Illinois Doctor Sentenced to Die for Killing Son

Dr. John Dale Cavaness, a small-town practitioner in Southern Illinois, was sentenced today to die in the gas chamber for murdering his son to collect $148,000 in insurance benefits.

St. Louis County Circuit Judge Drew W. Luten Jr. followed the recommendation of the jury that found Cavaness guilty Nov. 20. No execution date was set.

Cavaness, 60, said nothing when the sentence was passed but tightened his lips and stared at the floor.

Cavaness was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of his son, Sean, 22, on Dec. 13, 1984. Sean Cavaness was killed with two shots to the head in an isolated area near the suburb of Times Beach, Mo.

After the doctor’s conviction for killing Sean, his former wife said she believed that Cavaness had also killed another son, Mark, who was found dead of a shotgun wound in the head in April, 1977, on the family’s catfish farm. Cavaness collected $40,000 on an insurance policy on Mark’s life.

Popular With Patients

Cavaness was popular among his patients in Harrisburg and Eldorado, where he practiced. A number of supporters set up a defense fund and attended the trial and sentencing, and appeared disappointed as they left the courtroom today.

Trial testimony indicated that Cavaness was more than $400,000 in debt.

The doctor was arrested after neighbors reported seeing him near Sean’s South St. Louis apartment the night he was shot.

Cavaness said that he had gone out drinking with his son and that Sean became despondent and shot himself. Cavaness said he shot Sean a second time to make the death look like a homicide and spare his family the shame of a suicide.