney often charges suspects with, because it is quick, and allows the police to take the suspect in custody.  I laugh at this charge because I wonder what you would do if you murdered someone…reveal it everyone.  But it worked and the lady Williams shared the house with was now in custody.  They had not revealed her name as yet, but plenty of neighbors knew who she was, that’s for sure.

 

                                          MAY   26,  1983   

 

Another glorious spring day that brings Peorians down to the river’s edge, but today many of them were over at the Peoria County Courthouse. Attorney James Hafele would represent the defendant with Judge Joe Billy McDade the presiding judge. Today would be the first chance the media and the local citizens would get a look at the woman police were accusing of dismembering her boyfriend.  It was exciting stuff, and the courtroom filled up in minutes.

 

Folks always have a preconceived notion as to what a monster, or a killer or sex offender looks like, but they are never right.  That certainly held true when they got their first look at this alleged murderess.  A pretty young lady walked in with her attorney and took her seat at the defendant’s table. She wore the jumpsuit of a Peoria County prisoner, and was employed over at her hair was long and attractive, and she seemed so small. Her name was Roberta M. McCumber, age twenty-two, and she worked over at Saint Francis Hospital. Reporters told their readers that she was a divorced woman with a three-year old daughter.

 

She was to be arraigned and charged with concealing a homicide, obstructing justice and theft. Police had impounded her car and forensic people had found blood, a gun and the odor of something that had been in the trunk of her car.  All of that would come out later, but as for today, it was more show and tell than anything else.

 

Attorney Hafele argued for the bond to be set low enough so that his client could go home and take care of her young daughter. Assistant State’s Attorney Patelli argued to the court the severity of the crime, the brutal way it was carried out and asked the court to set the bond at $100,000.00, McDade finally settled on half of that. That meant she had to come up with 10% or some valuable property. That afternoon the alleged killer was free and on her way home.

 

                                NO  MURDER  CHARGES

 

There are quite a few court observers and folks that take a great interest in what goes on in our courthouse.  The question from them to the reporters was; ‘Where was the murder charge’?   Well, the state attorney’s office had a plan and what it was waiting for was the lab results on the gun and all the blood analysis from the results of searching the defendant’s car. Once all that was in and the proof was all there, the final charges would be made. The charges the SA filed against her were sufficient for the moment and even though she was out on bond, they felt reasonably certain that she would face additional charges.

 

An additional problem was finding the two missing legs of the victim. The police agencies were working on that, and folks in Peoria and Woodford County were extremely interested in this murder case, I can tell you that.

 

Going on the premise that the body was dismembered in McCumber’s apartment the police set out to find witnesses.  They discovered that two boys had helped her put something in the trunk of her car, and they meant to find out exactly what that was. Their investigation led them to believe that the killer shot Williams in the apartment, dismembered him there, and put the body in different trash bags.  The body was dumped out in Woodford County and the legs were dumped somewhere else.  So, all they had to do was find them.  That was the question folks talked about here in town and over in Woodford County as well. Where were Jeffrey Williams’ legs?

 

Police now felt that the killer put the legs in the bags and then the boys innocently helped her put them in the trunk of her car. Their investigation led them to believe that the killer was looking for a dumpster away from her neighborhood.  Once the suspect found the right one, the legs were tossed into the dumpster and taken out to the county dump.  So… a massive crew of officers headed out to the dump.  The ‘pleasant’ work went on for days off and on.

 

                             TELL  IT  TO  THE  MARINES

 

Police spoke to the garbage man and he told them he remembered throwing “Something long and smelly into his truck.”  He thought it was a dead dog. With that clue the police called out the Marines. Charlie Company from a local group brought a tractor and went out to the dump to help.  They, along with a lot of soiled police officers hunted around the dump, looking for a green smelly bag. After long, diligent searches, officers finally gave up.  The SA informed the press that his office did not need the legs to fully prosecute the case he had against McCumber.

 

                                            NEW  NEWS?

 

The appetite for sensational news in a murder case is insatiable, so during the lull, local reporters manage to keep our interest up with articles to keep the story alive.  Reporters told us that Williams, the victim, was a musician and that at one time he lived with the accused on 609 Tracy here in Peoria.

He was twenty-six and had a minor police record, which the press shared with its readers. He once lived in Woodford County where he was convicted of possession of Marijuana. From Tracy, the couple moved over to 401 Hayward, Apartment A.

 

                                WOULD  IT  PLAY  IN  PEORIA?

 

It is only natural that a case like this one would get all the press and media coverage that could possibly be reported. And…as usual, that gave the defense the opportunity to seek a change of venue. Always the question to the court was this:  “Judge, how the local jury pool can not be prejudiced against my client?”

 

The final charge of murder was lodged against Roberta McCumber and that sparked another round of hearings concerning her bond. The judge set her first-degree murder bond at a half million, later reducing it to three hundred thousand.  Did McCumber have the assets to cover the bond?  No.  She remained in jail awaiting her trial.

 

During the time Mcumber languished in jail her attorney was busy filing motions and seeking mental examinations of his client.  He was also busy convincing Judge McDade that a change of venue was appropriate.  A hearing was held and the judge agreed.  The trial would be moved to Dupage County in Wheaton, Illinois.  Wheaton or Peoria, the charges and the evidence would stay the same, so Wheaton it would be. Of course that disappointed the local folks who would have to travel quite a distance to see the big show.

 

Before the trial got underway a friend of McCumber got himself in trouble for trying to create an alibi for his friend, Roberta.  He was charged with obstruction of justice and was later sentenced to two years in jail.

 

DECEMBER 4, 1983                                                 WHEATON, ILLINOIS

 

Judge Peter Paolucci called the packed courtroom to order and the hot ticket trial was underway up north of Peoria, Illinois. Small towns always win in situations like this as strangers from all over the state rush to their towns.  It certainly was the same in Wheaton, Illinois. The state was still represented by Mr. Pattilli, and the defendant had her attorney, Mr. Hafele. 

 

The opening statements outlined the battle to come, and the atmosphere in the courtroom was one of intent interest.  Hafele told the jury that his client shot Williams in self-defense during one of the frequent arguments the couple had.  The prosecution had a little different take on the matter, telling the jury that the defendant shot Williams twice deliberately. Once the lawyers finished the opening statements the real trial began.

 

The pathologist instructed the court that Williams had a bullet lodged near his spine and that he had found a bullet in the head of the victim. He then went into the grisly discussion of the missing legs, indicating that they had been chopped or sawed off with some instrument, perhaps an axe. Later, evidence showed that the tools used were a hatchet and a saw, owned by the landlord. A gun expert testified that the gun had a fourteen-pound pull on the trigger and he doubted the gun could be accidentally fired. He also pointed out the working safety on the gun.

 

I will just quote one witness to give you an idea of the crushing evidence the defense attorney had to deal with.  Ms. Riopell, Roberta’s friend was on the stand. She told the jury that she had visited Roberta’s apartment and complained of the terrible odor inside. She testified that she had asked Roberta what it was. ‘Its burnt transmission oil,’ was the reply according to the witness.  Later McCumber confided in the witness, telling her that she was a suspect in the murder of her boyfriend.  Dramatically the witness said, “I asked her, oh, my God, Roberta, was that his legs?”

 

“What did the defendant say when you asked her that question?”

 

“She said, ‘Yes.’ ”

 

“Pyschokenic Amnesia,” that’s the reason McCumber was not guilty of the murder of Mr. Williams.  Well, anyway, that is what Dr. Ziporyn testified to at the defense aspect of the trial.  This doctor testified at the Richard Speck trial here in Peoria, Illinois. The physician told the jury that although McCumber was mentally ill at the time of the shooting, she was currently sane. Dr. Ziporyn liked to use that diagnosis, the same one he used when he testified at the Richard Speck trial here in Peoria, Illinois.

 

                                  THE  JURY  HAS  THE  CASE

 

The exciting drama ended once the judge charged the jury to follow the law and reach a verdict. The question of whether or not McCumber shot Williams was not at issue once the case ended.  The question was under what circumstances?  The jury could find her guilty of first-degree murder or several alternatives. It was pretty certain among the spectators that she would not simply walk out of the courtroom a free woman.  Some of course disagreed.  After all, Roberta was a sympathetic figure sitting there in a white dress, appearing to be rather shy and harmless.

 

The ordeal was over and now all Roberta and her family could do was wait and see what the jury decided. No living human being can predict what a jury will do…especially the lawyers involved in the case.  If the jury stays out a long time…that’s good.  No…if they stay out a short time…that’s good.  See what I mean?   Hell...nobody really knows.  In this case they deliberated for eleven hours.  What’s your guess?   Good or bad?

 

                                  AND  THE  VERDICT  IS?

 

Roberta McCumber was acquitted that Tuesday afternoon in Wheaton,

Illinois.  Hold it…I’m not finished.  She was found GUILTY but was mentally ill on a Voluntary Manslaughter charge.  The eight women and four men jury of Dupage County had listened to the evidence, heard all the arguments and then they deliberated.  The verdict was now part of the court record. But, they were not done yet.  The jury found the defendant guilty of concealing a homicidal death and for obstructing justice because she severed the legs to conceal the death.

 

Roberta burst into tears upon hearing the verdict.  Were they tears of joy or sadness?  Later, her attorney told the press that she was confused at the verdict.  Once the verdict was explained, she was joyful, since the other charges would have sent her off for a long, long time.

 

                              THE  SENTENCING  PHASE

 

The ‘Guilty but mentally’ ill verdict meant that the Illinois Department of Corrections had to provide psychiatric treatment to her not only for just a couple of months, but until she was cured.  As soon as she was pronounced ‘Cured,’ then off she would go to complete her sentence.  Don’t sound so good now…does it?

 

The doctors had testified that she had been suffering from extreme anxiety brought on by the abuse inflicted upon her by Williams. One of the prosecutors had told the jury that McCumber lied about everything she said on the stand. The defense team pounded away at the fact that the murder was a justifiable homicide.

 

                                       JANUARY  20, 1984

 

Judge Peter J. Paolucci was ready to pronounce sentence on the defendant.  It was a new year and some time had slipped away. A lot of the media had lost interest in the case as the folks crowded into the courtroom to observe the final outcome of the exciting trial. A murder that had gotten some national coverage was now concluding with a sentencing hearing.

Attorney Hafele allowed Roberta to make an appeal directly to the judge.  The drama built as she stood facing the judge.

 

                “To say I am sorry for what I did to Jeff wouldn’t even be right.

                          But I’ll say that I hate what I did to Jeff and I will know I’ll

                          remember it the rest of my life. I know I need help and I just

                          hope you help me get it.”

 

Roberta McCumber then admitted that she shot Jeff Williams during an argument, using an axe and a hacksaw to cut off his legs.  She explained that she then dumped the torso somewhere in Woodford County and the legs in a dumpster near her parent’s home.

 

Judge Paolucci looked down at the hapless defendant and said to her:

 

             “Justice is a two-way street. Society, the State, and the family of Jeff

                     Williams also have their rights.  Sometimes we forget about those.”

 

The judge talked about Roberta’s past, her three abortions, including the one she had while awaiting trial in jail.

 

                “Taking that in conjunction with taking the life of Jeff Williams,

                          what value, may I ask, does she place on human life?

 

The judge then sentenced Roberta McCumber to a thirteen-year prison term. Roberta gasped and began crying as she was handcuffed and then led away. Her distraught family watched in despair. The time she had already spent in jail would be deducted from the sentence in the Illinois Department of Correction in Dwight, Illinois. 

 

                                 WHAT  ABOUT  AN  APPEAL

 

January 14, 1986                                                               Peoria, Illinois

 

Almost thirty-three months had passed and Roberta was back in court. She came before one of Peoria’s best, Judge Calvin Stone.

 

   

 

                      “I certainly would have considered a more severe sentence had

                                  the court not been restricted by law.”

 

The judge then reinstated a ten-year voluntary manslaughter prison sentence and the three-year sentence for concealing a homicide. In all, about one and a half years were knocked off her initial sentence.  Roberta McCumber, if all things went well for her, could find herself out of prison in 1988 or early 1989.  That information would be available on your computer.

 

Editor’s Note:  Norm Kelly is a local historian, author and lecturer. This story is abridged from his book  MURDER IN YOUR OWN BACK YARD.  Comments:  norman.kelly@sbcglobal.net