witness that a car with three guys in it was sitting across the street from the murder scene,” said Detective Sergeant Popcheff.
In mid-December, another neighbor on North LaSalle, Michael Ray, told the police that on the night of the murders, he’d been walking home from his brother’s house on North Kealing Avenue, five blocks east, and had walked along the 1300 block of North LaSalle Street. On that night, he said, he saw a light-colored dirty car with three males sitting in it, parked across the street from the house. He said that the driver had looked strangely at him as he passed by, and that as he kept walking he noticed a man sitting in the backseat alsowatching him. He gave the police a very general description of the men, saying the man in the backseat looked about thirty to thirty-one, and was heavyset, with a round face, black hair, and bushy sideburns. The one in the front seat, he said, appeared older and slimmer. He told the police he didn’t see what the third man looked like.
“They were drinking beer and throwing their bottles out onto the ground. But by the time we found out it was too late,” lamented Popcheff years later. The detectives knew that the beer bottles would have contained fingerprints that could have been key pieces of evidence. Popcheff said they asked the man why, since he knew there had been a triple murder, he hadn’t called the police earlier. Ray replied that he’d been busy with school and just hadn’t gotten around to it.
Popcheff would later say that incidents like that seemed to plague the North LaSalle Street investigation. It was a case, he said, that the detectives just couldn’t seem to ever get a grip on.
The report then told of an additional development in the case that raised the possibility of yet another suspect in the ever-increasing pool. Working on a tip, the detectives went to the Merry-Go-Round Bar on East New York Street and spoke with the bartender, who told them that a man named Phil Pickard had been in the tavern the previous night, bragging about how good he was with a knife and how he had killed three men with one. The bartender said that Pickard had been so drunk that he had personally driven him home. The detectives wentto Mr. Pickard’s residence and picked him up, taking him down to the Homicide Office, where they questioned him.
Pickard said that he remembered the bartender taking him home, but denied any knowledge of the North LaSalle Street murders. The detectives showed Pickard some crime scene photos to see his reaction, but he showed no signs of being upset. When asked if he would take a lie detector test, he agreed to.
Pickard was just one of several individuals throughout the course of the investigation who would falsely brag that they had a connection to the murders. It’s not an uncommon phenomenon in highly publicized crimes—men will often want to impress or scare others, and so they will brag or hint that they committed some infamous crime. With just a little investigation, though, the police could usually dismiss these claims for the empty boasts they were.
In their progress report the detectives also told of how, in response to a tip, they went to the Marion County Recorder’s Office to check on a report that the federal government had put a lien against Records Security Corporation. The detectives had been told by several people that Records Security Corporation was in serious financial straits, and they found that indeed, on December 2, 1971, the federal government had put a lien of $6,385.88 for back taxes against Records Security Corporation. The detectives also learned that this wasn’t the first time; itturned out that the federal government had put several other liens against the business in the past.
On December 11, 1971, the report said, the homicide detectives had Ted Uland come into the Homicide Office for an interview. He brought with him some records that the detectives had requested from Records Security
In mid-December, another neighbor on North LaSalle, Michael Ray, told the police that on the night of the murders, he’d been walking home from his brother’s house on North Kealing Avenue, five blocks east, and had walked along the 1300 block of North LaSalle Street. On that night, he said, he saw a light-colored dirty car with three males sitting in it, parked across the street from the house. He said that the driver had looked strangely at him as he passed by, and that as he kept walking he noticed a man sitting in the backseat alsowatching him. He gave the police a very general description of the men, saying the man in the backseat looked about thirty to thirty-one, and was heavyset, with a round face, black hair, and bushy sideburns. The one in the front seat, he said, appeared older and slimmer. He told the police he didn’t see what the third man looked like.
“They were drinking beer and throwing their bottles out onto the ground. But by the time we found out it was too late,” lamented Popcheff years later. The detectives knew that the beer bottles would have contained fingerprints that could have been key pieces of evidence. Popcheff said they asked the man why, since he knew there had been a triple murder, he hadn’t called the police earlier. Ray replied that he’d been busy with school and just hadn’t gotten around to it.
Popcheff would later say that incidents like that seemed to plague the North LaSalle Street investigation. It was a case, he said, that the detectives just couldn’t seem to ever get a grip on.
The report then told of an additional development in the case that raised the possibility of yet another suspect in the ever-increasing pool. Working on a tip, the detectives went to the Merry-Go-Round Bar on East New York Street and spoke with the bartender, who told them that a man named Phil Pickard had been in the tavern the previous night, bragging about how good he was with a knife and how he had killed three men with one. The bartender said that Pickard had been so drunk that he had personally driven him home. The detectives wentto Mr. Pickard’s residence and picked him up, taking him down to the Homicide Office, where they questioned him.
Pickard said that he remembered the bartender taking him home, but denied any knowledge of the North LaSalle Street murders. The detectives showed Pickard some crime scene photos to see his reaction, but he showed no signs of being upset. When asked if he would take a lie detector test, he agreed to.
Pickard was just one of several individuals throughout the course of the investigation who would falsely brag that they had a connection to the murders. It’s not an uncommon phenomenon in highly publicized crimes—men will often want to impress or scare others, and so they will brag or hint that they committed some infamous crime. With just a little investigation, though, the police could usually dismiss these claims for the empty boasts they were.
In their progress report the detectives also told of how, in response to a tip, they went to the Marion County Recorder’s Office to check on a report that the federal government had put a lien against Records Security Corporation. The detectives had been told by several people that Records Security Corporation was in serious financial straits, and they found that indeed, on December 2, 1971, the federal government had put a lien of $6,385.88 for back taxes against Records Security Corporation. The detectives also learned that this wasn’t the first time; itturned out that the federal government had put several other liens against the business in the past.
On December 11, 1971, the report said, the homicide detectives had Ted Uland come into the Homicide Office for an interview. He brought with him some records that the detectives had requested from Records Security
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