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Christopher Vaughn is an American man convicted of the murder of his wife, Kimberly, and their three children. All four members of the family were shot in their van on while on the way to a Springfield, IL waterpark. Christopher sustained minor injuries to his wrist and leg while the other three sustained fatal gunshot wounds. Prosecutors alleged that shot his family to live in the Alaskan wilderness. Vaughn maintains his innocence and claims that Kimberly shot her family before committing suicide. Wrongful Conviction advocacy group Investigating Innocence is investigating the case.

History

Christopher Vaughn and his wife, Kimberly, moved to Illinois from the Seattle area approximately two years prior to the fatal shooting. Christopher had started a licensed private detective agency in Washington called Stone Bridge Security that specialized in cybercrime. Kimberly began working on a degree in Criminal Justice with plans to join the business as a private investigator. The Vaughns decided to close the business when Christopher was offered a job at Navigant Consulting's computer forensics group, and the family moved to Oswego, IL in 2005. The couple had three children: Abigayle, 12, Cassandra, 11, and Blake, 8.

Shooting

In the early morning hours of June 14, 2007, the family left their home in Oswego to drive to a waterpark in Springfield, IL. Around 5:20am, a motorist near Joliet, IL noticed Christopher Vaughn limping away from his vehicle. He had two bullet wounds: one on his left wrist, and one on his left leg. When asked if he was injured in a crash, he replied, “No, I think my wife shot me”. Kimberly and the children were still inside the vehicle, having sustained fatal gunshot wounds. A 9mm handgun was found on the floor at her feet.

Investigation

Navigant Consulting's computer forensics group in Chicago, said Andrew Bosman, spokesman for the firm. He declined to give details about Vaughn's employment. Vaughn had owned StoneBridge Security Inc., a corporate computer-fraud and cyber-crimes investigation firm formed in December 2003. He failed to renew its business license last December, said Hans Dettling, a spokesman with the Washington secretary of state's office.

Although the witness at the scene recalled Vaughn saying that his wife had pulled the trigger, Christopher was unable to recall the event after he reached the hospital, telling a nurse, “You should call my wife. She gets mad when I don’t call her.” When police interviewed him, he told investigators that he remembered Kimberly asking him to pull over on the frontage road because she was nauseous. The nausea was a symptom of her migraine headaches for which she took Nortriptyline and Topamax.

His family, Abigayle, 12, Cassandra, 11, and Blake, 8, were found dead, seated together in the rear passenger seat, each shot twice. His wife, Kimberly, 34, was in the front passenger seat, slumped over the center console with a single contact gunshot wound under her chin.