Lessons from an Old Tragedy

Left to right: Mary Ann Jordan, Kathy Emmons and Ellen Harnish

It's been 50 years since Richard Speck murdered eight student nurses after he broke into the dormitory of South Chicago Community Hospital on a hot summer night in 1966.

Speck was a stoner and a loser from Dallas, Texas, who was staying with relatives in Chicago in July, 1966 when he decided to commit a burglary after a long night of drugs and drinking. The residence he chose was a townhouse located on 100th Street in Chicago's Jeffery Manor neighborhood, which was functioning at the time as a dormitory for student nurses.

After Speck broke into the townhouse, he encountered the nursing students and he changed his plans. He proceeded to torture, rape and murder eight young women one by one before he finally called it a night. He was later caught when one nurse, who managed to escape Speck's attention by hiding under a bed, identified Speck to the police. 

Speck was subsequently tried and convicted of the murders, and he was given the death penalty. However, his sentence was later changed to 400 to 1,200 years in prison when the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the death sentence due to a technicality. 

It seems that 250 potential jurors were unconstitutionally excluded from Speck's jury because of their conscientious or religious beliefs against capital punishment. Because of that technicality, Speck, who deserved to die for his crimes, was given the mercy he refused to offer his helpless victims. Speck eventually died in prison on December 5, 1991, just a day before his 50th birthday.

Unless he repented of his heinous crimes and truly confessed Jesus Christ as Lord, Speck is burning in hell where he belongs. Judging by his behavior during his 25 years behind bars, it's highly unlikely that Speck ever had a change of heart. He got into trouble frequently during his prison life and he showed little remorse for the promising young lives he snuffed out on a hot summer night in 1966.

Many well-meaning folks will excoriate me for my opinion concerning Speck and his eternal punishment. Aren't Christians supposed to be all about God's love and forgiveness? Of course. Then why the unforgiving attitude toward Speck, and other mass murderers?

It's not an unforgiving attitude. I truly hope that all mass murderers and violent criminals repent and confess Christ as Lord because if they don't, their punishment in an earthly prison will pale in comparison to the punishment that awaits them in hell.

And there's also a distinct difference between God's grace and mercy, and His punishment. In the ancient times, King David, who's considered one of the greatest human kings who ever lived, and "a man after God's own heart" (Acts 13:22) committed adultery and murder when he impregnated another man's wife and subsequently had the man killed to keep him from finding out. (2 Samuel 11)

Certainly, David realized his sins and repented. Though God forgave him, David was severely punished for his transgressions: "This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel." (2 Samuel 12:11-12)

The Lord also struck down the son born to David and Bathsheba--the woman David committed adultery with--seven days after he was born. David later married Bathsheba and they had another son Solomon who was considered one of the wisest men on earth and built the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

And so, what are the lessons to be learned from the terrible tragedy that occurred in Chicago 50 years ago? First of all, fear God and shun evil. Otherwise, you'll live outside of God's hedge of protection and something terrible could happen to you.

Is that casting judgment upon those student nurses? Absolutely not. Only God has the authority to judge human hearts. But realize that bad things often happen to sinful, rebellious people. If you're living in any sort of sin from fornication to adultery to idolatry etc., then don't be surprised if you encounter misfortune.

Hopefully, you'll escape with your life and repent before it's too late. Had Richard Speck confessed his sins to Christ and accepted Him as his Lord, he would've escaped eternal damnation. Even for the horrible crimes he committed. Here's a lesson that Christ taught on the subject:

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." (Luke 13:1-5)

The second lesson from that tragedy teaches us that part of God's grace and mercy is His discipline. Unless we truly understand that we're accountable to God for our actions, we'll go astray and fall back into sin. No Christian is beyond that possibility:

God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:10-11)

Those are the lessons we can learn from a horrible tragedy that happened a long time ago in a different time. 

Bad Decisions and Ruined Lives

Patricia Columbo: Then

Patricia Columbo: Now

It's been almost 40 years since Patricia Columbo lived outside the walls of a prison. On May 4, 1976, she and her fiance, a man named Frank Deluca, murdered her parents Frank and Mary along with her brother Michael in their home in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. And on May 15, 1976, they were arrested for the brutal crimes.

Why did they do it? Columbo's parents, while not ultra-rich, had ample financial resources that Deluca believed Patricia could inherit if her parents died. In order to make that happen, they cooked up a scheme to murder Patricia's parents and make it look like a mob hit. Why did they murder Patricia's 13-year-old brother? To cut him out of the inheritance.

Patricia was only 20 years-old at the time of the murders. Her fiance was much older at 37. How did they meet? Patricia worked as a waitress in a restaurant near a Walgreens Pharmacy that Deluca managed. When Deluca visited the restaurant, he became physically-attracted to the then 16-year-old waitress and he seduced her.

At that time, Deluca was a married man with five children. He also liked sex and he enjoyed seducing impressionable young girls such as Columbo to satisfy his gargantuan libido. Evidently, Deluca's wife was aware of her husband's philandering and she threatened to divorce him unless he stopped cheating on her. When she discovered that her husband was having an affair with Patricia, she kicked him out of the house and filed for a divorce.

That's when Deluca proposed marriage to Patricia. Patricia's father, an overly protective parent with an Italian temper, hated Deluca because Deluca was a married man whom he knew wasn't in love with his daughter and was merely using her for sex. In fact, he confronted Deluca on one occassion with a shotgun and threatened to kill him before he shammed the gun into Deluca's mouth, shattering some of his teeth.

Why did Deluca propose marriage to the much younger Columbo? It's not hard to figure out. Deluca was faced with the prospect of paying child support and alimony for his five kids and soon to be ex-wife. That was a frightening scenario for someone who didn't have a lot of money. And so, marriage to Patricia and the murder of her parents became Deluca's solution to try and get his hands on the Columbo inheritance.

Fortunately, for Patricia, they didn't get away with it or she would've undoubtedly suffered the same fate that Drew Peterson's third and fourth wives (Kathleen Savio, Stacey Peterson) suffered. Deluca would've killed her and then taken the inheritance money. That's why he wanted to marry her.

Patricia herself wasn't an angel. Though intelligent, she was rebellious and she caused her parents a lot of grief. She likely saw Deluca as a ticket to her freedom from strict, domineering parents. And she willingly went along with Deluca's murderous plans. What led to her arrest? Besides the forensic evidence that tied her and Deluca to the crimes, she showed practically no remorse for her family's fate during interviews with the police following her arrest on May 15, 1976. And she's been behind bars ever since then.

What's the point of all this? I wrote to Patricia and sent her some of our website and weblog material. She responded with a kind and thoughtful letter, explaining that she had accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior while in prison. Here's some of what she wrote: "I am a born-again Christian and I am very honored to be one of four (women) on our prison praise and worship team that ministers to these women on the maximum security unit and our favorite; the new arrivals to the prison. It is any opportunity to make contact with the women when they are scared and broken."

Certainly, there are some folks who still believe to this day that Columbo's nothing but a con artist who'll say anything to fool people. One of those people is Lake County, Ill. Undersheriff Ray Rose who was Elk Grove's Deputy Chief of Police in 1976 when Columbo and Deluca committed the murders. Rose was one of the first investigators to arrive at the horrific crime scene and it's still etched in his mind.

Rose also serves on a 12-member Illinois Prisoner Review Board that is tasked every four years with determining whether Columbo should be granted parole. In Rose's opinion, that should never happen: "When you see people who've been murdered, what makes this so grisly is that it's an entire family. When you think about that … you can't forget. It's like we're speaking on behalf of the family because they're not here to talk for themselves."
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-03-02/news/ct-x-n-columbo-parole-20110302_1_frank-columbo-patricia-columbo-mary-columbo

I can understand where Rose is coming from. When you see the bodies of three human beings who were mutilated like animals, you never forget that. It haunts you forever. And it will haunt Rose until he takes his final breath. And as long as he's able to, he'll recommend that Columbo never be allowed to go free.

I believe that Columbo should be paroled. She's not the same person she was in 1976. She's changed. In 1976, she was a gullible and rebellious young lady who was charmed by a despicable person who used her--first for sex and then for murder. She's paid dearly for that. She made a terrible decision that ruined her life and destroyed her family. And I think she'll be the first to admit that.

And I think that there are people who are more deserving of her prison cell these days than her. And so, I think she needs to be allowed to live the remainder of her life outside of those prison walls in Lincoln, Illinois.

Concerning forgiveness, for everyone--even a murderer--who comes to Christ in repentance and truly confesses their sins in contriteness, God says this: "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (Hebrews 8:12)