How authorities came to charge Eric Hanson with his family's murder

First of two parts

Editor's Note: This story, which includes new details about the crime, is based on interviews, police reports, jail booking documents, court testimony, pre-trial filings and the coroner's inquest.

The license plate caught the trooper's eye.

Earlier, he'd read a bulletin to be on the lookout for a dark 2005 Chevy Trailblazer, with Illinois plates, that might be heading through Wisconsin.

Police wanted to question the driver -- possibly armed and dangerous -- about a murderous rampage in an Aurora neighborhood.

The trooper followed. The plate matched. He radioed for backup.

Minutes later, Eric C. Hanson was in custody, a day after the Sept. 29, 2005, discovery of his slain parents, sister and brother-in-law.

Detectives developed Hanson as a suspect a half hour after uncovering the savagery. Bringing charges would be more difficult.

More Coverage Stories How authorities came to charge Eric Hanson [01/27/08] Multimedia Video: Hanson trial: Synopsis Video: Hanson trial: victims Photo Gallery: Hanson trial legal team Daily Herald Archives Four in family found slain [09/30/05] Police question victims' relative [10/01/05] Fireplace poker could be crucial piece of puzzle [10/02/05] Relative fighting extradition [10/04/05] Charges loom in quadruple murder case [11/04/05] Suspect set for return to Illinois [11/09/05] Details in quadruple homicide [12/09/05] Death penalty sought in four murders [02/18/06] Alleged threat can be heard [05/18/06] Judge will allow tape in court [05/23/06] Family details get out [06/21/07] The Full Reports Nov. 4 arrest warrant Wisc. extradition request Wisc. arrest warrant Sept. 29 arrest warrant Intimidation charge

They traveled four states, secured search warrants for homes, cars, bank and phone records, interviewed dozens of witnesses and analyzed GPS and cellular technology. As pathologists autopsied the dead, evidence technicians scoured two crime scenes.

More than two years later, Hanson is about to stand trial for a crime the 31-year-old Naperville man insists he did not commit.

Prosecutors accuse him of executing his family after they learned he stole more than $80,000 in forged checks and credit cards from his parents, with whom he lived.

Hanson admits stealing, but he says they agreed he'd pay it back over time, without involving police.

His accusers lack a confession, any murder weapons and will be challenged on how one person could have pulled off such a crime alone.

But they said other physical evidence and a reconstructed timeline point to just one person -- Eric Hanson.

He may face the death penalty if convicted in a DuPage County case sparked by a chilling 911 call.

The unfathomable

When the four victims didn't show up at work, worried relatives and co-workers went to their homes.

Katherine "Kate" Hanson-Tsao and her husband, Jimmy, lived in the affluent White Eagle subdivision on Aurora's far east side.

There, Jimmy's brother, Chiu-Ter, couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. He and his daughter, Annie, peeked in a window and saw a body. Annie alerted police.

Her 911 call came at 2:39 p.m. Sept. 29 -- a Thursday.

More than 50 officers swarmed Jeremy Ranch Court. They first came upon the bludgeoned body of Kate, 31, likely attacked with a golf club as she walked out of a bedroom, just 10 feet from the front door.

Both her arms were broken when she covered her face. She suffered a broken nose, ribs and horrific face and head injuries.

But police suspect the killer struck her husband first, and most brutally. Tsao, 34, a successful computer exporter, was attacked from behind.

The killer hit him in the head while he sat on a couch working on his laptop.

He typed the last keystroke at 10:43 p.m. Sept. 28, one night before being found.

Officers kept searching.

They came upon Mary Lynn Hanson, 55, near the kitchen. Her killer shot her once in the head. Her body, clothed in a nightgown and barefoot, lay on a painter's drop cloth.

Terrance Hanson, 57, was wrapped in a drop cloth in the attached garage. His killer shot him in the back of the head, at close range. His head was wrapped in a plastic bag. He, too, wore sleep attire.

His 2005 Chevrolet Impala was parked in his daughter's driveway. Evidence technicians scoured it, but they did not find any evidence.

In the house, there were no signs of forced entry. No weapons were left behind. Valuables were untouched.

Police, though, uncovered another crime scene.

Investigators found the elder couple's blood after flipping over a mattress in a guest room in their Rock Spring Court home in Naperville, 5 miles from Kate's.

In the master bedroom, evidence technicians found someone patched over a bullet hole in the headboard and wall. A bullet was recovered in the attic.

In her garage, Mary Hanson's Saturn contained blood stains in the back seat -- later traced to her husband.

Authorities theorize the killer likely sneaked into the Tsao home and killed the younger couple, both still in their day clothes. Later that night, the attacker shot the Hansons in their bed, then transported them to Kate's.

The killer thoroughly cleaned the Naperville home, which did not have signs of forced entry. The mattress in the master bedroom appeared switched with one in another bedroom. The couple's bed was made with clean sheets and a blanket; as was Eric's in the basement. A vacuum held wood chips from the headboard.

A fire still crackled in the fireplace hours later. Police also found a note in the kitchen. It was from Eric. In it, he wished his parents a good weekend in Galena, and left them some money.

A suspect emerges

Thirty-one minutes after the 911 call, police had a suspect and a motive.

A neighbor in the crowd near the Tsao home handed her cellular phone to Aurora detective Michael T. Nilles, a veteran cop too familiar with grisly crime scenes.

It was 3:10 p.m.

The Hansons' oldest child, Jennifer Williams, who lives in Bloomington, Minn., was waiting on the other line.

Police said she identified her younger brother, Eric, a mortgage broker who spent time behind bars for burglary and shoplifting, as the culprit.

Jennifer said her brother was a chronic liar with a short fuse whose flagrant spending and constant freeloading caused family fights.

In fact, she said, Kate told her in an Aug. 13 call that Eric threatened to kill her if she told their father about the credit card fraud he committed in Mary's name. Mary, worried her son might try to hurt himself, planned to cover for Eric. But Kate was livid, and threatened to tell.

"She told me that he said, 'If you tell Dad about this, I will (expletive) kill you,'" Williams testified during a May 2 pretrial hearing. "She was very upset. She told me she had a very unsettling feeling."

Also waiting outside Kate's house was her cousin, Robert Stutelberg.

A salesman at Terry Hanson's business, Stutelberg, went to his uncle's Naperville home that Thursday because he had missed a meeting. No one was home.

He headed to Kate's.

Police and firefighters beat him there, having responded to the other relative's 911 call.

"It's not good," a firefighter responded to his inquiry.

Stutelberg called Jennifer.

"I know who did this," she told him, according to a Sept. 30 police interview.

Jennifer named her brother.

Stutelberg talked to Eric Hanson hours earlier, at 10:15 a.m., when Hanson called to say he was running late for a flight to Los Angeles. Eric also complained about his aching back, Stutelberg told police, which he blamed on a bad mattress.

Stutelberg said Hanson called back a bit later to say he made it, was at the gate, eating McDonald's.

Stutelberg, recalling the earlier phone call, hit redial.

Hanson picked up.

His cousin told authorities Hanson sounded "fake," as if "playing dumb," when told of the murders.

Stutelberg handed his phone to Nilles. Hanson still was on the line.

It was 5:55 p.m.

"I made several requests to turn himself in or come home," Nilles would tell a coroner's jury. "He refused."

Police knew Hanson at 11:10 a.m. boarded a plane at Midway Airport -- after rescheduling an earlier flight -- for a planned trip to visit his ex-fiancee in Los Angeles, where the couple planned to see a Neil Diamond concert.

They never made it to the concert, though, and meanwhile, authorities reached the woman, Allison Beck, who knew Hanson for about four years and had lived with him in Phoenix and Palatine.

Beck, who called Eric at his parents' house to ask about his travel plans, told police Terrance Hanson also answered at the same time, then hung up after hearing Eric. It was about 11:30 p.m. Sept. 28.

Beck told police she was at work the next afternoon when Eric arrived in L.A. She left a key for him under a mat. They were talking on the phone when Eric got another call, from Stutelberg. There was an emergency, Hanson told Beck; he had to go.

Twenty minutes later, Beck called back. She said he was crying hysterically. His family was dead, and later, he told her, "they" thought he did it. He denied any role.

She believed he was being genuine. Still, Beck told police, she hesitated meeting him. Weeks earlier, Kate told her about Hanson stealing from their parents. She said he was angry after learning the two spoke.

Rather than meeting Hanson as planned, Beck drove to a local police station.

By the time police got to Beck's place, Hanson was gone. He had showered, shaved and washed his clothing, leaving behind a suitcase, but they did not find any evidence of a crime.

Chicago police searched the airports for Hanson's SUV. Detectives worked with L.A. police and federal marshals to pick up Hanson, but, without an arrest warrant, they ran into red tape, and he remained free.

Within hours, though, DuPage State's Attorney Joseph Birkett obtained a $4 million cash warrant on a charge of felony intimidation, based on Eric's alleged threat of Kate.

Aurora police remained in cell phone contact with Hanson. He agreed to meet them at the Los Angeles International Airport the next morning -- Friday, Sept. 30.

Two detectives boarded a plane for L.A.

Hanson was a step ahead.

Shoe leather

At 4:55 a.m., Hanson left L.A. for O'Hare.

He made his way back to Midway, where he parked his Chevy Trailblazer one morning earlier.

Authorities said he stopped at a girlfriend's house in DuPage County, then headed north along I-90 toward Bloomington, Minn., where Jennifer lives.

He didn't announce the visit. Hanson did, however, call around to try to find a lawyer. He also called Nilles, and said he was in California.

But, with his suspect on the line, Nilles used another phone to check with the FBI, which tracked Hanson through his cell phone usage.

The FBI told Nilles their suspect was heading west on I-88 toward I-39, west of DeKalb. Police feared he might try to harm Jennifer, whose fearful family fled its home the night before.

Earlier, police notified authorities in a 40-mile area in south-central Wisconsin to be on the lookout for his SUV with an Illinois license plate.

At 10:56 a.m. Sept. 30, a Wisconsin state trooper spotted Hanson traveling alone and made the stop near Portage, 20 miles north of Madison. He was arrested on the intimidation warrant.

He was unarmed, carrying $747 cash. Detectives and prosecutors rushed there to interview him.

Despite several conversations, including one 12-hour talk, Hanson did not confess.

Prosecutors played snippets of their taped interviews during a May 12, 2006, court hearing. Police said he seemed shocked at his arrest, at times tearful, but wasn't emotional when they spoke of his family's brutal end.

Hanson said he had drinks with a girlfriend that night, then returned to Naperville to pack for his trip. He was sleeping that night and didn't hear a disturbance. A neighbor told police the lights were on at 1:50 a.m. in the Naperville home.

A week later, evidence technicians finished scouring the homes and cars. They handed off hundreds of pieces of potential evidence to crime lab experts. One of Eric Hanson's golf clubs in his parents' garage held a speck of blood, but tests didn't tie it to the murders.

Authorities, though, said Hanson's Trailblazer contained key evidence.

One of four gloves found in the SUV held Terry Hanson's blood, prosecutors said. The gloves were in a plastic bag, similar to those found in the Hanson home. They said Kate's diamond wedding ring and Jimmy's Rolex watch also were in Hanson's SUV. The watch had a speck of Jimmy's blood, prosecutors said.

Moreover, an extra pair of Eric Hanson's shoes in his SUV had a mixture of three people's blood. Experts couldn't pinpoint whose it was, but none of the four victims were excluded.

Detectives also followed a long trail of financial records.

In fact, just one day before the murders, prosecutors allege, Hanson forged his mother's name to a $13,800 check drawn out of his father's bank account and deposited it into his own.

Some 15 local, state and federal agencies, from the FBI to postal inspectors, took part in the intense probe.

In one trip, detectives flew to Kansas City, where the GPS system on Hanson's SUV was made. It was on when he was out with the girlfriend, until about 10 p.m., court records showed, but was turned off afterward, when the murders began.

Prosecutors argue that shows premeditation.

A reasonable doubt?

Thirty-seven days after the bodies were found, the investigation culminated in a 23-count complaint accusing Hanson of murder, armed robbery, aggravated kidnapping, home invasion, theft and mail fraud.

He returned to Illinois days later after waiving extradition in Wisconsin, eager to try to clear his name.

But, despite the exhaustive investigation, it isn't a perfect case for prosecutors.

They lack a confession and both murder weapons. In fact, experts couldn't pinpoint what type of gun and blunt-force cylindrical instrument were used.

Hanson's lawyers question whether one person could pull off such a physical crime in less than a 13-hour window, which is the time Jimmy typed his last keystroke to when Eric boarded the plane. They argue the jewelry in Hanson's SUV is explainable and the blood evidence -- a few specks in a scene of carnage -- isn't insurmountable.

The defense team also plans to attack the alleged financial motive. Hanson maintains his father knew about his son's thefts, and he already began paying it back, without involving police.

Lawyers return to court Tuesday to continue jury selection. They need five more jurors, four of whom will serve as alternates. The trial's opening statements may begin later this week. Eric is expected to testify.

From his jail cell, Hanson says he doesn't know who killed his family.

"All I know is," he said, "I didn't do it."

Monday: An in-depth interview with Eric Hanson.

The victims

bull; Terrance "Terry" Hanson: 57, of Naperville. Born Sept. 18, 1948 in Minneapolis, Minn. A University of Minnesota graduate who had a master's in business administration. Sales manager for 30 years at Ashland Distribution in Willow Springs. Former Navy Reservist. Avid golfer, fisherman and Minnesota Vikings fan.

bull; Mary Lynn Hanson: 55, of Naperville. Born July 14, 1950 in Minneapolis, Minn. A Met Life Insurance account rep. in Aurora. Enjoyed gardening, decorating, entertaining and playing bridge.

bull; Katherine "Kate" Hanson-Tsao: 31, of Aurora. Born Aug. 27, 1974 in Morristown, N.J. A 2003 Aurora University graduate with an emphasis in political science and communications. Employed as an administrative assistant at her husband's computer business. Enjoyed shopping, gardening, traveling and decorating.

bull; Jimmy Tsao: 34, of Aurora. Married to Kate, whom he met when she worked as a waitress at Sullivan's Steakhouse in Naperville. Owned a successful computer export business in Plainfield. Remembered as fun-loving, had a passion for fancy cars and was an avid Cubs fan.

Source: Daily Herald interviews; obituaries

The Eric C. Hanson trial

bull; The crime: On Sept. 29, 2005, the badly-beaten bodies of Kate and Jimmy Tsao were discovered in their home in the White Eagle subdivision of Aurora. The slain woman's parents, Terrance and Mary Hanson, were found shot to death there, too.

bull; The response: Prosecutors charged Eric C. Hanson with murdering his parents, sister and brother-in-law in a death penalty case. They allege his motive stems from his family learning he'd stolen more than $80,000 from his parents in forged checks and credit cards.

bull; The defendant: Hanson, 31, maintains his innocence. He admits the thefts, though he argues it was far less, and said his parents were letting him pay it back slowly, without involving police.

bull; The court battle: Lawyers began handpicking the 12-member jury and four alternates Jan. 15. The process may wrap up later this week, leading to opening statements.

Source: Daily Herald files