Man who killed first wife fatally shoots second
A man who stabbed his first wife to death in 1985 shot and killed his second wife and her son Saturday with a replica Civil War gun, then killed himself a day later after leaving a 40-page note saying he wouldn’t go back to jail, police said Tuesday.
The bodies of Richard Wiley, 54, Kathryn Wiley-Motes, 50, and Christopher Motes, 17, were found Monday in their home in Wilmette, Ill.
Investigators found a muzzle-loading long gun they think Christopher Motes used in Civil War reenactments next to Wiley’s body, police said at a news conference Tuesday.
Police said Wiley left two suicide notes -- one inside the door directing the reader to call police, and a second one upstairs that was 40 pages long.
Wilmette Deputy Chief Brian King called the longer note a “rambling dissertation” that was handwritten and showed “hints of remorse.” Wiley indicated in the note that he had argued with his wife and killed her. He then shot Christopher.
The mother and son each had been shot once in the head, police said.
Wiley stabbed his 25-year-old wife, Ruth, to death in 1985, and was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison two years later. He was paroled in 2000.
In that case, he called police, and when they arrived he was “leaning over the victim, hugging her and crying, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ ” according to a 1987 Chicago Tribune account.
A relative of Kathryn Wiley-Motes said Monday that she knew about her husband’s criminal history when they wed after his release from prison.
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