Charges Filed In 1976 Murder In Wheaton
Updated 08/02/11 - 9:47 p.m.
WHEATON, Ill. (CBS) -- A convicted killer who would have been paroled in about 14 months has been charged in a rape and murder in DuPage County from 1976.
Michael Whitney, 58, was charged on Tuesday with the stabbing death of 28-year-old nursing student Darlene Stack on Aug. 18, 1976. He appeared in court on Tuesday on the new charges and was ordered held without bond.
As CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports, police and DuPage County prosecutors laid out their case at a press conference in Wheaton on Tuesday.
Stack, a nursing student, was raped and stabbed 33 times at the Wheaton boarding house where she'd been renting a room for just three days. From the start, Whitney – who lived in the same boarding house – was the prime suspect, but his girlfriend provided an alibi.
The break came in 2005, when Wheaton police reopened the case and submitted semen-stained bed linens for DNA testing.
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"The evidence that contains the DNA was a bed sheet that was found in the victim's bed. That was the evidence that was re-tested," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said. "It was re-submitted to the lab because DNA technology has evolved and changed over the years. Back when this murder was committed in 1976, we didn't have DNA technology."
At the time of the murder, the DuPage County Coroner's office ruled that she had not been sexually assaulted, but prosecutors said Tuesday that the medical examiner got it wrong.
Authorities said Whitney's girlfriend also testified three times before a grand jury investigating the murder and lied about Whitney's involvement, but has since recanted her testimony and been granted immunity from prosecution.
Berlin said Whitney's girlfriend told the truth when confronted with the new DNA evidence.
"She explained why it was that she has been covering this defendant over all these years. … She was afraid of the defendant and, initially, she still had feelings for him," Berlin said.
As CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, members of Stack's family were in court for Whitney's bond hearing.
"We are very, very pleased with the work of the DuPage County State's Attorney's office, as well as the work, obviously the tireless effort on behalf of the Wheaton Police Department," said Stack relative and family spokesman Mark Douglas. "And we thank them for bringing what we hope is the end of this."
Whitney was already serving a 60 year prison sentence for the 1982 murder of an elderly woman in DuPage County and was scheduled to be paroled in October 2012.
