Bloody Jealousy

Woodstock, Illinois, is a north-west suburb of Chicago in McHenry County, about an hour and ten minutes from downtown and roughly 26,000 people. In August 1988 the Ritter family lived at West Greenwood Avenue, a two-storey house on a quiet, tree-lined street. Ray Ritter was 43, a lineman for Commonwealth Edison who had worked there for 21 years and had just been promoted; he coached his sons' Little League teams. His wife, Ruth Ann, was two years older and had just taken a job as a secretary at Dean Street Elementary School. They had married in 1969 and had three children: Colleen, 17, Stephen, 14, and Matthew, 11.

Colleen was a popular, outgoing girl at Marion Central High School, on the volleyball team and secretary of the student council, and she had been elected homecoming queen. She worked at the Woodstock Ice Cream Company. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now His father and Ray Ritter worked together at Commonwealth Edison and had carpooled for 15 years. details of the account remain covered until revealed Colleen's friends said he checked up on her, resented her seeing other people and wanted her to himself.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The family house his grandfather had built was being sold. He had also failed to earn enough credits to move on at university, and Colleen, after a holiday, ended the relationship for good, telling him he was too possessive. She said she still wanted to be friends; she began seeing somebody else. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed He spoke to a friend about suicide and then said he would go back to Northern Illinois and try to get over it. He also ran into Ray Ritter in a shop, was ignored, and shouted at him in front of everyone.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it She went out and left him alone. this part of the story is covered for now Neighbours saw him going in and out of the duplex all night. Around midnight he telephoned Colleen; the call was friendly, but he called back and begged her to see him once more before he went back to school. She told him her friend was staying over and that she had started dating somebody else, and he hung up angry.

At about five o'clock on Sunday morning, 21 August, Amy Quinlin, who was sleeping in Colleen's room, heard a moaning sound outside the bedroom door and woke her. Colleen ran outside screaming. A neighbour across the street, Tim Paul, was getting ready for a fishing trip and saw her run into the street; another, Chris Girkey, saw a man beating her 'like a maniac'. details of the account remain covered until revealed At 5.12 a.m. Ray woke to find him standing beside the bed. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Ray's body was found at the foot of the bed; Ruth Ann was on her back with a pillow over her face. Both had died from massive blunt-force injuries to the head, and Ray had also been stabbed. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The knife blade was later found bent. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed Colleen identified him to the police, and Matthew, bleeding badly, answered the telephone when the police called back after the 911 call. Amy Quinlin and Matthew's friend, who was sleeping over, were unhurt. Colleen had been stabbed 22 times, suffered a collapsed lung and a hole at the base of her skull, and spent seven hours in surgery while doctors removed pieces of skull from her brain; they feared she would be blinded or brain-damaged. Matthew spent several days in hospital. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it I just killed Colleen', took $800 in cash and $600 in savings bonds, and drove off in her truck, past the crowded crime scene and into Wisconsin.

He checked into the Alaskan Motor Lodge at Mauston, 20 miles from the Wisconsin Dells, signing the register as Ronnie Quinlin and taking room 156 for $27.50. He left before 10.30 on Monday morning with a blanket, towels, a glass and soap, and around seven-thirty or eight that morning a frantic young man telephoned the Northern Illinois Medical Center claiming to be an out-of-town member of the Ritter family and asking about Colleen's condition. On 30 August he cashed $700 in savings bonds at a bank in Los Angeles. On 12 September he bought a Los Angeles Times at a 7-Eleven on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood; his truck would not start and he walked away, leaving it to be towed. this part of the story is covered for now The police were heavily criticised: the truck's licence plate had never been entered in the national database, neighbours said they were never questioned, and the overtime bill rose from under $10,000 to $34,162. The hunt lasted three years and cost about $40,000.

details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He ended up in Salt Lake City, where he worked his way up from cook to assistant manager at a restaurant, took a second job cleaning up after basketball games at the Delta Center, and dated several teenagers while calling himself Danny Lee Carson and claiming to be 33.

A Salt Lake City police officer, Craig Park, recognised him behind the counter of Bennett Pit Barbecue while eating lunch, went back to the station and searched a pile of wanted posters, and returned on the 20th. this part of the story is covered for now In the meantime, in Sherman Oaks, California, an actor named Danny Coffman was surrounded by ten officers with guns drawn outside Stanley's restaurant on Ventura Boulevard and handcuffed before fingerprints showed the mistake.

details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now The Ritter house was sold in 1992 to Sean and Kelly Parker, who said one night did not ruin a beautiful house. In 2019 Habitat for Humanity of McHenry County began restoring it; it had changed hands several times and fallen into foreclosure, and had been nicknamed the House of Death. Colleen recovered, worked at a bridle shop in Woodstock and went on to McHenry County College; the three children went to live with Ruth Ann's parents a few blocks away.