Focus switches to morning of shootings

JOLIET, Ill. — When he first saw Christopher Vaughn walking toward his pickup on a Channahon frontage road the morning of June 14, 2007, a Bolingbrook man first thought he was injured in a motorcycle accident.

John Speer, the first to see Vaughn following the deaths of his wife Kimberly, 34, and children Abigayle, 12, Cassandra, 11, and Blake, 8, whom Vaughn is accused of killing before shooting himself twice, testified Wednesday in court that he was taking his normal route to work in Channahon when he encountered him.

"He was limping and he was holding his arm to his chest," Speer said, noting Vaughn was walking northbound on Frontage Road, south of Bluff Road, as he headed to work on Front Street.

He said that thought came from knowing of the nearby Big Basin Saloon and Marina, which draws many motorcyclists.

After pulling over and asking if he wrecked his bike, Speer noticed he was bleeding from his left arm and from his left leg.

"He said 'No, I believe my wife just shot me,'" Speer said.

He called 9-1-1 for assistance, summoning both Channahon Police and Channahon Fire Protection District officials. The recording was played during his testimony. On it, Speer is heard giving information as he is given instructions to use a rag to apply pressure to Christopher's wounds. Vaughn can be heard in the background, describing where he was shot.

Meanwhile, Speer was heard telling the dispatcher that Vaughn said his kids were in the vehicle with his wife, whom he had inferred had left the area. There was also confusion early on whether or not he was stabbed or shot. When further questions came about his name or town, Vaughn is silent, leading the dispatcher to ask if he's in shock.

"Don't go to sleep, don't go to sleep," Speer can be heard telling him. "(You've) got to open your eyes."

In addition to Speer, more Channahon first responders and Will County officials took to the stand to share their experiences at the crime scene and after Vaughn was taken to the hospital for his wounds.

Channahon Police Officer Michael Lazzari was in the second squad car to respond to the scene, behind Sgt. Steven Weiss and Officer Mark Soustek, and directly interacted with Vaughn while the two went ahead to find his wife and children.

He patted down Vaughn for weapons to make sure the scene was secure, and he also asked routine questions about the source of the gunshot wounds. When he asked where Vaughn was going, he responded he was going to a water park. When he asked who shot him, and if his wife had shot him, he said Vaughn went silent.

"He didn't reply back to me," Lazzari said.

Other responders would recount similar unresponsiveness, reporting that Vaughn was alert and oriented, but would not answer all questions.

Derek Ellenberger, firefighter/paramedic for the Channahon Fire District, was on the first ambulance to arrive on the scene. He said Vaughn had a "cloudy" look to him when he approached him and spoke with him.

"He just seemed to look through me," he said.

While being cross-examined by Vaughn's attorney George Lenard, firefighter/paramedic Brandon Wright said Vaughn failed to answer a series of about 10 to 15 questions when asked.

The firefighter/paramedics said Vaughn's wounds did not appear to be life-threatening, because the bleeding was controlled and the wound was not near a major artery. His blood-pressure, which would indicate trouble for a gunshot wound, was within normal range, while his pulse was elevated by about 60 beats per minute above a normal resting range.

Ellenberger said there was not as much blood as he would expect for a gunshot wound, estimating about 50-100 cubic centimeters, or milliliters, of blood lost.

Lenard aggressively questioned Ellenberger on his statements during cross-examination, asking him to explain the IV process and why they administered saline, a water-sodium solution to help stabilize the blood loss. He also asked how he could know how much blood was lost based on the blood on his clothing, without looking to see if he lost blood on the ground.

In recounting the day, Ellenberger said one thing he "absolutely" remembers was Vaughn's footwear. As paramedics prepared to cut his jeans to expose the wound to his thigh, he asked that they avoid his cowboy boots.

"He was adamant that I didn't mess up his boots in any way," he said.

Additional statements Wright and firefighter/paramedic Kurt Liebermann confirmed Vaughn's interest in preserving the boots, which Long contrasted with Vaughn's interest in news of his family, which were dead in a car down the road. All three firefighter/paramedics, as well as two Will County Sheriff's Office representatives, testified that Vaughn did not show concern for them or ask about their condition during interactions with him.

After he was taken to Provena Saint Joseph Hospital, Vaughn did respond to questions from Will County officials.

Will County Sheriff's Department investigator Corey Burket, who was a deputy at the time, said he was initially dispatched to the scene by his supervisor and was redirected to Vaughn's hospital room. There, he was given a bag of Vaughn's clothes and spoke with Vaughn, who asked if anyone had told his wife of where he was.

"He said she always wonders where he is at," Burket said.

He also indicated that Vaughn told him he was angry that his jacket had been cut when he was being treated in the ambulance, because he had bought it in the Yukon.

"I asked him where the Yukon was at," he said, which caused some in the courtroom to chuckle. "He said it was in Canada."

Dennis Carey, a retired Will County detective, was also directed to the hospital. He said Vaughn explained he was on the way to a water park in Springfield with his family when his wife became sick and he pulled over. He exited the family vehicle to check the carriage rack and returned to the vehicle to find himself injured.

"He said he looked down and saw blood on his leg," Carey said. "He said he told his wife he was hurt and going to seek help."

A representative from the University of Phoenix, where Kimberly studied, rounded out the afternoon. The trial will resume early Thursday with more testimony from law enforcement interviews at the hospital, as well as the testimony of an employee of the shooting range Christopher visited the night before his wife and children's deaths.