Prosecution nearing end of case against Hanson

Hours after police told him his parents, sister and her husband were found dead in Aurora, an out-of-state Eric C. Hanson went to the airport to return home.

But, when a ticket agent tipped him off that he was the subject of a manhunt, Hanson suddenly left the Los Angeles airport without boarding a plane.

His erratic behavior in the hours between the grisly Sept. 29, 2005, discovery and his arrest the next afternoon was the focus Thursday of testimony in his ongoing murder trial.

The jury also watched a 45-minute snippet of his videotaped police interview Sept. 30, 2005, in which Hanson describes his whereabouts.

The 31-year-old Naperville man maintains his innocence. He is expected to testify today after prosecutors rest in the death penalty trial.

Authorities allege he killed them out of greed after stealing about $80,000 from his parents in a credit card scam that his mother and sister discovered. Hanson, though, said his parents were letting him pay them back.

Terrance and Mary Hanson, with whom he lived, were shot in the head in their Naperville home. Their bodies were moved to the Aurora home of their daughter, Katherine "Kate" Tsao, who was fatally bludgeoned with her husband, Jimmy Tsao.

Aurora police Detective Michael Nilles testified Hanson became a suspect less than an hour into the investigation when another sister, Jennifer Williams, who lives in Minnesota, told them about the thefts. She said Hanson had threatened Kate several weeks earlier.

As he continued working the crime scene, Nilles said, he began the first of several phone conversations with Hanson during a more than six-hour period Sept. 29, 2005, in which the seasoned detective said he tried to coax him into confessing.

"I said I believed in my heart something happened between him and his family," Nilles said. "I said sometimes people can't help themselves and just snap and that I didn't think he meant to do this."

Hanson repeatedly denied harming his family. Nilles asked: If not you, who?

"I have no idea," Nilles said, quoting Hanson. "I swear to you that it was not me."

Though erratic, Nilles said, Hanson did call him back 10 times. He said Hanson agreed to meet two Aurora police detectives the next morning, Sept. 30, 2005, at LAX airport. But, as Hanson was on the phone assuring Nilles the plan still was on, the detective said authorities learned he was back in Illinois, heading north toward Wisconsin.

Nilles said they tracked him through his cellular phone. A trooper stopped Hanson's SUV near Portage, Wis., by noon Sept. 30, 2005.

In the 45-minute tape played in court, Hanson calmly told Nilles the night of the killings he had eaten dinner with his mother, met a girlfriend for drinks, then went home and watched a movie, "Gone in 60 Seconds," before going to sleep. That next morning, he told Nilles, he left for the airport to go visit another girlfriend in L.A.

Prosecutors lack a confession and the murder weapons. Instead, they are focusing on the financial motive, timeline and other evidence. They said a rubber glove with his father's blood was in Hanson's SUV, along with Jimmy's Rolex watch and Kate's $24,000 wedding ring.

The trial continues today.