Christopher Vaughn Murdered His Wife and Three Children. He Got Four Life Sentences.

 

Christopher Vaughn Murdered His Wife and Three Children, Then Tried to Blame His Dead Wife

On June 14, 2007, Christopher Vaughn was traveling through Illinois with his wife, Kimberly, and their three children.

They never made it to their destination.

The family's SUV was found along a frontage road near Interstate 55.

Inside were Kimberly Vaughn, 34; Abigayle, 12; Cassandra, 11; and Blake, 8.

All four had been shot to death.

Christopher Vaughn was alive, suffering from relatively minor gunshot wounds to his thigh and wrist.

Prosecutors argued that Vaughn had planned to abandon his family and disappear into the Canadian wilderness. Evidence presented at trial showed he had spent thousands of dollars at strip clubs and had researched survival strategies in remote areas.

His defense told a radically different story: that Kimberly had killed the children and shot Christopher before killing herself.

Kimberly wasn't alive to defend herself against that accusation.

A jury rejected it.

On September 20, 2012, Christopher Vaughn was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder.

He received four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Vaughn continues to maintain his innocence and has pursued post-conviction challenges. But his convictions remain in place.

And underneath all the theories, appeals, podcasts, and courtroom arguments are four people whose lives were taken:

Kimberly was 34. Abigayle was 12. Cassandra was 11. Blake was 8.

He murdered his entire family. Then his defense tried to make the dead woman responsible for it.