Epilogue

Former LaSalle County state's attorney Harland D. Warren of Ottawa, who was credited with solving the Starved Rock murders case 47 years ago, died May 20 at age 90.

Although he had closed his law office last year and spent the winter in a nursing home, Mr. Warren returned in April to his mobile home along Indian Creek to entertain friends and enjoy wildlife with his usual vigor.

A 1941 graduate of the University of South Dakota Law School, Mr. Warren served with the Navy in the Pacific during World War II, receiving three battle stars and a promotion to lieutenant commander.

He began his law practice in Earlville with Tom Anderson Sr., then opened his own practice in Ottawa in 1949. He was elected state's attorney in 1952.

Near the end of his second term, three women were slain in Starved Rock State Park in mid-March 1960. Mr. Warren campaigned for re-election amid charges by an opponent that he had bungled the investigation.

Without telling state and county law enforcement officials, he launched a personal investigation that centered on Chester Otto Weger, a former dishwasher at Starved Rock Lodge who had been cleared initially.

Mr. Warren uncovered evidence that linked Weger to the triple murder, but decided to wait until after the election to make the arrest. He scoured Weger's sworn statements for inconsistencies and developed an airtight case.

He lost the election, however, and had to watch from the sidelines as his successor conducted the trial. When the case concluded, the jury took only a day to reach a guilty verdict and recommend a sentence of life in prison.

Although the timing of the case cost him an election, Mr. Warren ultimately received the vindication he deserved for solving it, including $11,500 from a reward fund.

He also won his next election, a four-way 1962 race for a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives. He served on the board of the Ottawa Savings Bank from 1960 to 2001.

Chicago trial attorney Perry Lucian Fuller, the last name partner of the predecessor firm to Hinshaw & Culbertson and a Charter Life Fellow of the Illinois Bar Foundation, died May 10 at age 84 in Evanston Hospital after heart surgery.

During service in the Marine Corps during World War II, Mr. Fuller led combat bomber missions in the Pacific and earned the Air Medal. He was reactivated in 1951 as a captain, flight instructor and military prosecutor during the Korean War.

He studied at the University of Chicago Law School and graduated in 1949 from the University of Nebraska Law School, then for a short time was financial director of the Chicago Crime Commission.

In 1950, Mr. Fuller joined the firm of Joseph H. Hinshaw, who as president of the Illinois State Bar Association in 1951-52 established the Bar Foundation and was its first president. He became a partner in 1956, and the firm was renamed Hinshaw, Culbertson, Moelmann, Hoban & Fuller in 1969.

Mr. Fuller chaired the Cook County Civil Service Commission and the Governor's Task Force on Merit Selection of Judges, and he served on the Illinois Law Enforcement Commission. He was a special assistant attorney general for the Department of Mental Health and the Illinois Highway Trust Authority.

A past president of the Law Club of Chicago, the Society of Trial Lawyers and the Illinois Humane Society, Mr. Fuller served on the Chicago Bar Association board of managers and was a trustee of the Village of Winnetka two terms.

He was a co-founder and president of the Law in American Society Foundation and the National Center for Law Focused Education. He served on the executive committee of the International Association of Insurance Counsel.

Mr. Fuller chaired the Chicago steering committee of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Law Institutes Committee of the Defense Research Institute, and was a trustee of the Federal Defender Program.

Lake Forest attorney Paul Lee Ahern died May 21 at age 87 in his home. A 1950 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, he worked in the legal department of Standard Oil while in school.

Mr. Ahern practiced in the Abbott Laboratories patent department before beginning 40 years at Leydig, Voit & Mayer, where he became a partner. He retired seven years ago.

While an alderman and acting mayor of Lake Forest, he helped establish the city's Open Lands Association in 1967 to conserve open space for public use.

Mr. Ahern was president from 1971 to 1977 of the initiative, which now includes 800 acres and six nature preserves, and he was a life director.

St. Charles attorney Ronald Paul Alwin, an assistant Cook County public defender from 1973 to 2003, died May 19 at age 68 after collapsing near his home. He had been recovering from pneumonia.

A 1965 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Mr. Alwin had a private criminal defense practice before becoming a public defender and subsequently handling death penalty appeals.

He taught appellate advocacy at the Loyola University School of Law and was active in the Lawyers' Assistance Program.

Retired Chicago attorney Russell Odbert Bennett, a Winnetka resident, died May 19 at age 91 of cardiomyopathy at the Presbyterian Homes in Evanston.

A 1939 graduate of Harvard Law School, Mr. Bennett served in Army intelligence during World War II as a major, and participated in the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey in Asia after the war.

A founding partner in Liebman, Williams, Bennett, Baird & Minow, he became a partner in Sidley Austin when the firms merged in 1972. He retired in 1997.

Mr. Bennett was a trustee of Seabury-Western Episcopal Seminary from 1972 to 1986, and its chancellor (legal advisor) for three years. He received an honorary doctorate in canon law in 1983.

Chicago attorney Louis Richard Flader, founding partner in Flader & Haces with his wife, Yolanda Haces Flader, died May 15 at age 71. She survives.

A 1980 graduate of the Northern Illinois University College of Law, Mr. Flader was a former president of Plastics and Chemical Manufacturing Companies.

Retired Cook County associate judge John Michael Flaherty of Oak Lawn died May 21 at age 85, 11 years after he left the bench. A 1950 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law, he was an assistant Cook County public defender until his appointment to the court in 1965.

During World War II, Mr. Flaherty served in the Army Air Corps as a decorated staff sergeant and machine gunner on bombers in missions over Europe. He survived the crash of a plane that was shot down.

Survivors include a son, Associate Judge Brian K. Flaherty of Cook County's 6th Municipal District.

Retired Oak Lawn attorney Gerhardt J. Gliege, attorney for the village board for more than 50 years, died May 14 at age 86 in his Palos Heights home.

A 1950 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, Mr. Gliege served in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

Retired Collinsville attorney Frank R. Hudak died April 21 at age 88 at Anderson Hospital in Maryville. He was a 1951 graduate of the St. Louis University Law School.

Mr. Hudak was a criminal investigator for the U.S. Treasury Department before serving in the Army during World War II. He practiced in Collinsville from 1969 to 2001 and was township attorney for 30 years.

Edward Felix Jurow of St. Charles, author of extensive works on patent law, died June 2 at age 87 in his home. He was a 1953 graduate of The John Marshall Law School.

Mr. Jurow worked at the Thomas H. West Patent Law Offices and American Steel Foundries before joining W. H. Miner Enterprises in Chicago, later located in Geneva. He retired after 38 years as vice president and general counsel.

He was co-author and publisher of several volumes on patent law that are in the Library of Congress.

Attorney Nancy Kathleen Laureto of the Chicago Board of Education Law Department died in June. She was a 1985 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law and had a master's degree from University of Illinois-Chicago.

Miss Laureto was a high school teacher and associate general counsel for the Chicago Housing Authority before joining the board of education staff.

Retired Elmhurst attorney and banking executive Fred A. Messerschmidt died May 22 at age 90 in Elmhurst Memorial Hospital after a massive stroke.

A 1941 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Mr. Messerschmidt served in the Army during World War II at an ammunition depot in Dixon. He practiced briefly in Chicago before relocating to DuPage County.

In 1954, he was a co-founder of Elmhurst Federal Savings and Loan Association, which was sold to the St. Paul Bank Corp. in the 1980s. He was a director of the Illinois Savings and Loan League.

A past chair of the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce and Industry and board member for several years, Mr. Messerschmidt was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2003.

He was treasurer of the hospital board for 10 years, and served on the boards of the Elmhurst Memorial Health System, the Elmhurst Library, the Elmhurst Symphony Society, MacCormac Junior College and Immaculate Conception School.

Mr. Messerschmidt was a member of the DuPage County Jury Commission for 12 years. He was past lieutenant governor of the Illinois-Eastern Iowa Region of Kiwanis.

Information has been received on the death of retired Chicago attorney Richard E. Mueller in September 2006 at age 79 in Boynton Beach, Fla. A 1951 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, he was a partner in Lord, Bissell & Brook.

Assistant DuPage County state's attorney Jane Laflamboy Radostits, a resident of Homer Glen, died May 11 at age 46 in Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, Downers Grove, of injuries resulting from a crash in which her car hit another vehicle head-on in Winfield.

A 1985 graduate of The John Marshall Law School, Mrs. Radostits was an assistant Cook County state's attorney before coming to DuPage County in 1997 as deputy chief of the Criminal Bureau Special Prosecutions Division.

She chaired the Regional Illinois Child Death Review Team and was named Prosecutor of the Year in 2005 by the Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association.

Retired 10th Circuit judge Charles Maxon Wilson died April 24 at age 90 in his Toulon home. He was a 1940 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law.

Mr. Wilson saw Army combat in New Guinea and the Philippines in the Pacific Theater during World War II, earning a Bronze Star. He also was staff judge advocate for the 31st Dixie Division and a member of occupying forces in Japan.

Entering law practice in Toulon with his father-in-law, Floid Bryan, after the war, Mr. Wilson became an associate judge in 1964. He was elected to the circuit court in 1970 and retired in 1984, then resumed law practice until 2005.

Past commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts, Mr. Wilson helped develop a veterans memorial on the courthouse lawn. He was a charter member of the Toulon Lions Club and a tuba player in five local bands.