Attorneys for "Starved Rock Killer" Chester Weger seek posthumous pardon

Attorneys for the man convicted of murdering a woman at Starved Rock State Park some 65 years ago are hoping to clear his name — nearly a year after he died.

Chester Weger confessed to the murders of three women in 1960, but was only convicted of one.

The bodies of Lillian Oetting, Mildred Lindquist and Frances Murphy were found partially nude and beaten to death in St. Louis Canyon in the state park. Eight months after, Weger told police he murdered three women from the Chicago suburbs.

Weger was tried for Oetting's murder and convicted; the murders of Murphy and Lindquist did not go to trial.

Weger later insisted he had been coerced into making the confession. In multiple interviews with CBS Chicago's John Drummond over the years — the most recent in 2010 — Weger insisted that he was not involved in the killings.

Weger was sentenced to life in prison for Oetting's death. He first applied for parole in 1972. Twenty-four of his parole requests were denied until 2019; he was released from prison in 2020.

After his release, Weger attempted to get a new trial for Oetting's murder, sticking to his claims of innocence. His request for a new trial was denied a week before he died at the age of 86 in June of last year.

Weger's attorney now argues the case was a murder-for-hire plot, led by the husband of one of the victims.

The attorney has now filed a petition with the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, seeking a posthumous pardon from Gov. JB Pritzker.