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Last updated 11:43 am CT September 02, 2010.
Murder Case Clouded By Corruption
It was summer 1986, in Paris, Illinois. Dyke and Karen Rhoads just got married. The morning of July 6, 1986, both were found dead in their bedroom, stabbed more than 50 times, and their home torched. Less than a year later, Randy Steidl and Herb Whitlock were sent to prison for the crime. The case was closed for 14 years, when Illinois State Police Lieutenant Michale Callahan was asked to review the case.
"The only thing I wanted was to search for the truth," Callahan said. "I think anybody that is involved in a crime or the victim of a crime deserves to search for the truth. That has never happened here."
The truth Callahan uncovered was one that sent two men to prison without reason, one of them to death row. Then Gov. George Ryan, R-Illinois, first offered clemency to the two men, but it was mysteriously taken off the table. Callahan's superiors told him to back off the case, telling him it was "too politically sensitive." Callahan uncovered one of the prime suspects was a powerful millionaire who had donated large amounts of money to Ryan's campaign.
"This is probably a story that shows government at its worst," Callahan said. "When you add the issue of our constitution and our freedom of speech being taken away from us, I think it was a very important story to expose to the public."
With that in mind, Callahan continued to look for answers. All the while, getting more pressure from government officials to walk away from a case he felt was recklessly rushed through the justice system.
"The climate in America today is one where we will are starting to question government," he said.
By 2004, Callahan is taken of the case and demoted to the patrol division. It is then handed to a Captain, who was recently suspended for misconduct and lying. This time it's Callahan in court, for his First Amendment trial. The jury and a federal judge concur that Callahan was retaliated against for a murder case that was "too politically sensitive."
By early 2008, Steidl and Whitlock become free men, but still the focus of the renewed murder investigation.
"I hope that, by one person speaking out, a lot of people will stand up," Callahan said.
But more than 20 years after their murders, there is still no closure for Dyke and Karen Rhoads or their families. Steidl and Whitlock have filed multi-million dollar lawsuits against the Illinois State Police and others. They include the lone agent who was assigned to the "renewed" investigation in 2004. The Rhoads murder case remains unsolved.
By: Jeff Stensland
jstensland@wsiltv.com
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