Mother testifies in son's murder trial
William Clifford III accepted financial support from his parents for about eight years, his mother testified Thursday, even though he was sometimes unappreciative and frustrated with living in a Westmont hotel.
But Susan Clifford said she never thought those frustrations would lead her son to fatally stab his 64-year-old father, William Clifford Jr., with a heavy-duty steak knife.
Clifford III is on trail for five counts of first-degree murder in DuPage County court.
The case is expected to go to the jury Friday morning after closing arguments. If convicted, he faces between 20 and 60 years in prison.
Susan Clifford said she learned of her husband's death after arriving home on the afternoon of May 28, 2011, to find a note on her front door asking her to call the hospital.
“When I opened my garage and his car wasn't there, I thought he should have been home by that time,” she said. “I called his cellphone several times but he never called me back.”
Susan Clifford said her husband, who lived in Aurora, frequently visited his son on the weekends at the Homestead Studio Suites, 855 Pasquinelli Drive in Westmont. While there, she said, he would take their son to lunch and grocery shopping and give him spending money for the week.
“(William) was, at times, dissatisfied with the amount he was getting,” Susan Clifford testified.
Prosecutors say the victim had rented a hotel suite for his son about a month earlier, after Clifford III was kicked out of a Chicago YMCA for having alcohol.
The younger Clifford, prosecutors said, was upset living in the suburbs and missed his previous proximity to the beach, Lake Michigan and the walkable grocery store he had in Streeterville.
Prosecutors said the killing happened after the father and son began to argue about Clifford's living arrangements.
Susan Clifford said she and her husband were working on leasing an apartment back in the Streeterville neighborhood at the time her husband was killed.
“The new apartment was not available as quickly as we thought,” she testified. “It was delayed one month to July.”
Prosecutors said the victim suffered several stab wounds from a heavy-duty steak knife during an argument that began in Clifford's hotel room and spilled into the hallway, including the fatal stab wound that punctured the victim's left lung and heart.
The younger Clifford left the hotel after the stabbing. Prosecutors said he returned to the scene three hours later, wearing a bloodied white T-shirt.
Clifford's attorney, Deputy Chief Public Defender Brian Jacobs, has insisted that law enforcement officials rushed to judgment in immediately focusing their attention on Clifford III.