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Saturday, June 16, 2007

Police: Dad Is Not a Suspect in 4 Deaths     Send a link to a friend

[June 16, 2007]  CHANNAHON, Ill. (AP) -- Police say the only survivor of a shooting that left his wife and three children dead in their sport utility vehicle was questioned and is not a suspect in the attack.

Investigators don't believe anyone outside the family was involved in the shootings early Thursday. Gunshot residue tests were conducted on the mother's hands, but the results were not disclosed. A handgun was found at the scene, State Police Capt. Carl Dobrich said.

Christopher Vaughn, 32, talked to investigators for several hours Thursday after being treated at a hospital for a gunshot wound to the thigh.

A passer-by called police Thursday morning after finding the bodies of Kimberly Vaughn, 34, and their children _ Abigayle, 12, Cassandra, 11, and Blake, 8 _ in the family's SUV, which was parked off a side road near Interstate 55 in Channahon, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago.

The mother had been shot once and each child had been shot multiple times, authorities said. Christopher Vaughn was with the caller when police arrived.

Dobrich said the family had left their Oswego home before dawn on a "social trip."

The Vaughn family moved from Washington state to the Chicago area about a year ago, bringing their two dogs with them, according an article last month about the Vaughns' home in the real estate section of the Chicago Sun-Times.

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The article featured an idyllic photo of a relaxed Christopher and Kimberly Vaughn sitting at a dining table _ their three children standing behind them smiling.

"We really liked the small-town atmosphere of Oswego," Kimberly Vaughn had told the Sun-Times.

Candles and bouquets of flowers rested at a makeshift memorial in front of the Vaughn family's home on Friday; four white crosses also stood at the curb, each with a photograph of one of the victims.

Among many notes left at the memorial was one from a child that read: "I heart you all so much. ... You all where so sweet."

___

Associated Press writers Karen Hawkins in Crest Hill and Michael Tarm in Chicago contributed to this report.

[Associated Press]

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