Tragedy hits the hobby...

Re: Tragedy hits the hobby...

He did it with a muzzle loader too! link

Man shot family with Civil War replica rifle
March 3, 2009 5:33 PM
An investigator with the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force carries evidence today from Wilmette home where the apparent double murder-suicide occurred. (Tribune / David Trotman-Wilkins)

Police said this morning that the man involved in an apparent double murder-suicide in Wilmette shot and killed his wife and her son on Saturday with a replica Civil War gun, then killed himself a day later after leaving a 40-page note saying that he wouldn't go back to jail.

The bodies of Richard Wiley, 54, Kathryn Wiley-Motes, 50, and Christopher Motes, 17, were found Monday afternoon in their home at 826 Greenleaf Ave. Wiley and his wife were found in a second-floor bedroom, and Christopher Motes was found in an upstairs bathroom, police said.

Autopsies showed that Wiley died of a gunshot wound in the mouth, Wiley-Motes died of a gunshot wound to the neck and Motes died of a gunshot to the face. Investigators found a muzzle-loading long gun they believe Motes used in Civil War reenactments next to Wiley's body, police said at a press conference this morning.

It appeared that Wiley had sawed off the barrel. Motes had a valid Firearm Owner Identification Card, police said. Police said Wiley left two suicide notes -- one inside the front door directing the reader to call Wilmette police, and a second one upstairs that was 40 pages long.

Deputy Chief Brian King called the longer note a "rambling dissertation" that was handwritten and showed "hints of remorse." Wiley indicated in the note that he had argued with his wife and killed her. He then shot Christopher.

The mother and son had been shot once each in the head, police said. Police said they had no prior contact at the home and there were no orders of protection against Wiley. Wiley was sentenced in 1987 to 30 years in prison for stabbing his 25-year-old wife to death two years earlier. At the time, he claimed insanity because of "intermittent explosive disorder."

Former Cook County Assistant State's Atty. James Morici said of all the violent criminals he prosecuted in more than seven years, Wiley was the one who gave him chills.

"I remember that case vividly," Morici said in a Monday interview. "Oh, my God. ... Sometimes people have asked me over the years if there is anybody I was afraid would come after me. And the only one I could think of was Richard Wiley. I could picture him sitting in the penitentiary, biding his time."

In that case, he called police himself and when they arrived, he was "leaning over the victim, hugging her and crying, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' " according to a 1987 Tribune account.

Wiley told a detective he was angry at her because he heard a comment about her staying out late, and believed she was having an affair. He told the detective he picked up a ceremonial knife and stabbed his wife several times--23 times, according to the autopsy.

The judge rejected the insanity claim. Intermittent explosive disorder, or IED, is defined as repeated, uncontrollable anger attacks that often become violent. Wiley was paroled in 2000 and discharged from supervision three years later.

A relative of Kathryn Wiley-Motes, who lives in Minneapolis, said Monday that she knew about her husband's criminal history when they wed after his release from prison.

"He served how many years in jail and got out for good behavior and supposedly was clean," said the man, who identified himself as the partner of David Motes, Wiley-Motes' brother. He declined to give his name.

At this morning's press conference, Pastor Sarah Butter, head of the First Presbyterian Church of Wilmette, said that members of the congregation knew of Wiley's criminal past, but "our faith community welcomed and loved him."

Even so, Butter several times over the years asked Motes-Wiley, who worked at the church, if she felt safe living with Wiley. The pastor would not say what prompted her questions.

Wiley, who met his wife at the church, was known as a friendly man with a good sense of humor, but one who "struggled with tremendous health complications."

He had been receiving mental health treatment and had several surgeries that caused him to live in pain, she said.

Motes, a senior at New Trier Township High School, planned to study U.S. history when he enrolled in college this fall.

He had been accepted to Roanoke College in Virginia, but was waiting to hear from Washington and Lee University and Gettysburg College. He was a Civil War buff who participated in reenactments in Wisconsin, a teachers and advisers said.

Wiley-Motes had led religious studies at the Living Faith United Methodist Church in Waukegan. She came to the north suburban church about a decade ago as a student pastor from the Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, said Pastor Melissa Earley.

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