True Crime
with Andy Hale
The Andy Hale Podcast is
a proud partner with
The Starved Rock Murders Podcast
About the Case
In March of 1960 three women were found murdered in a cave. Frances Murphy, Mildred Lindquist, and Lillian Oetting were wives and mothers who decided to take a four-day trip to Starved Rock State Park near LaSalle, Illinois. They checked into the Starved Rock Lodge on March 14th. Two days later, they were found inside a cave in St. Louis Canyon, bound with twine, bludgeoned, and partially nude. Their faces mutilated beyond recognition and their bodies displayed to arouse terror in whoever would find them. Months after the brutal murders, the Illinois State Police zeroed in on a young dishwasher who worked at the lodge, Chester Weger. Despite passing three lie detector tests, the police pursued Chester for months, overlooking other potential leads. They arrested him in November 1960, and after a lengthy interrogation, Chester confessed. He immediately recanted, citing fear and coercion, but the damage was done. In February 1961, Chester’s trial began and less than a month later, he was found guilty. He has maintained his innocence to this day and hopes that over 60 years after the murders and he is the only surviving character from this sordid tale. During the investigation and recording of season 1, Andy Hale uncovered a very important memo and police testimony from a telephone operator who overheard a conversation between two men about the murders. Now that this new information has come to light, Andy and Whitny are receiving tons of leads in about the Palmatier Brothers and Smokey Wrona’s involvement in the murders. While everyone waits patiently for the DNA results to come back in early August, the team is connecting with anyone that has a story to tell or potential lead, to see if they can unravel the mystery of the Starved Rock Murders once and for all.
What Our Listeners Are Saying
"Amazing!!! This is an incredible podcast. I started listening to it because Andy was on True crime daily. Wow wow wow I’m so addicted to this podcast. Please keep doing great work you guys. I love it."
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"Excellent job! This podcast is so well done! Andy researches everything and he provides so much detail. I started listening after watching the HBO documentary about the case. and Andy goes so much further than the documentary."
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"Incredible! This is amazing! I literally couldn’t stop listening and loved how thoughtful Andy and Whitney’s commentary is! Hands down one of the most incredible stories I’ve heard!"
"Amazing!!! This is an incredible podcast. I started listening to it because Andy was on True crime daily. Wow wow wow I’m so addicted to this podcast. Please keep doing great work you guys. I love it." • "Excellent job! This podcast is so well done! Andy researches everything and he provides so much detail. I started listening after watching the HBO documentary about the case. and Andy goes so much further than the documentary." • "Incredible! This is amazing! I literally couldn’t stop listening and loved how thoughtful Andy and Whitney’s commentary is! Hands down one of the most incredible stories I’ve heard!"
Press On The Case
“The Starved Rock Murders with Andy Hale Takes Silver at The Signal Awards for Best Exclusive Content + Experiences”
Head to The Starved Rock Murders Podcast and Wrongful Convictions & Cold Case Interviews pages to access photographs and referenced documents for each episode!
Meet the Hosts
Andy Hale
Andy M. Hale, ESQ, is an Emmy nominated documentary film producer and civil rights attorney with over 30 years of experience. He began his career as a filmmaker and producer, shining a light on the issue of wrongful convictions with his Netflix documentary “A Murder In the Park” which led to the exoneration of Alstory Simon after sixteen years of wrongful incarceration. His documentary “Wrong Cat” follows his client Cleve Heidelberg Jr.'s struggle to prove his innocence after forty-seven years of wrongful incarceration, and Andy executive produced the documentary “White Boy” that chronicled the case of Rick Wershe, a 17-year old from Detroit who was sentenced to life in prison for a non-violent drug offense. This story was also depicted in the Hollywood blockbuster “White Boy Rick” starring Matthew McConaughey. Additionally, Andy hosted an Emmy nominated television show “Case Files Chicago” - which highlighted and attempted to solve many of Chicago’s cold-cases.
Andy currently represents Chester Weger in his fight to prove his innocence in the case of the Starved Rock Murders, and recently won the rights to test the DNA in the case for the first time ever. Additionally, he played a crucial role in Chester receiving parole after 60 years of claiming his innocence in this case.
Whitny Braun
Whitny is an American bioethicist, professor, investigative researcher, and documentary filmmaker. Braun works as a researcher and authenticator, investigating the provenance of items of potential historical significance. She has investigated an alleged image of Billy the Kid, a tintype that may show Billy as a teenager. In 2020, Braun hosted and served as executive producer of “Undiscovered: The Lost Lincoln”, a documentary special that aired on Discovery. Her work has also been featured on NPR, the National Geographic television network, Huffington Post, and Scientific American. She is currently the director of the master's in bioethics and professor of bioethics at Loma Linda University.
Braun served as the supervising producer and lead researcher of the HBO documentary "The Murders at Starved Rock" which covers angles of the murder case for a 3-part series.
Listener Reviews
