Posted on 03/10/2005 10:59:25 AM PST by TheOtherOne
Source: Man Claims Responsibility for Slayings of Judge's Family
Published: Mar 10, 2005 CHICAGO (AP) - A man who shot himself to death during a traffic stop in Wisconsin claimed in a suicide note that he killed a federal judge's husband and mother, a source close to the investigation told The Associated Press Thursday.
Chicago Police Department spokesman David Bayless identified the man as Bart Ross.
WMAQ-TV in Chicago also reported Thursday that it had received a handwritten letter signed by Ross in which he describes breaking into the house of Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow around 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 28 with the intent to kill her and anyone else.
Lefkow had ruled against Ross in a civil case involving a medical-malpractice lawsuit, a ruling that was upheld by a federal appeals court in January. Ross, 57, was also being evicted from his home and had a court date Thursday.
Lefkow found the bodies of her husband, attorney Michael Lefkow, 64, and her mother, Donna Humphrey, 89, on the basement floor of the Lefkow home the evening of Feb. 28.
Suspicion immediately turned to white supremacist Matthew Hale, who had been convicted of soliciting Lefkow's murder after she ruled against him in a trademark dispute. Investigators insisted, however, that Hale's followers and other hate groups were just one focus of the investigation.
In the letter to WMAQ, Ross said he waited all day in a utility room in the basement and shot the judge's husband after being discovered. Ross said he then shot Lefkow's mother after she heard the gunshot and called out to her son-in-law.
"After I shot husband and mother of Judge Lefkow, I had a lot of time to think about life and death. Killing is no fun, even though I knew I was already dead," the station quoted the letter as saying.
Ross said he stayed in the house until about 1:15 p.m. before deciding to leave, according to the letter.
The suicide note found in the van indicated that Lefkow had ruled against Ross in a civil case, costing him "his house, his job and family," the Chicago Tribune reported, citing unidentified sources. The note also included details in the slayings that were not released to the public, Tribune Deputy Managing Editor James Warren said in an interview on CNN.
Ross was stopped by police in West Allis, Wis., Wednesday evening because his van had a faulty tail light, police said. As officers approached the car, he killed himself with a gunshot to the head, police said.
Police in the Milwaukee suburb declined to characterize the evidence found in the van. But a source close to the investigation told the AP on condition of anonymity the van contained a suicide note that also listed other judges.
The Tribune also reported that about 300 .22-caliber shells were found in the van. Investigators found three casings of the same caliber in the Lefkow home.
Last September, Lefkow dismissed a civil rights lawsuit in which Ross claimed doctors at the University of Illinois-Chicago Hospital and its clinic had disfigured him, damaged his mouth and caused him to lose his teeth when they treated him for cancer from 1992 to 1995.
Among other claims, Ross alleged doctors committed a "terrorist act" against him by giving him radiation treatment without his consent. He represented himself in the lawsuit.
Defendants included the federal government, the State of Illinois, five doctors and four attorneys who had taken part in an earlier Ross lawsuit that was dismissed by another judge.
Ross was also about to face eviction from his home, according to Cook County Sheriff's spokesman Bill Cunningham. A lawsuit was filed in housing court Feb. 23 seeking to evict Ross, and sheriff's deputies tried three times in early March to serve Ross with court papers. The case was due in court Thursday.
Police have been unable to find any of the man's family. Chicago police Thursday cordoned off the street outside Ross' last-known address, a two-story home across from a high school on a tree-lined street on the city's North Side.
Jinky Jackson, 34, a neighbor, said Ross was wearing a neck brace as of a month ago. She said she would say hello to Ross when she saw him but he would not reply.
"He doesn't mingle with other neighbors," Jackson said. "He'd come home late and stay inside."
AP-ES-03-10-05 1330EST
http://www.google.com/search?q=hale+%2Bjudge&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
You can forgive me for getting the impression that Hale was the only suspect in this case, I hope.
It's worth noting tha the first three hits on that Search were a Neo Nazi site. It's a shame they jumped to conclusions like that. /sarcasm
"Those kooks don't reflect on White Christians in anyway."
In the eyes of democrats it does. Look at how many liberals still blame Rush Limbaugh for the OKC bombing. There was never any evidence that McVeigh ever listened to Limbaugh. All there was was an ignorant comment spoken by Bill clinton and it was seen as fact from there on out.
Game, set, match.
The neo Nazi sites appear to have been denying it, not that I would take them at their word. The point of the search is the media coverage - one article even referred to Lefkow as "(Matt Hale's) Judge" in the headline.
Agreed Nathan Hale should have had his face everywhere. It just went past that. The Nazi nutcases won't get my compassion but I hate the way the press uses them as a club against any sane discusion of racial issues by anyone.
All you really know is that the media was focused on the white supremacists. We don't have any real information on if this guy was considered a suspect of not by the police.
A judge likely makes a lot of enemies, and it takes time for the police to investigate all the leads.
Actually that proves my point, not his, which you would understand if you knew how Google works. Look up the term "google bombing" and check out the mechanics of it.
This is too convenient for me not to consider the possibility that this person was framed and murdered.
Absolutely right.
Never enough tinfoil is there? LOL
Now THAT is breaking news...How about Michael Jackson being late for court today?
As far as what some posters on this thread are talking about, I never saw the police working only on one theory - just the MSM.
Yep. It's really ugly, if you ask me.
What? Again?
Maybe it was a late night sleep-over and pajama party for some of his favorite little people?
Does this make medmal plaintiffs a new hate group?
Like I said, your quarrel is probably with the media. The cops didn't write all these stories.
Not the first time this has led to something bigger.
A cop friend of mine pulled over a motorist for speeding - the driver turned out to be on the FBI's ten most wanted list.
You never know.
Prayers for the safety of our LEOs.
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