'Murder in Illinois': New podcast questions if man convicted of killing his family is actually guilty
WILL COUNTY, Ill. - The case of a local man serving four life sentences for the murder of his family is getting a second look.
Christopher Vaughn says he has no recollection of how his family died 14 years ago.
A new podcast that is launching Thursday questions if he really committed the heinous killings.
The crime scene was gruesome back in 2007 in rural Will County and stunned police.
"I have children at home, it affected people there immensely, and it was a very sad scene," one detective said back then.
Inside the Ford Expedition, Kimberly Vaughn was in the passenger seat and was shot underneath the chin.
Her 8-year-old son Blake was shot and killed along with her two daughters, 11-year-old Cassandra and 12-year-old Abigayle.
At the center of the killings was Chris Vaughn.
The father and husband told police the family was on a road trip when he pulled off the expressway on to the frontage road in Channahon next to westbound I-55.
Vaughn said his wife shot the kids, turned the gun on him, and then killed herself. Vaughn suffered minor wounds to the wrist and thigh.
He claimed Kimberly killed herself over their crumbling marriage.
In 2012, it took a jury one hour to convict Vaughn.
He was charged with four life sentences for killing his family.
Now, years later, a new podcast is questioning if he did it.
"Murder in Illinois" is an iHeartMedia podcast that will feature exclusive, never before heard interviews with Vaughn's parents, siblings and extended family members.
"It was something about the look on Vaughn’s face that didn’t seem in keeping with the crimes in which he’s been convicted," said Lauren Bright-Pacheco, the host, writer and producer of the podcast.
The Illinois Department of Corrections prisoner database shows Vaughn is not eligible for release from prison.