By Howard Packowitz
SPRINGFIELD – La Salle County’s chief prosecutor believes there’s still a chance the man jailed for almost 59 years for the notorious Starved Rock murders won’t be released from prison.
The Illinois Prisoner Review Board on a 9-4 vote granted parole for Chester Weger, who will be 81 in March. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the fatal beating of a 50-year old woman in March of 1960.
Her body was found in St. Louis Canyon at Starved Rock State Park. Weger was not tried for the deaths of two other women, whose bodies were found nearby. All three victims were from the Chicago suburb of Riverside.
La Salle County State’s Attorney Karen Donnelly is pinning her hopes on an examination of Weger after the Illinois Attorney General’s office won a three-month delay in his release.
“The parole was stayed for 90 days on a motion by the Attorney General’s office (which) was present in the hearing, pending the results of the sexually violent person interview, ” said Donnelly during an interview with radio station WCMY in Ottawa.
“It’s not a done deal, in my opinion. It depends on what they found out based on that assessment,” she said.
Donnelly said age is only one factor in determining parole.
“Age is but a factor, and I don’t think the board considered the nature of the offense, that releasing him would deprecate the seriousness of the offense. The offense hasn’t changed since 1972, every time they’ve denied him parole,” Donnelly also said.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
