Fireplace poker could be crucial piece of puzzle

Originally published Sunday, Oct. 2, 2005

A missing fireplace poker belonging to a Naperville couple found shot to death near the bludgeoned bodies of their daughter and son-in-law in their Aurora home may hold a crucial clue to solving the bloody crime.

Others details also emerged Saturday to reveal a possible second crime scene in Naperville after investigators found blood evidence on a mattress in the older couple's home, according to sources close to the case.

Meanwhile, the interrogation of a 28-year-old relative held since early Friday in a Portage, Wis., jail cell stalled by Saturday after the man invoked his right to have a lawyer, the sources said.

Eric C. Hanson repeatedly denied killing his family.

Prosecutors secured an arrest warrant on felony intimidation charges against him several hours after the bodies were found Thursday. The charges allege he threatened to kill his sister, Katherine, weeks earlier if she told their father he had been stealing from them.

No one has been charged in the grisly slayings, but sources said Hanson so far is the only target in the investigation.

He is expected to appear Monday in a Columbia County courtroom for an extradition hearing. A Wisconsin state trooper pulled over his Chevrolet TrailBlazer before noon Friday after Hanson returned from a 24-hour trip to Los Angeles and headed north toward his family's summer cabin.

The man lived with his parents, Terrance and Mary Hanson, who were both shot in the head, most likely with a .38-caliber or 9 mm handgun.

Their bodies were found after 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the home of their daughter, Katherine, and son-in-law, Jimmy Tsao, in the upscale White Eagle subdivision in Aurora. The younger couple was savagely beaten.

All of the slain family members were found in the Aurora home, but a source said investigators found blood after flipping over the older couple's mattress in their home on Rock Spring Court in Naperville.

Police theorize the killer likely shot the older couple in their bed and then transported the bodies to the second home, sources said. Investigators were searching Eric Hanson's Chevy Trailblazer for clues Saturday afternoon, a source said.

Police discovered Terrance, 57, lying on the Tsao garage floor with one or more plastic bags around his head. He and his wife, Mary, 55, were loosely wrapped in large painter's tarps. Mary was found near a kitchen entryway.

She was wearing a nightgown; her husband also appeared in casual attire, as if ready for bed. Both were barefoot.

Conversely, the younger couple was dressed in daytime attire. Authorities said 34-year-old Jimmy Tsao, an outgoing, successful computer exporter who friends say kept large sums of cash on hand, most likely didn't see his attacker coming.

The killer struck Tsao in the back of his head while he sat on a couch working on a laptop computer, officials said. They said Tsao was so severely beaten, his face was unrecognizable.

His wife, Katherine, 31, though, saw her attacker. Both her arms were broken when she covered her face to defend herself, officials said. She also suffered broken ribs and other horrific head injuries. Her body was found in or near a first-floor bedroom.

Crime scene investigators hadn't found the murder weapons as of Saturday, sources said, but authorities suspect a fireplace poker missing from the Hanson home may have been used since it is consistent with the younger couple's injuries.

If the older couple was killed in their Naperville home and their bodies later transported to Aurora, their attacker thoroughly cleaned up afterward as the interior was immaculate, sources said. The couple's bed was made up with clean sheets and a blanket.

Neither house had signs of forced entry and several valuables were not taken, police said.

Authorities haven't pinpointed when the killings occurred, but they think Terrance Hanson was alive and at home at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday because he answered a telephone call for his son, Eric.

Eric Hanson was supposed to go the next morning to Los Angeles, where he used to live, to attend a Neil Diamond concert with his former fiance.

The woman called to confirm the plans with Eric. His father hung up the phone after he answered, police said. Eric Hanson boarded a 11:15 a.m. flight Thursday as planned, sources said.

That afternoon, a concerned relative went to the Tsao home on Jeremy Ranch Court after the victims didn't show up for work. That relative or another family member summoned to the home went inside and spotted one of the bodies. One of them called 911.

Police, while interviewing other family members and friends, learned Eric Hanson had argued with his sister and brother-in-law about money, sources said. They said Jimmy Tsao banned Eric Hanson from the home, but his sister kept allowing him back inside.

Katherine Tsao had argued with her brother a few weeks earlier, sources said, and told him she'd tell their father Eric had been stealing. He threatened to kill her if she did, sources said.

Aurora police detectives flew to California. The FBI also was brought in to assist them with the out-of-state investigation. The ex-fiance was cooperative, officials said, but police ran into red tape without an arrest warrant and weren't able to track down Hanson that night.

Prosecutors in DuPage County obtained a $4 million cash arrest warrant for Hanson on felony intimidation charges late Thursday based on the alleged threat to his sister.

Hanson returned to Illinois early Friday, when he drove his Trailblazer from the Chicago area north on Interstate 90 toward the summer cabin in northern Wisconsin. He did not resist arrest when a state trooper pulled over the SUV.

Hanson, an occasional painter with a criminal record that includes a Michigan prison term for home invasion, remained in custody late Saturday in Wisconsin.

Police searching the Hanson home in Naperville found credit cards in the names of both Katherine Tsao and her father, Terrance, inside of Eric Hanson's bedroom, officials said.

The murder investigation continues.