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Judge's husband, mother found slain

By wire services
Published March 2, 2005

CHICAGO - Authorities said Tuesday they are investigating whether the shooting deaths of a federal judge's husband and her 89-year-old mother were the work of white supremacists out for revenge.

The killings came a month before white supremacist Matt Hale was scheduled to be sentenced for trying to have the judge, Joan Humphrey Lefkow, killed over her handling of a trademark dispute involving his hate group.

Police said they were looking at the possibility the crime was committed by hate groups but said that was just one facet of the investigation.

The judge and other members of her family were placed under federal protection after the killings.

On Monday, the judge came home to discover the bodies of her husband, Michael F. Lefkow, 64, a lawyer, and her mother, Donna Humphrey, in the basement of the Lefkows' North Side house.

No weapon was recovered, but police said they found two .22-caliber shell casings. Investigators say there was a sign of forced entry, a broken window, at the family's three-story gray-sided home.

Neighbors on Monday night said the judge ran into the street screaming after discovering the bodies and was consoled by police officers who put a blanket over her. She was taken to the Belmont Area headquarters while detectives, evidence technicians and federal agents worked the scene in and around the home.

The two victims would have been easy to overpower. Lefkow family friend Thomas Robb described them as "very vulnerable people." He said Humphrey, who was visiting from Denver, needed two canes to walk. Michael Lefkow had undergone surgery last week to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon and was on crutches, he said.

"All of us are horrified by the murder of Judge Lefkow's husband and mother. Nothing can prepare us for such a stunning, tragic event," said Charles P. Kocoras, chief federal judge for the Northern District of Illinois.

By Tuesday morning, news articles of the killings had been posted on white supremacist Web sites, along with "RAHOWA!," meaning "racial holy war."

In a discussion on a white nationalist Web site in 2003, members had posted the Lefkows' home address.

Anti-Defamation League official Mark Pitcavage said another white supremacist's shortwave radio show last April had discussed killing the judge.

Investigators searched for clues from the judge's professional life, including her role presiding over cases involving Hale and others.

During Hale's murder-plot trial, prosecutors said he was furious when Lefkow ordered him to stop using the name World Church of the Creator because it had been trademarked by an Oregon religious group.

Hale, 33, is awaiting sentencing April 6 for the murder plot. Police would not say whether they have attempted to talk with him.

As recently as last year, federal authorities took the murder plot seriously enough that they provided Lefkow with protection for at least a few weeks and Chicago police stepped up patrols of her neighborhood.

Michael Lefkow was was active along with his wife in the Episcopal Church. The couple married in 1975. They had four daughters, and Lefkow had a fifth from his previous marriage.

Information from the Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune was used in this report.

[Last modified March 2, 2005, 00:48:07]