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Judge’s Family Killings May Be a First
CHICAGO (UPI) -- Police Tuesday mounted a round-the-clock investigation into the killings of the mother and husband of a Chicago federal judge.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow found her husband Michael F. Lefkow, 64, a labor attorney, and her mother, Donna Grace Humphrey, 90, shot to death on the floor of her North Side home Monday night when she arrived home from work. The mother was visiting from Denver.
Police said they have established a two-shift task force to investigate the killings and the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service also was participating. A tip line, (312) 744-8445, was established for gathering information.
At a midday news conference, police said it was too early to determine who was responsible for the killings but speculation centered on white supremacists Lefkow angered with a copyright infringement ruling against a group that wanted to call itself the World Church of the Creator. Lefkow ruled an Oregon church had rights to the name.
A special police detail was assigned to Lefkow’s home briefly after white supremacist Matt Hale was accused of threatening her life two years ago. He has been incarcerated at Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center since January 2003 under special administrative procedures usually reserved for terrorists to keep Hale from sending out violent edicts from prison.
Hale was convicted on April 26, 2004, of soliciting the judge’s murder and obstructing justice.
Evidence in the case against Hale included an e-mail he sent his “security chief,” Thomas Evola, asking for Lefkow’s home address. The address was posted -- and remains -- on a white supremacist Web site, the Chicago Tribune said.
A member of Hale’s group, Benjamin Smith, went on a two-state shooting spree in 1999, that left two dead and nine wounded before Smith killed himself.
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U.S. Judge’s Mother, Husband Slain at Home
CHICAGO, March 1 (UPI) -- The mother and husband of a Chicago federal judge have been found dead in pools of blood in the family’s home, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday.
Federal Judge Joan Lefkow made the discovery Monday night when she arrived home from work, and local detectives, U.S. Marshals and FBI agents rushed to the scene. No sign of forced entry was found, and police offered little other information.
A special police detail had been assigned to Lefkow’s home since white supremacist Matt Hale was accused of threatening her life two years ago. He has been incarcerated at Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center since January 2003, under special administrative procedures usually reserved for terrorists to keep Hale from sending out violent edicts from prison.
Hale was convicted on April 26, 2004, of soliciting the judge’s murder and obstructing justice.
Evidence in the case against Hale included an e-mail he sent his “security chief,” Thomas Evola, asking for Lefkow’s home address. The address was posted -- and remains -- on a white supremacist Web site, the Chicago Tribune said.