Saturday, November 20, 2010

Westmont, IL: Westmont police suspect double murder-suicide after 3 found shot in apartment

One victim was a 6-year-old girl who was living with her grandparents amid custody battle

By Gerry Smith and Christy Gutowski, Tribune reporters
11:18 p.m. CST, November 19, 2010

Many days when 6-year-old Julia Moore would return to her Westmont home after school, she'd find a message written on the sidewalk in chalk by her grandmother, according to an acquaintance.

One such message read, "I hope you had a good day at school. I love you from here to eternity," according to Jillian Okonski, whose mother lived next door to the girl, her grandmother and her stepgrandfather.

"She loved that little girl more than anything," Okonski said.

On Friday the bodies of Julia; Linda Brennan, 51; and Mark Chapman, 50; were found shot to death inside their apartment in the 500 block of West 61st Street in what law enforcement officials called a double murder-suicide.

Julia was at the center of a custody battle between her grandparents and her mother, according to court records. A court appearance was scheduled for Wednesday.

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The girl was found in her bed with gunshot wounds, said Charlie Dastych, chief deputy coroner for DuPage County. Police found the couple on the living room couch. Brennan had been shot several times, while Chapman had a single bullet wound, Dastych said. A gun was found in his lap, a law enforcement source said.

Autopsies were scheduled for Saturday.

Brennan was wearing earplugs when her body was found, leading authorities to suspect she and Chapman may have planned the shootings, a law enforcement official said.

Neighbor Frank Slowik said that in the past few months, Chapman seemed to be "under a lot of strain."

Chapman was bouncing from job to job until recently finding full-time work as a janitor at Hinsdale Hospital, Slowik said. A spokeswoman at the hospital confirmed that Chapman was a custodian there from August until late October, but didn't know why he left.

The three bodies were discovered after a wellness check was conducted because the girl had not attended school in recent days. Slowik said he heard what sounded like gunshots about 1 a.m. Wednesday but "dismissed it."

Julia was the child of Brennan's daughter, Samantha Moore, who in 2007 agreed to allow Chapman — Brennan's husband — to serve as the girl's temporary legal guardian, according to DuPage County court records. In the guardianship petition, Chapman cited Moore's unstable home environment.

But on Sept. 10, Moore petitioned to revoke Chapman's guardianship and asked the court to allow Julia to live with her.

"I feel I can provide a good home," wrote Moore, who said she had two jobs, medical insurance and an apartment where Julia would have her own room.

Chapman sought to deny Moore's request. In his Sept. 30 response, he said Moore suffers from a "very serious medical condition" and is involved in an undisclosed "dangerous condition outside" the home.

"Julia Ann Moore has been raised in a loving, nurturing environment," Chapman wrote.

Samantha Moore's husband, Ronnie Brown, said police notified his wife of the deaths Friday while she was at work.

"We're still trying to find out more to see what led to this tragedy," Brown said. "Neither one of them was ever violent. That this could happen is the farthest thing from our minds."

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