Police: Slayings of Chicago judge's mother and husband could be tied to Wisconsin suicide
By Don Babwin
ASSOCIATED PRESS
8:11 a.m. March 10, 2005
CHICAGO – Police investigating a man who killed himself during a traffic stop in Wisconsin found evidence in his van that pointed toward the slayings of a federal judge's husband and mother last week, authorities said Thursday.
A suicide note indicated U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow had ruled against the man in a civil case, costing him "his house, his job and family," the Chicago Tribune reported, citing unidentified sources. The legal dispute involved the man's treatment for cancer.
The man was stopped in West Allis, Wis., Wednesday because his van had a faulty tail light, West Allis police said Thursday. As officers approached the car, the man killed himself with a gunshot to the head, police said.
West Allis Police Chief Dean Puschnig confirmed that materials found in the car indicated a link to the killings in Chicago, but did not give details or identify the suicide victim. Chicago police identified him as Bart Ross, who is about 57.
"Investigators discovered some material (in the van) that led us to believe that this man could be involved or have some vital information to the Lefkow homicide investigation," Puschnig said. Authorities said they didn't know why he was in West Allis.
Chicago police confirmed that detectives had been sent to Wisconsin to investigate a suicide.
James Finch, head of the Milwaukee FBI office, said federal agents there would not scale back their investigation because "we have not definitively tied this individual to the Lefkow murders."
"Until such time as we determine whether this individual is the sole perpetrator, we have to continue our investigation," Finch said. In Chicago, FBI spokeswoman Cynthia Yates said agents from that office also are in West Allis.
Chicago police cordoned off the street outside Ross' last known address Thursday morning, a two-story home across from a high school on a tree-lined street on the city's North Side.
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. The home also is on the North Side, but in another neighborhood.
There was speculation the slayings could have been related to a white supremacist who is jailed awaiting sentencing for plotting to kill the judge. But the Tribune said there was no immediately known link between Ross and any hate groups.
Last September, Lefkow dismissed a civil rights lawsuit in which Ross claimed doctors at the University of Illinois-Chicago Hospital had disfigured him, damaged his mouth and caused him to lose his teeth when they treated him for cancer from 1992 to 1995. A federal appeals court affirmed Lefkow's decision Jan. 21.
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 in the lawsuit 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.
The suicide note found in the van in Wisconsin included details in the case that were not released to the public, including the specific location where the body of Michael Lefkow was found, Tribune Deputy Managing Editor James Warren said in an interview on CNN.
About 300 .22-caliber shells were found in Ross' vehicle, the newspaper reported. Investigators found three casings of the same caliber in the Lefkow home. They also found a list in the van of people who Ross thought had mistreated him, including judges, the newspaper said.
Police have been unable to find any of the man's family, Puschnig said.
Jinky Jackson, 34, who lives one house down from Ross, 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."
After the slayings, 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.
Hale, 33, is to be sentenced next month. He gained notoriety in 1999 when a follower, Benjamin Smith, went on a shooting rampage targeting minorities across Illinois and Indiana. Smith killed two people, including former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong, and wounded nine before killing himself as police closed in.
Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20050310-0811-judge-bodies.html
By Don Babwin
ASSOCIATED PRESS
8:11 a.m. March 10, 2005
CHICAGO – Police investigating a man who killed himself during a traffic stop in Wisconsin found evidence in his van that pointed toward the slayings of a federal judge's husband and mother last week, authorities said Thursday.
A suicide note indicated U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow had ruled against the man in a civil case, costing him "his house, his job and family," the Chicago Tribune reported, citing unidentified sources. The legal dispute involved the man's treatment for cancer.
The man was stopped in West Allis, Wis., Wednesday because his van had a faulty tail light, West Allis police said Thursday. As officers approached the car, the man killed himself with a gunshot to the head, police said.
West Allis Police Chief Dean Puschnig confirmed that materials found in the car indicated a link to the killings in Chicago, but did not give details or identify the suicide victim. Chicago police identified him as Bart Ross, who is about 57.
"Investigators discovered some material (in the van) that led us to believe that this man could be involved or have some vital information to the Lefkow homicide investigation," Puschnig said. Authorities said they didn't know why he was in West Allis.
Chicago police confirmed that detectives had been sent to Wisconsin to investigate a suicide.
James Finch, head of the Milwaukee FBI office, said federal agents there would not scale back their investigation because "we have not definitively tied this individual to the Lefkow murders."
"Until such time as we determine whether this individual is the sole perpetrator, we have to continue our investigation," Finch said. In Chicago, FBI spokeswoman Cynthia Yates said agents from that office also are in West Allis.
Chicago police cordoned off the street outside Ross' last known address Thursday morning, a two-story home across from a high school on a tree-lined street on the city's North Side.
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. The home also is on the North Side, but in another neighborhood.
There was speculation the slayings could have been related to a white supremacist who is jailed awaiting sentencing for plotting to kill the judge. But the Tribune said there was no immediately known link between Ross and any hate groups.
Last September, Lefkow dismissed a civil rights lawsuit in which Ross claimed doctors at the University of Illinois-Chicago Hospital had disfigured him, damaged his mouth and caused him to lose his teeth when they treated him for cancer from 1992 to 1995. A federal appeals court affirmed Lefkow's decision Jan. 21.
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 in the lawsuit 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.
The suicide note found in the van in Wisconsin included details in the case that were not released to the public, including the specific location where the body of Michael Lefkow was found, Tribune Deputy Managing Editor James Warren said in an interview on CNN.
About 300 .22-caliber shells were found in Ross' vehicle, the newspaper reported. Investigators found three casings of the same caliber in the Lefkow home. They also found a list in the van of people who Ross thought had mistreated him, including judges, the newspaper said.
Police have been unable to find any of the man's family, Puschnig said.
Jinky Jackson, 34, who lives one house down from Ross, 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."
After the slayings, 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.
Hale, 33, is to be sentenced next month. He gained notoriety in 1999 when a follower, Benjamin Smith, went on a shooting rampage targeting minorities across Illinois and Indiana. Smith killed two people, including former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong, and wounded nine before killing himself as police closed in.
Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20050310-0811-judge-bodies.html
