Husband in murder-suicide had earlier conviction

A man who served nearly 13 years in prison for stabbing his first wife to death more than two decades ago used a Civil War replica gun to kill his current wife and her son before committing suicide in their upscale suburban home, police said Tuesday.

Richard Wiley left a 40-page, handwritten suicide note indicating he shot and killed Kathy Motes, 50, and Christopher Motes, 17, and saying he refused to go back to prison, Wilmette Deputy Police Chief Brian King said.

Police conducting a well-being check Monday found the three bodies inside the home, which sits next to the family's church where Kathy Motes worked in the upscale, North Shore community. King said Wiley, 54, apparently killed his wife and stepson Saturday afternoon, then shot himself Sunday.

Wiley suggested in the note that he killed Motes during an argument, then killed her son.

"It's a kind of a dissertation of the difficulties that Mr. Wiley was having," King said of the note, adding that it included "hints of remorse."

In addition to the note found on the second floor, Wiley also left a shorter note inside the front door telling whoever read it to call police.

The murder weapon, found by Wiley's body in a second-floor bedroom, was a black-powder, muzzle-loading Civil War replica that may have belonged to Christopher Motes, a New Trier Township High School senior and Civil War buff, King said.

Wiley apparently had sawed off the barrel, King said.

The bodies of Wiley and Kathy Motes were found in a second-floor bedroom, while Christopher Motes was found in an upstairs bathroom; all three had single gunshot wounds to the head, King said.

Despite Wiley's criminal history, King said police had no previous complaints of violence at the Wilmette home and there were no orders of protection against Wiley.

"There's nothing that predicted this level of violence in that home," King said at a news conference.

But former Cook County Assistant State's Atty. James Morici, who prosecuted Wiley for his wife's 1985 murder, told the Chicago Tribune he remembered Wiley as a menacing figure.

"Sometimes people have asked me over the years if there is anybody I was afraid would come after me," Morici said. "And the only one I could think of was Richard Wiley. I could picture him sitting in the penitentiary, biding his time."

Wiley stabbed his 25-year-old wife, Ruth, to death in April 12, 1985, and was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison two years later, according to news reports at the time. He was paroled in 2000.

Wiley reportedly called police himself after the 1985 killing and was found "leaning over the victim, hugging her and crying, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry.'"

In court, Wiley said he suffered from a rare mental disease called "intermittent explosive disorder," but the judge rejected his claim that he was insane.

All three family members belonged to the First Presbyterian Church of Wilmette and fellow members knew about Wiley's past, but, said church pastor Rev. Sarah Sarchet Butter, "our faith community welcomed and loved him."

Kathy Motes worked at the church as an office coordinator and met her husband through the church, Butter said.

"She was beloved of our congregation," Butter said. She added that Christopher "enriched our congregation in every way."

The teenager's New Trier classmates were in shock, District 203 Supt. Linda Yonke said Tuesday.

"Chris was a well-known and well-loved senior. ... He was an easygoing student who had many friends," Yonke said. "New Trier staff and students are devastated by this tragedy."

He participated in the Boy Scouts, belonged to a military history club at New Trier and had been accepted to attend Roanoke College in Virginia, Yonke said.

Social workers attended classes at New Trier on Tuesday, Yonke said.