Will Dead Wife's Emails Show True Mental State or Poison Jury?

Kimberly Vaughn repeatedly professed her love for her son, daughters and husband in hundreds of emails written right up until the night before she and the children were shot to death in the family's minivan.

Prosecutors want to use these emails to prove Vaughn was not an unhinged woman bent on murdering her own family before turning her gun on herself and committing suicide, as her husband, Christopher Vaughn, told police in videotaped interviews.

But Christopher Vaughn's lawyer argued that allowing a jury to see the messages will prejudice them against his client, who faces murder charges for allegedly executing his entire family.

During police interviews in the aftermath of the June 2007 slayings, Christopher Vaughn told detectives his wife was upset and depressed since he confessed to indulging in an extramarital affair in Mexico about six months prior, said Assistant State's Attorney John Connor during a hearing Thursday in Will County court.

Christopher Vaughn also told detectives that his wife switched her migraine medication and that this may have affected her mood, Connor said.

"He's putting out these crumbs of a story and trying to explain the unexplainable," he said.

But the emails show that Kimberly Vaughn had not changed her medication. They also make no mention of her husband's affair and give no indication she suffered from depression.

Vaughn's attorney, George Lenard, countered that the emails would poison a jury's thinking by painting Kimberly Vaughn as a sympathetic figure, as well as a devoted mother and wife.

When viewed in light of Christopher Vaughn's claims of an extramarital affair — along with potential testimony from a stripper with whom he supposedly discussed springing a surprise divorce on his wife — the emails make the defendant look particularly unsavory, Lenard said.

"Not only does it bring out the sympathy for Kimberly, it also puts Chris in a bad light," the defense attorney said.

Christopher Vaughn was arrested soon after the killing of Kimberly Vaughn, 34, and their children Blake, 8, Cassandra, 11, and Abigayle, 12. They were killed on the Interstate 55 Frontage Road outside Channahon and near Shorewood. The family was heading from their home in Oswego to a Springfield waterpark.

Christopher Vaughn was found near his dead family with a bullet wound to his leg. He told the police his wife shot him but he managed to flee with his life.

Incidentally, one of Kimberly Vaughn's emails revealed that she practiced shooting on only one occasion, and fired but two rounds. She also said her aversion to firearms was an obstacle in pursuing a career as a military officer.

Christopher Vaughn, on the other hand, spent a half hour at a Plainfield shooting range brushing up on his marksmanship the night before his family was gunned down, according to court records. The gun he used at the range was reportedly found beneath his dead wife's feet.

Judge Daniel Rozak will review Kimberly Vaughn's emails, as well as about 18 hours of video documenting Christopher Vaughn's questioning by detectives, before determining whether the jury will get to read the dead woman's messages.

If they do, Lenard said, Christopher Vaughn may as well throw in the towel.

"If the jury gets these emails," he said, "he doesn't have a chance of winning this case."