Closing Statements Expected in St. Charles West Grad's Murder Case

Lawyers are set to make closing statements in the Christopher Vaughn murder trial on Thursday.

Vaughn, the former St. Peters resident and graduate of Francis Howell High School, has been locked up in an Illinois jail since June 2007 on charges he murdered his wife, a St. Charles West High School graduate, and children.

Vaughn, his wife Kimberly, 34, and children Blake, 8, Cassandra, 11, and Abigayle, 12, were heading from their Oswego, IL, home to a Springfield, IL, waterpark when he pulled off Interstate 55 and stopped on the frontage road.

Christopher Vaughn then gunned down his wife and children as they sat in the family's minivan, according to police and prosecutors.

But Vaughn told detectives it was actually his wife who shot their children, put a bullet in his leg as he fled for his life, then turned the pistol on herself and committed suicide.

Christopher Vaughn reportedly explained to detectives that he had confessed to his wife about an extramarital dalliance and that was what led to the unhinged Kimberly Vaughn's killing spree.

Vaughn did not testify during the trial.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Vaughns met at a miniature golf course in St. Charles and married in 1994, a year after they met.

They then lived in St. Peters from 1999 to 2001 before the family moved to Washington.

Patch has had a reporter in the court room in Joliet, IL, since the trial began in August. Here are several of the previous reports on the actions taken in the courtroom:

• Expert From St. Charles: Gun Fired a Foot From Former St. Peters Man's Kids' Faces
• Blood Expert Pokes Holes in Former St. Peters Man's Killing Story
• Prosecution Rests in Former St. Peters Resident's Murder Case
• Cops Found Survival Gear in Accused Quad-Killer's Closet
• Grim Death Photos Don't Rattle Former St. Peters Man on Murder Trial's First Day
• Jury Picked for Murder Trial of Francis Howell Graduate