Sister pins blame on her brother in Hanson family murders

Six weeks before her four family members were killed, Jennifer Williams said her frightened sister told her their younger brother made a murderous threat if she exposed his credit card fraud to their father.

"She said Eric said to her, 'If you tell Dad, I'll (expletive) kill you,'" Williams testified Tuesday. "She was really freaked out about what Eric said to her."

Authorities allege Eric C. Hanson made good on that threat late Sept. 28, 2005, when he fatally bludgeoned his sister Kate and her husband, Jimmy Tsao, then drove to his parents' home in Naperville, where he lived, and shot them to death.

The bloodshed was discovered the next day at the Tsao home in the upscale White Eagle subdivision in Aurora.

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Less than an hour later, it was Williams who identified her brother as a suspect and told police about the threat. Her account, at times tearful, came on the third day of Hanson's murder trial.

Williams, 37, who lives in Minnesota, avoided eye contact with Hanson. She said the two were not close before the murders, unlike the relationship she described having with Kate.

Prosecutors argue Hanson, 31, killed his own flesh and blood out of greed after an $80,000 credit-card scam in his mother's name unraveled. They'll pursue the death penalty if he is convicted.

Hanson admits stealing, but he denies threatening Kate and killing his family. He is expected to testify that his parents were letting him pay them back without police involvement.

Williams testified Kate called her Aug. 14, 2005, and told her she and their mother discovered the fraudulent credit card purchases a day earlier. Kate said Eric admitted it and promised to pay back the money.

Williams said Kate told her she and their mother agreed to keep it a secret from their father if Eric made good on restitution.

"I told her (Kate) she needs to tell my dad," Williams testified. "She said she made a promise not to say anything."

Before that, Williams said, the family wondered where Eric Hanson was coming up with so much money for his recent extravagant purchases and trips.

After the murders, Williams said her brother has written her letters from jail bickering about money from his slain family's estates.

"Jennie, I know a lot more than you think," she read from one of Hanson's letters. "Dad talked to me about a lot more than anyone else thought. It's obvious that you are trying to pull the wool over my eyes, but it won't work. You can't avoid the paper trail."

He ended one letter: "P.S. No matter how much you try to screw me, I still love you."

Earlier Tuesday, prosecutors showed the jury graphic crime-scene photos depicting the horror that befell the family. The solemn jury did not show an outward reaction. Eric Hanson did not view the photos.

Aurora police Sgt. Kimberly Groom, who snapped the photos, narrated how she found Kate, 31, lying in the master bedroom doorway with massive head injuries. Her husband, Jimmy Tsao, 34, slouched on a loveseat, was beaten so severely that his jaw was broken, teeth shattered, and blood splattered on walls and the ceiling.

Groom said the body of 55-year-old Mary Hanson, dressed in a blood-soaked nightgown, was found in the kitchen hallway, partially under a painter's tarp. Her husband, Terrance, 57, was covered in blood and lay face up on a painter's tarp in his daughter's garage, between two cars.

Prosecutors lack a confession and the murder weapons, but they said the financial motive, timeline and other evidence are proof of Eric Hanson's guilt. They said a rubber glove with specks of his father's blood was in Hanson's SUV, along with some jewelry belonging to his slain sister and brother-in-law.

Still, despite a bloody scene with four bodies, none of Eric Hanson's fingerprints, shoeprints, hairs, saliva, blood, or trace evidence, such as a coat fiber, were recovered. On cross-examination, Groom said she found seven partial bloody shoe prints in the home and garage -- none of which were traced to Eric.

The trial, before DuPage Circuit Judge Robert Anderson, continues this morning.