A SOUTH SIDE SLASHING

NORMAN  V.  KELLY

 

It was a typical cold day in Peoria, Illinois that January l8, 1977 when

the horrible news hit Peoria like a winter snowstorm. Noyalee and William Douglas pulled up to their house there at 3033 Garden Street, a house located next to a car lot. Mrs. Douglas had tried to check in on her daughter earlier but got repeated busy signals. She was not apprehensive as she arrived home, after all her daughter Connie was nineteen and had a two-year old child. There in the house was her son James, age fourteen as well, certainly he and Connie needed no looking after.

 

It was about 4:30 that early evening when they knocked on the door to gain entrance. When they got no response they entered the house through the garage. The horror there in the bedroom will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Next door, at the Pat Adair Motors, John Nizzia, a mechanic listened as Mrs. Douglas screamed out what she had found. Racing over to the house he entered and located the body of James Robinson age l4, and James’ sister Connie, age l9. Mr. Nizzia checked for signs of life but found none. He told the press “they were ice cold.” He later told reporters that he was not able to see the boy’s wounds but that the girl was “laid wide open.”

 

I doubt any of us could feel what the parents felt as they frantically searched for Connie’s young infant son. We can certainly imagine them racing around looking in the rooms, hoping beyond hope that the little child was spared. Thankfully, they found the two-year old in a bedroom safe and sound.

 

                                       THE  AFTERMATH

 

What once was a nice, safe family home was now a crime scene. The police described the murders as “the most brutal stabbing and slashing murder”

in Peoria, Illinois in years. Coroner Buzbee said that the autopsies he had ordered immediately showed the young woman died of stab wounds to the main artery leading to the heart, and that the fatal wound came through the back. Buzbee told the media that Connie had been stabbed and slashed many times both in front and back with a “big sharp knife.” The deep wounds included the lungs. The young boy was stabbed from the front including a wound to the heart.

 

Buzbee shook his head. “It’s just bizarre, undoubtedly the most brutal murders I’ve seen in a long, long time. It’s hard to understand why

any one would want to do anything like this.” The coroner continued, obviously disturbed by what he had seen. “The boy was killed first. Possibly he witnessed something he shouldn’t have in the eyes of the killer. Perhaps there was some altercation between his sister and the killer.” No determination yet, according to the coroner had been made as to whether or not the girl had been sexually molested.

 

Buzbee indicated that the boy had been slain in one place, but his sister had at one time been on the bed. There was a bloodstain on the top cover of the bed.  She was however, found dead on the back bedroom floor. “All our findings definitely indicate she put up a terrific struggle.” The coroner ordered that both bodies be completely x-rayed. He told the press that the results of those x-rays showed that no other marks of violence were found. Since the mother had left the house for work at around 6:45 that morning the time of death was set at “Probably 7:30 or 8:00 that morning.”

 

The bodies were taken to T. Parks, the funeral home where the stepfather,

William Douglas worked part-time. Captain Harold (Red) Marteness said there was no sign of forced entry to the home. “There are some indications that it was someone they knew.” Some thoughts of a possible murder-suicide were discussed, but quickly ruled out by Sergeant Tjarks. “There is no way one could have killed the other under the circumstances.”

 

So now it was up to the investigators to piece it all together. First, they needed to determine just who might have come to the house early that morning. No forced entry, so the killer must have been recognized and allowed in. The family had a watchdog that kept tabs on all the comings and goings, and that had to be considered. Who were the friends that might have visited? Connie was clad in a nightgown, so she certainly was not receiving visitors. No, it was more probably a friend of James, or could it have been a relative?

The police set out to canvass the immediate neighborhood questioning friends, relatives and schoolmates. They had a busy time ahead of them, and as in all murder cases, time was of the essence. James was a student at the Late Afternoon High School. Yes, that’s what they called the school. James did not make it to class, which indicated to the authorities that he had died prior to the classes meeting at 3:30.

 

                                   THE PLOT THICKENS

 

A long line of mourners filled the funeral chapel as the family went about the business of burying their two children. Connie had been a student at Bradley University, and James was still in high school. They now faced the problem of raising the young two-year-old without its mother. They buried their children at Springdale Cemetery the day Jimmy Carter became President of the United States.

 

Police had talked to a hundred or so people in the quest for the killer of the two teens, but as they watched the crowd at the visitation, they had no clear leads. Several of the suspects took lie detector tests and furnished alibis in order to clear their names. The police set up a mobile unit in the immediate neighborhood to aid in the solicitation of witnesses. Allen Andrews was the chief of police at that time, and his thoroughness was legendary. The killer of these children had to be caught.

 

The detectives had motive in mind as they processed the many tips that came in by telephone and solicitation. What possible motive could there be for such a brutal crime? It certainly was not robbery, since as far as the investigators could determine, nothing was taken from the house. They were able to rule out sexual assault, which narrowed the motive aspect down to almost nothing. Walter Jakowki, one of the crime investigators had carried several blood samples and other crime scene findings to labs at Joliet and Chicago. The police went about their investigations anxiously awaiting the results from these lab tests.

 

The blood alcohol content in the bodies was negative, and no sign of any drug use. The police are always involved in crimes that were the result of drug use, but certainly not in this case. By now the police had talked to 225 people and announced that they had made some progress, but “Nothing earth

shaking.” A citizen found a knife in a snow bank and the police rushed to the scene hoping to find the murder weapon, but that was not to be.

 

Mr. Douglas was finally able to speak to the press. “The bodies were so badly mutilated I could not tell which was which. I walked in there first to find them. All there was was blood. I don’t know what I did then.”

 

Mr. Douglas continued, his friends call him ‘Pete.’ “My wife said I screamed. I remember closing the door so my wife could not see them.

“She yelled, ‘Peter tell me what is wrong with my kids?’ I couldn’t

tell her, it was a tragic sight to see.” He lowered his head, sighed,

“whoever slashed Connie and James to death in her bedroom…that person is insane. They have no weapon, no motives. My wife and I lay in bed all night trying to think of anybody that would do something like that.”

Mr. Douglas sat at the kitchen table in his sister’s house, trying to make some sense out of what he was saying.

 

“I can’t accept it…it’s a dream. It seems like a nightmare. I haven’t slept

since then. Every time I close my eyes all I see is openin’ that bedroom door.

Douglas went on to say that he picked his wife up for work at 6:35 that morning, then took her to work. He said that his wife usually called home to check on the kids, but got a busy signal. They later found that the telephone was off the hook. They had just moved to Garden Street the summer before the murders admitting that he knew very little about the neighbors.

 

                                 NO  STONE  UNTURNED

 

Peter Gerontes, head of the crime lab told the press “these wounds are not

ones you think you’ve seen…these wounds were made with the intent to kill. It’s like a maniac did it…the most vicious one I’ve seen in twenty years.” Gerontes waved his hand. “This case is just going to take a lot of

damn good police work. Give me a motive and we’ll solve it.” He shook

his head. “Our main concern is the evidence and it is damn slim. When we get this guy he’s gonna tell us he did it because he is sick.”

 

Mrs. Douglas told the reporters that her children were beautiful. “Everybody

liked them. James had a few problems in school…he was just a boy. But

Connie was excellent. She went to school in Boston, Peoria High and Bradley. She was supposed to go back to Bradley this Thursday, that was all

that was on her mind. She wanted to be a teacher.” Mrs. Douglas looked away, “somebody that would do a thing like this, I can’t picture it.”

 

A reporter asked about her children’s birth dates. “Connie was born September the third, 1958 and James here in Peoria on August twelve, 1962.”

 

                               A SUSPECT IS IN CUSTODY

 

That was the good news that Persians woke up to that blustery January 22, l977. Acting Police Chief Pisano happily told the reporters the news. “We have a suspect in custody.”  Chief Alan Andrews was in California at a chief’s meeting at the time the news came out. It was eight days into the investigation that kept over 20 police officers busy virtually around the clock. Pisano answered a few questions then told the reporters, “that’s all you’re r going to get tonight. If whoever we got is responsible we do not want to blow the case.”

 

It took crack reporters like Bernadine Martin and Shelley Epstein little time to bring the facts concerning the suspect to their readers.

 

Police had a fourteen-year-old schoolmate of James Robinson in custody.

The young teenage was named in two counts of murder, then returned to  Peoria County Juvenile Detention. He was arrested Wednesday, then taken to Judge Whitney for detention. Authorities told the press that the boy was

on probation and a ward of the court. They filed a hand written petition asking that the probation be revoked and that the youth be held in detention,

rather than a cell in the county jail. Police went on to tell the press that the boy had admitted the murders and that they had recovered the murder weapon.

 

Bits and pieces were put together as reporters sought to find out more of this suspect the police had. A friend of the suspect revealed that just six hours after the bodies had been discovered he got a call from the alleged killer. This source told police that the suspect told him that he had gotten in a knife-fight with two people and one of them was dead. The police refused to verify this information telling the reporters “We do not want to raise any publicity that could be considered prejudicial.”

 

Authorities reiterated that the suspect was picked up Tuesday at the Late Afternoon High School and then charged on Wednesday. He was taken to the station accompanied by his father. Police said that the young man failed his lie detector test. “He would give us so much then hold off, but the stuff he was giving us was pretty close.” Later, the suspect told the detectives he wanted to speak to Marcella Brown the liaison officer stationed at the high school.

 

Ms. Brown had had dealings with the suspect, and as a result, the young man was said to have told her what had happened that fateful day in January.

 

“He said that him and James Robinson, whom he referred to by the nickname ‘Scopey,’ were practicing Karate when James hit him a couple of times. The suspect said that they were in a Karate stance, fingers pointing, when he swung the knife. He stated that he swung the knife to far and the knife went into ‘Scopey.’” Brown then went on to say that the suspect tried to get James up after the knife had struck him, knocking him to the floor.

 

“At that time Connie Cooper came into the room and jumped at him. He then stabbed her, then he said that his ‘mind went blank.’ After that he lost control and that he did not realize what was happening.” The suspect told Brown that he stabbed the girl in the chest and across the stomach. Right after he said that, according to Brown, he didn’t want to talk anymore.

 

Taken to the Juvenile office, Brown managed to get a conversation going with the young man. “The suspect told me that he could not have hurt James, ‘Because Scopey is my friend.’ I told him that I didn’t believe that and began asking him what really happened at the house.  I asked him if he washed his hands at the house, and he told me that he went into the bathroom, turned on the lights, washed his hands and combed his hair.” Investigators later told the press that there was a bloody fingerprint on the light switch.

The officer continued: “I asked him how the baby got into the other room and he told me that he took the sleeping child off the bed and into the empty bedroom.”

 

Brown continued her conversation with the young suspect asking for more details of the murder. ``I asked him where he had stabbed Scopey,’ and he told me that it was the center of the chest. He pointed to that area on his own body.”

 

“How many times did you stab him?”

“Once or twice, I’m not sure.”

 

Officer Brown showed the press the list of investigations that had been done concerning the suspect, stating that there were as many as 49 police contacts. As a youth he was accused of breaking windows, stealing candy bars, taken to court and declared a delinquent. He was ordered to go to school over in Bloomington, Illinois but they refused to accept him.

 

Officer Perkins, who was at the scene, stated that he had seen this very suspect just beyond the roped off area the day of the murders. People had gathered to see what all the excitement was about and that is when Perkins saw the suspect. Perkins told the press “we were looking for someone called ‘Johnny’, and that is what led us to the high school. When we found him we told him that he was the last person to see James and Connie alive and he agreed to talk to us. This Johnny told us that he practiced Karate with James

but had not been there at the house the morning of the murders. He agreed to go to the station with us where we met his legal guardian. We gave him the lie detector test and after the results we read him his rights. After that he told us he didn’t have anything to say to us.”

 

More details came from Coroner Buzbee’s office considering the condition of the two bodies. “She suffered slashes across the forehead and the cheek. Stab wounds to the stomach, back and under the left shoulder. There were cuts to the right upper thigh, index fingers and a stab to the vagina.

There was a slash across the boy’s nose down his face to the ear. There were two stab wounds to the abdomen and one in the chest. It is possible that they had been dead eight to twelve hours when they were discovered.

 

                    SHOULD  HE  BE  TRIED  AS  AN  ADULT?

 

First Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Gaubas certainly felt that this young killer should most definitely be tried as an adult. In arguing in front of Judge Holzman, the SA’s office told the court that the Juvenile authorities had had their chance with the defendant and they had failed. The office also told the judge that the idea of this being a playful karate game that had gone bad was not true. “This was a brutal stabbing.” The judge ruled that fourteen-year-old Johnny Savory would be tried as an adult.

 

The young defendant had been in contact with the authorities on numerous occasions. Reporters found out that Savory had gone to Loucks Grade School, prior to going to the high school in the south end of Peoria. His mother died in 1963 and that Savory was a ward of the court. Other than that there was very little known about the young man that had been accused of the horrible murders of Connie Cooper and James Robinson.

 

                                THE  ORDEAL WAS  OVER

 

The police had their man…well boy, and as far as they were concerned they had done their duty, now it was up to the SA and the courts. Pisano said, “The case is closed. We’re dealing with a very vicious crime.” Previously the deaths had been described as possibly the most brutal in Peoria’s history. As Pisano stood talking to the media, the entire team of twenty officers stood behind him. They were all convinced that they had the person that had killed Connie Cooper and James Robinson. “ The investigation of this double homicide was among the most extensive investigative efforts in the history of the Peoria Police Department.” Pisano credited the media and local citizens for helping in the investigation.

 

                             SAVORY’S  MURDER  TRIAL

 

Since there is so much more to this story than this trial, I will get to the matter rather quickly. The trial started on the last week of June, 1977 and continued for a week. On July 2, 1977 the verdict was in and what everyone hoped was the final phase of the case was over. As it turned out they were very wrong, and as a matter of fact, the case continues to this day well into 2004.

 

Throughout the trial the young boy sat next to his attorney, Jack Vieley

watching as his future was being decided by strangers. He looked about, chatted with his lawyer, unemotional even when he was being pointed out as a killer of two innocent people. He sat passively as Officer Marcella Brown read his confession to the jury with devastating results for the young defendant. Along with what you already know, the officer told the jury that as Savory was trying to pick Robinson off the floor, Connie came in the room and ‘came at him.’ The officer testified that Savory told her that he hit the girl in the mouth knocking her out. After that, he told the officer that he then carried her into the bedroom. As she lay there on the bed, she came to and started kicking Savory. That’s when he began stabbing and slashing her.

 

Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Gibson in his part of the final argument told the jury that this was a piece of evidence that Connie Cooper left.

                   “She died, but not before she left a piece of

                     evidence that followed him out the door…

                     a mark on his shin.”

 

The attorney for the People continued, Robert Gaubas pointing over at Savory, “he said he hit Connie Cooper in the mouth.  Dr. Immesoete testified there were abrasions in the area of the girl’s mouth.”

 

The defense attorney for Savory argued that the “alleged confession

just didn’t fit all the facts and that the charges were 99.99 percent

based on the “alleged confession.” He went on to tell the jury that the

“alleged confession,” had been coerced, prompted and suggested by

Officer Brown during the time she talked to Savory.”

 

Walking up to the jury box, the defense attorney continued his attack on the confession. “She (Brown) had ten hours to get the story to the way she wanted it, and the pieces still don’t fit.”

 

The courtroom had been crowded all week, but once the verdict was read, the crowd had pretty much been depleted. A few friends and relatives were there when the jury came in after deliberating from 3:10 until 5:40 that afternoon.

 

The defendant stood as the jury came in: then as they were seated the verdict was read. As the first count of guilty was read, Savory dropped his head into his hand. When his head came up from hearing the second verdict of guilty, he wiped tears away from his eyes. The judge then set August 19 for the sentencing date. Out in the hall in handcuffs, Savoy was seen crying and his lower lip trembled as he stood among his guards. His trial for murder was over and now his future appeared to be grim indeed.

 

                                     SENTENCING  DAY

August 19, 1977                                                      PEORIA COURTHOUSE

 

Johnny L. Savory was standing with his attorney in front of Judge Stephen Covey that beautiful summer day. A jury had found him guilty of two counts of murder. Judge Covey spoke in open court about the possibility of a minimum sentence but had rejected it because of the fact that it was a multiple murder. He commented about the brutal manner in which the murders were committed. The judge offered the fourteen-year-old convicted killer a chance to address the court, but Savory declined.

 

Robert Gaubas then suggested to the judge that the sentence be 50 to 150 years. Gaubas also told the judge that the defendant needed treatment. After Gaubas finished, Savory spoke to the judge.

 

Savory told the judge that he did not need treatment…if anyone did it

was the murderer not him. He also asked the court why the police had not found the murder.

 

                      “For me to go to prison for something I didn’t

                       do, man, I just can’t hack it.  I didn’t do it, and

                       I don’t want to serve no prison term.”

 

Gaubas addressed the court: “Your honor this was one of the most

brutal murders in our history.” The Assistant SA reminded the court that the weapon was a knife. “It was used, in our opinion to literally butcher the victims.”

 

The judge had also heard from two women that had known Savory most of his life. Mrs. Burchette told the court that she had raised money for Savory’s defense. Jack Vieley asked her if she thought Savory was innocent of the

charges.

 

              “Sure, beyond a reasonable doubt he’s innocent of the

                charges.”

 

Judge Covey sentenced Johnny L. Savory to serve two 50 to 100-years terms.

“It is up to the Department of Corrections and the Parole Board when you are released. It could be as early as nine to twelve years. Or it could be never.”

 

                                THE  APPEALS  PROCESS

 

During the appeals process the sentences were reduce to 40 to 80 years, as Savory waited in his cell at the Juvenile section of the Department of Corrections. In December 1983 Judge Robert Manning denied Savory’s request for a new trial. Savory claimed he did not receive competent legal representation and that one of the witnesses used against him had recanted her testimony. In the fall of l983 Peoria County State’s Attorney Barra refused to reopen the case for further investigation. A group of citizens led by Mrs. Burchette told the press that she was not surprised by the decision.

 

                     

             “We still believe that this has been a very weak case,

               even though it was successful in getting a conviction.

                      

 APRIL 4                                                                  APPELLATE  COURT

 

Four appellate court judges ruled that Savory’s confessions to the murders of James Robinson and Connie Cooper should not have been heard by the jury. The judges also ruled that he should have a new trial. That was the news the folks in Peoria read with their morning coffee that early spring morning. Most people thought they had pretty much heard the last of that brutal crime but, they were wrong.

 

Peoria County State’s Attorney Michael Mihm did not take the news lightly. He let it be known that he would not cooperate with the appellate court’s request for a new trial. He told the reporters that he would ask the Illinois Supreme Court to overrule the appellate judges. Mihm told the press that the chance of convicting Savory without the confession was slim, and if the Supreme Court upholds the appellate court ruling “Johnny Savory will be back on the street.”                        

 

One of the judges in the appellate court disagreed with his four colleagues.

Judge Tobias Barry said he “firmly believed the confessions were obtained legally.” He also contended that Savory’s rights during questioning were  “Scrupulously honored.”

 

So that was the status of the case. Savory was now 17 and was being held in juvenile detention in Joliet, Illinois. As soon as he reached legal age he would be transferred to the adult prison. Along with the appeal Savory’s lawyer made a formal request to Governor Thompson for clemency.

 

April 30, l980 The Illinois Supreme Court refused to consider the

overturned murder convictions of Savory. Actually that decision could eventually lead to the release of the teenage convicted murderer. A disappointed Mihm had this to say after hearing the decision.

 

                      “We can’t retry him without his statement. So

                        that’s it; he won’t be tried again.”

 

                WILL  JOHNNY  COME  MARCHING  HOME?

 

“I’m coming back to Peoria.” That’s what Savory told Rick Baker

of the Journal Star. “I don’t have anything to hide. I didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t care what anybody says.”

 

So that is where the case was after the higher courts had made their rulings. If Mihm wouldn’t try him again, then perhaps Savory would do what he said, and come on back home to Peoria, Illinois.

 

I think it is time that we end this saga, so I’ll tell you that Savory’s second trial ended in a guilty verdict. Three witnesses testified against him in that trial just four years after his first trial. Later one of those witnesses named Ivy recanted that story. So even after the second trial the matter was still not settled. That is where the new 40 to 80-year sentence came from.

 

In June of 1987, down in Springfield, Illinois the Prisoner Review Board denied parole to Johnny Savory. He of course can return to the board each year for another hearing.

 

Jumping to 199l, we find Savory still in prison. He has been in six institutes since the first day he stepped inside a prison cell in 1977. At the time of the murder, Johnny was five foot tall, now he is five foot six and a substantial weight lifter. He seemed to have adapted well, and had certainly garnered friends and supporters of his innocence over the years.

 

His defenders point out that there are several ‘facts’ to the case that point to his innocence beside the ‘alleged confession.’

 

A.   The blood-covered pants found in his residence belonged to his father, not him. Medical records show that his father was treated at the hospital for a thigh injury.

B. Police reports show that Savory’s fingerprints were not found in the house.

C.   Strands of hair found in Connie Cooper’s hands were not Savory’s.

D.   Blood on a door and a light switch believed to be that of the killer’s

was not Savory’s blood type.

E.   Neighbors told police they saw a black man in a long black coat

leaving the house the morning of the murders.

 

The mother of the victims Noyalee Robinson said she hopes they never free Savory. She stated that she would do all she could to see that he remained behind bars.

                     “He is a murderer. He took both of my kids. If

                       I didn’t think he did it I wouldn’t be going up

                       there to the parole hearings. I believe that if

                       they let him out, he will do it to somebody else.”

 

Here it is 2004, the controversy continues around Johnny L. Savory. Did he murder Connie Cooper and James Robinson?

 

Charles Cannon a Peoria Police investigator has no doubt. “We did the

investigation and the evidence showed he was guilty of the crime. In the

first trial they used the confession. He was retried without the confession and was convicted a second time.”

 

Kevin Lyons Peoria’s venerable State’s Attorney summarized his views on the subject of Johnny Savory.

 

                         “Johnny Lee Savory is a guilty man.”

 

Editor’s Note:   Norm is a Peoria Historian and author.  This story is one of 18 that were published in his book  MURDER IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD.                                              norman.kelly@sbcgloba