In 1996 Lyle Menendez married his long time pen pal and former model Anna Eriksson. Unfortunately, the marriage did not last. Anna filed for divorce when she found out that Lyle was cheating on her by writing to other women. After the divorce, he married once again in 2003. This time he wed Rebecca Sneed, a 33 year old magazine editor. So far, the marriage has been successful. In 1999 Erik also got married. The bride was Tammi Saccoman and the ceremony took place in a waiting room at Folsom Prison. Erik was 28 at the time and Tammi was 37. They are still married today. Sadly for the couples, none of the above marriages have been consummated. The state of California does not allow conjugal visits. The brothers themselves do not speak anymore. The California justice system separated them. Erik told Larry King during an interview in 2008 that they had not talked in ten years. An article in a 2005 edition of People Magazine said that Erik was leading prayer groups and working with prison officials on a “system that would encourage and reward good behavior” for inmates.
Erik Menendez is currently serving out his life sentence at the Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California. His brother Lyle is serving out his sentence at the Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California. Lyle is now 46 years old and Erik is 43. The brothers have been in prison for 24 years.
The Brown’s Chicken Murders
Palatine, Illinois 1993: Brown’s Chicken was founded by John and Belva Brown. The first restaurant opened up in Bridgeview, Illinois and consisted of the Brown’s selling the chicken from a trailer. The 1960’s and 1970’s saw a great period of growth with Brown’s Chicken franchises opening all over the US. One of these restaurants was in Palatine, Illinois at 168 W. Northwest Highway. With Brown’s Chicken being an American success story, no one could have predicted the dark days that were to come. The events of January 8, 1993 changed everything.
The owners of the Brown’s Chicken franchise in Palatine, 50 year old Richard Ehlenfeldt and his 49 year old wife Lynn were very pleased with their franchise. They had worked hard and now they were enjoying the success of their restaurant. Brown’s Chicken was popular across the country but was an institution in Illinois. Much would change on a cold, winter’s night in January 1993. Both owners were present in the restaurant that night along with five employees. Guadalupe Maldonado,46, was the cook. High school students Michael Castro and Rico Solis were helping out along with 31 year old Marcus Nellson and 32 year old Thomas Mennes.
Richard and Lynn Ehlenfeldt
Guadalupe Maldonado, Rico Solis,
Michael Castro, Thomas Mennes and Marcus Nellsen
At about 7:30pm a Little City Foundation employee decided to bring in two of her clients for a bite. Little City “engages and supports individuals, families and communities with autism and other disabilities to realize their potential.” On this night Debbie Medow picked Brown’s Chicken. Debbie figures they were in the restaurant from about 7:30 to 9pm. She remembers buying a coffee from Lynn as they were leaving and that they appeared to be getting ready to close as the workers were wiping down tables and washing the floor. During the evening and early morning hours the Palatine police received several calls from anxious relatives. Michael Castro’s parents called when their son did not return home from work. Michael always called if he wasn’t coming straight home. At about 11pm Michael’s parents decided to go and look for themselves. When he got to the restaurant a police car was in the parking lot. The cop behind the wheel told the Castro family, “don’t worry about your son, he’ll come home. He’ll be back. He’ll call”. The cop was wrong…Michael didn’t call or come back. The officer did not even get out of his car. If he had checked, he would have found the east employee entrance door open. At 2am, after another call from the Castro family, an officer went to their home and had them fill out a missing person report. After this, the police finally entered the restaurant. What they found once they were inside would haunt the city of Palatine for years to come.
All seven inside the restaurant were dead. Five were in one walk-in freezer and two more in another cooler. Six had been shot to death. One veteran police officer said that the shootings looked like they had been “execution style.” Lynn Ehlenfeldt’s throat had been cut. Attempts had been made by the killers to clean up the scene. A blood-soaked mop lay in one corner. Evidence was gathered which included a partially eaten chicken sandwich. There were very few clues to work with. It would prove to be a very tough case.
Bodies being removed from the crime scene
During the investigation there would be much criticism leveled at the Palatine Police Dept. The Castro family was especially critical, wondering out loud if a faster response to their calls could possibly have saved lives. Michael Castro’s father Emmanuel said, “if someone was still living, gasping for breath, we might have saved his life.” This probably is not true as it appears that all of the victims died quickly. Mr. Castro was left to think that he was not taken seriously “because of our accent, because of our look.” Still, there was no excuse for the police not entering the restaurant much earlier than they did. Several hours before the bodies were discovered the police chased away Pedro Maldonado (the cook’s brother) as he looked through the window of the restaurant. Once again, the officer did not get out of his car.
More than 4,000 tips and leads were followed up and checked but nothing panned out…that is until 2002, nine years after the murders when the police received a phone call. Back in 1993 Anne Lockett was a 17 year old young woman who was dating a 20 year old man named James Degorski. One night Degorski told her of the murders and how he and a friend named Juan Luna had committed them. He also told Anne that he would kill her if she ever told anyone. When explaining why she never came forward Anne said, “he killed seven, why not eight?” Anne kept the secret until 2001 when she told three friends. Her friends convinced her to share the information with the police. In May 2002 Degorski and Luna were arrested and charged with the murders. Luna had worked at Brown’s Chicken until a couple of months before the murders and his knowledge of the routines of the employees was used by the two killers. Juan Luna confessed and gave a chilling account of the murders. The killers had entered the restaurant within minutes of Debbie Medow leaving. Juan Luna ordered a chicken dinner and the sale was rung up at 9:08pm. No one knew at the time but the chicken dinner would play a major role later. The confession included the killing of Lynn Ehlenfeldt. Luna’s words, “she was very scared. Hands trembling. She stuck the key in the safe and opened it. I said to her to turn around and I cut her throat. I guess I just got caught up in it and cut her throat. She was lying on the floor. She started gurgling and just ran out of breath.” The others were herded into the freezer and all were shot multiple times. Luna then shut off the lights and cut the power. The clock was frozen at 9:52pm. The murders had taken 44 minutes. Eileen Bakalla was another friend of both Luna and Degorski. She claimed to have met the two men on the night of the murders and they claimed to have robbed Brown’s Chicken. They conveniently left out the fact about the murders.
Juan Luna in custody
James Degorski
Before the trial began Luna recanted his confession with his lawyers saying that the confession had been coerced. The two men were tried separately with Luna’s trial beginning in April 2007. The prosecutor slipped in his opening statement when he said that the murders occurred in a Burger King. Thankfully it was his only error. When Luna ordered the chicken dinner at 9:08pm on January 8, 1993 just before the murders were committed he couldn’t have known that it would come back to haunt him. The investigators bagged the evidence which, even 14 years later contained Juan Luna’s DNA. This evidence, along with the testimony of Anne Lockett and Eileen Bakalla, was enough to ensure a unanimous guilty verdict on all seven counts of first degree murder. Luna was eligible for the death penalty but one juror saved his life with the vote being 11-1 favoring death. Luna instead received a life sentence without parole. Degorski’s turn would come in 2009. Sixteen years had now passed since the murders. There was less
evidence against Degorski then there was against Luna. There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime scene or the murders. There was only the testimony of ex girlfriend Anne Lockett (now married and going by the name of Anne England) and Eileen Bakalla. The prosecution did not introduce Luna’s taped confession. When questioned Anne said, “They did it because Juan wanted to do something big and see what it was like to kill somebody and Jim agreed to help.” She testified that Degorski had told her how Juan Luna and himself had robbed Brown’s Chicken and committed the murders. Only the killer would have had the information that Degorski gave to Anne that night when they were in Jim’s basement. The jurors did not waste any time. They deliberated for 90 minutes and came back with a unanimous verdict of guilty on all seven counts of first degree murder. As with Juan Luna, the jury saved Degorski’s life. The vote was 10-2 in favor of death. The robbery netted the pair $2,000. The murders got them life without parole.
Artist’s sketch of Anne Lockett on the stand
It’s interesting to note that the pair made two critical mistakes. If Juan Luna had not ordered that chicken dinner, or had taken it with him after the murders, there would have been no physical evidence linking the pair to the crime. Mistake number two was Degorski feeling the need to brag about the crime to his girlfriend. We can all be thankful that these killers did not get away with murder. Brown’s Chicken struggled after the murders. There was a 35% drop in business and many of the restaurants closed. The building where the murders took place was torn down in 2001. A Chase bank now sits on the site. There is a new Brown’s Chicken and Pasta on the same highway at 301 E. Northwest Hwy in Palatine.
A bank now sits at the scene of the crime
The Kitty Genovese Murder
Staten Island, New York 2012 - Author's Note: There are just so many cases to choose from and not enough pages in the book to fit them all in. Even though I had done some early research on the Kitty Genovese case, I had decided to shelve the chapter...when something happened. Hurricane Sandy happened. While there are many stories of death and destruction related to the superstorm that hit the eastern seaboard on October 29, 2012 there is one in particular that made me think back to the chapter on Kitty. While the two incidents occurred 17 miles and almost 50 years apart, there is a common thread that links them.
As Hurricane Sandy arrived, Glenda Moore was alone with her two young boys, four year old Connor and two year old Brandon at their home on Staten Island. Glenda's husband and the children's father Damien was in Brooklyn working with the city council preparing to fight the storm in any way that they could. Heavy 90 mph winds and surging floodwaters hit Staten Island causing many to lose electricity. When the electricity went out in the Moore home, Glenda decided to try and get to a relative's home in Brooklyn. She gathered up her two young sons and the three of them left in their 2003 Ford Explorer. They did not get far as the SUV stalled in the rising water. When Glenda got out of the vehicle, she found herself in waist high water with the winds whipping around her. She grabbed her boys and was looking for higher ground when a strong gust of wind snatched the boys from her grasp. In a heartbeat they were washed away by the surging water.
Police search for Connor and Brandon Moore
Hysterical, Glenda pounded on doors of houses along Father Capodanno Blvd. No one answered. Several porch lights were suddenly turned off when she knocked. The frantic woman waited outside in the storm for hours before she was finally able to flag down a police car. Connor and Brandon were not found until three days later. They had been found about a mile away from where the SUV stalled. Hurricane Sandy had claimed two more young victims. The question is what would we have done in similar circumstances? Would we have opened the door to help a stranger or would we have turned off the lights like the people who tragically turned Glenda Moore away in her time of need? In 2012 no one answered Glenda Moore's cries for help. We now travel back in time to the same city…in 1964.
New York City 1964: Catherine Susan "Kitty" Genovese was the first child of Rachel and Vincent Genovese and was raised in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated from Prospect Heights High School in 1954. It was around this time that the family decided to move out of New York City. Rachel had witnessed a murder and wanted out. When they decided to move to New Canaan, Connecticut, Kitty decided to remain in New York. New Canaan was only about 35 miles away and Kitty would often drive there to spend the weekends with her family.
Kitty Genovese
Kitty at Ev's Eleventh Hour Sports Bar
She left Brooklyn to move closer to her work and found a place on Austin Street in Kew Gardens. The new apartment was just five miles away from the bar. Kitty shared the apartment with a girlfriend, Mary Ann Zielonko. The future looked bright for Kitty. She liked her new job, her new home and dreamed about owning a restaurant with her father in New Canaan. In the early morning hours of Friday, March 13, 1964 that dream would die forever. On that morning, Kitty left work at about 3am and drove the five miles to her home. She parked her red Fiat in the Long Island Railroad parking lot which was just a short walk to her apartment door. As she got out of her car and started walking she noticed a man following her. She tried to run but the man easily caught up to her. He jumped Kitty from behind and stabbed her. Kitty screamed out, "Oh my God, he stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!" Lights went on in several apartments. Irene Frost who lived at 68 Austin St. (Kitty lived at 70 Austin) heard the cry for help. Robert Mozer, who lived on the seventh floor of the same building opened up his window and yelled down, "Hey, let that girl alone!" The attacker quickly walked off into the frigid New York night. The lights in the apartments were turned off as Kitty struggled to her feet. She fought to remain conscious and made it to the side of her building. No one had come down to offer assistance and no one bothered to call the police.
Kitty's attacker, who had been scared off, returned. He stabbed the helpless woman again and again. This time Kitty's screams reached more tenants. Lights were turned on, windows opened and once gain the assailant took flight. He ran toward the Long Island Railroad parking lot. Kitty was now seriously wounded and losing a lot of blood. Kitty staggered to the back entrance of the building but the door was locked. She fell to the ground and could barely move. Then the unthinkable occurred. Buoyed by the fact that no one had come to the woman's aid and that there was no sign of police, the stranger returned for a third time. He followed the trail of blood and found Kitty in a semi conscious state. He used his knife to cut off her bra and panties and then raped Kitty before plunging the knife into her and finishing her off. The whole attack had taken
about 35 minutes. At 3:50am a neighbor of Kitty's finally called the police. They arrived within three minutes but it was already too late. Kitty Genovese had suffered 17 vicious stab wounds and had suffered greatly at the hands of her attacker. The investigation began immediately. As the police and detectives canvassed the area they found that 38 people had either heard the screams or had witnessed at least part of the attack.
Scene of the attack
Thirty detectives worked on the case and six days later they received a break. Twenty-nine year old Winston Moseley was arrested while stealing a television set during a house burglary. Moseley just didn't seem to fit what we would now call the profile of a deranged killer....but a killer he was. In fact, when he confessed to killing Kitty Genovese, he confessed to two other murders as well. He also confessed to numerous other attacks, rapes and burglaries. Winston Moseley was a good man to have off the streets. He had no criminal record, owned a home in Queens, had a good job and was married with two kids. The senseless brutality just didn't add up. Moseley was charged with murder and his trial would start less than three months after Kitty's murder.
Winston Moseley
Moseley pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity despite the fact that a state psychiatrist had found Moseley sane. Moseley took the stand in his own defence and told the court: "I ran after her and I had a knife in my hand. I could run much faster than s
he could and I jumped on her back and stabbed her." About leaving and returning twice, he testified: "I came back because I knew I'd not finished what I set out to do." After raping her and "finishing her off" he stole $49 from her wallet. "Why would I throw money away?" he calmly told the packed courtroom. His confessions to the other two murders and his admission of necrophilia were introduced into evidence. However, Moseley was unsuccessful in convincing the jury that he was anything but a cold blooded murderer. He was found guilty. There were no surprises on June 15 at the sentencing hearing. Moseley was sentenced to death which resulted in an outburst of applause in the courtroom. The trial judge remarked: "I don't believe in capital punishment but when I see this monster, I wouldn't hesitate to pull the switch myself." Moseley was sent to Death Row to await his date with the executioner. His story however was far from over. Three years later the New York Court of Appeals overturned the death sentence saying that Moseley should have been allowed to argue that he was medically insane at his sentencing hearing. The death sentence was reduced to life in prison and Winston Moseley would be eligible to apply for parole in 1984, twenty years after the murder.
Scene of the Crime Page 3