Lisa Slusser Murderer Gets Help

[Simonsays]

Just one hour ago, this article was released in Florida

The homeless man who served a prison sentence for the rape, stabbing and murder of 12-year-old Lisa Slusser of Waukegan, Ill., is in the main county jail but will be getting help from the Veteran's Administration, the public defender's office said. He might be transferred to a bed in the V.A. "crisis unit'' as early as Tuesday.

Gary D. Kerpan was arrested Friday by Fort Lauderdale police as he hid in the bushes downtown. His crime, police say: a third degree felony, failing to report his "transient'' address on his official state identification. Bond was set at $1,000 by Judge Jay Hurley on Saturday.

Doug Brawley, chief assistant public defender in charge of mental health, said Sunday that he'd talked to the Veteran's hospital and they're willing to help. He also talked to Kerpan.

"This guy really wanted help. I think this is going to be one of those rare stories that really will have a good outcome,'' Brawley said. " ...This is a guy crying out for help.''

Kerpan has been hanging out in Stranahan Park since his August release from prison in Miami, on charges he failed to register as a sex offender after his release from prison in Illinois for killing the girl.

Meanwhile, some interesting old clips from the Chicago Tribune are on the jump. One clip indicates Kerpan had made statements about the murder to one of his brothers, leading the brother to call police long before Kerpan's confession.

Another bit of (old) news: suspected serial killer Henry Lee Lucas confessed to killing the same girl, but officials immediately questioned whether that was true, and ultimately, Lucas's confession was found to be false.


Chicago Tribune
June 12, 1991, Wednesday, NORTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION
Sentencing closes 1977 murder case
30-year prison term in girl's death

BYLINE: By Robert Enstad

SECTION: CHICAGOLAND; Pg. 4; ZONE: C

LENGTH: 622 words

Lake County closed the Lisa Slusser murder case Tuesday as Gary Kerpan, who admitted that he kidnapped and killed the child nearly 14 years ago, was sentenced to prison for 30 years.
The state had sought 40 years under a negotiated plea agreement.

For Lisa's mother and father, it was their first day of peace since Aug. 20, 1977, the day their 12-year-old daughter was taken from a woods near her home in Beach Park.

"We are just so glad this day has finally come," said Lisa's mother, Pat Slusser. "Right now I feel totally wiped out, I really do. I will try to get back to a normal life after this."

Lisa's body was found near the Wisconsin border shortly after she vanished. She had been stabbed repeatedly and sexually assaulted.

The killing prompted one of the biggest manhunts and criminal investigations in Lake County history. But it appeared futile. Hundreds of persons were questioned but no one was ever charged.

Lake County State's Atty. Michael J. Waller said the name of Gary Kerpan, 41, first came to the attention of investigators about five years ago.

Kerpan, formerly a Waukegan resident, was in combat with the Marines in Vietnam, but after the war he drifted into a life of alcoholism, mental illness and homelessness, his attorney said.

David Brodsky, an assistant public defender who represented Kerpan, said that by the 1980s, Kerpan was living in the back of moving vans, in cardboard boxes, at the Salvation Army and in Veterans Administration hospitals. "His mental illness got progressively worse," Brodsky said.

Kerpan also was alienated from his family, which still lived in Waukegan. It was during this time that Larry Kerpan, a brother who is now deceased, talked to Sgt. Charles Fagan of the Lake County Sheriff's Department about the Slusser case, Waller disclosed after the sentencing.

"Larry said that his brother may have had something to do with the Slusser case because of statements that Gary had made," Waller said. "We were looking for the opportunity to question Gary Kerpan, but no one knew where he was."

Then on Jan. 18, 1990, Kerpan called an FBI office in South Carolina. "He told the police his conscience was bothering him and he wanted to turn himself in," Brodsky said Tuesday.

Last month, Kerpan pleaded guilty to Lisa's murder before Circuit Judge John Goshgarian.

Matthew Chancey and Michael Mermel, assistant state's attorneys, had sought a 40-year sentence under a plea agreement. They did not press for a life sentence or the death penalty, the maximum Kerpan could have faced under Illnois law.

In imposing the 30-year sentence, Goshgarian said he was giving Kerpan consideration for turning himself in and admitting his guilt.

Brodsky blamed Kerpan's mental and physical deterioration on his Vietnam experience.

"When he returned (from war in 1970), he did not talk to his loved ones about Vietnam. He could not deal with it. And when he did, it was to other veterans or when he was drunk or feeling depressed," Brodsky said.

Waller said after Tuesday's hearing that Kerpan's combat experience in Vietnam may have been a factor that led to Lisa Slusser's tragic death.

"I think Gary Kerpan's life clearly changed significantly as a result of his experience in Vietnam," the state's attorney said. "Obviously, he was suffering from a post-Vietnam stress syndrome."

In passing sentence, Goshgarian said: "The (Slusser) family wishes to close the book (on the crime) and finally make an effort to recover from this tragedy. To the Slusser family I can only say that a trial would open old wounds and trauma.

"Perhaps the emotional roller coaster, as referred to by Pat (Slusser) in her statement (to the court), is over."


Chicago Tribune

February 1, 1990, Thursday, FINAL

Grand jury charges suspect who told of girl's '77 killing

BYLINE: By Robert Enstad

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 7; ZONE: M

LENGTH: 287 words


The man held in the 1977 abduction and slaying of 12-year-old Lisa Slusser, who lived near Waukegan, was indicted Wednesday on four counts of murder, rape and kidnapping.
Gary Kerpan, 40, who lived in Waukegan at the time of the slaying, could face the death penalty if convicted.


Sgt. Charles Fagan of the Lake County sheriff's office reportedly testified before the grand jury that indicted Kerpan. Fagan took a statement from Kerpan after the defendant called an FBI office in South Carolina last month and said he wanted to talk about a 1977 murder in Illinois.
Sheriff Clinton Grinnell said details Kerpan gave of the crime convinced authorities that he, and no one else, abducted the girl from a wooded area near her home north of Waukegan on Aug. 24, 1977.

Kerpan also told FBI agents that he may have been involved in crimes in other states, according to investigators. However, Fagan said Wednesday that no investigators from other states have attempted to question Kerpan, who is being held without bond in the Lake County Jail in Waukegan.

The surrender of Kerpan, who had not previously been a suspect in the Slusser case, apparently is the culmination of one of the more baffling criminal investigations in Lake County, Ill., in recent history.

The girl's battered body, with multiple stab wounds, was found along the Des Plaines River near the Illinois-Wisconsin border three days after her disappearance.

Kerpan, who worked around the country as a furniture mover, grew up in the Waukegan area but moved away in 1984, authorities said.

Chief Deputy State's Atty. Michael Waller said Wednesday that the prosecution has not decided whether to seek the death penalty against Kerpan.

[Snoopy]

This pathetic human being has no right to walk the face of this Earth. As a veteran, I cannot sympathize with the drama condoning/forgiving this behavior, because he was mixed up. I know this family, and hope they do not see this, as it could open up a can that should rest. Damn, sad world we live in! May he rot in hell.

[coyote]

I just read this and I'm floored. My husband who grew up in the area and knew both families. We had been told that Kerpan gave a death bed confession and died in prison. One would think that this would have made news in the local paper here as Lisa's death pretty much changed this area for ever.

[Danno]

Just one more manifestation of our tragically failed system. Our country trains this man to be a killer and this is in a society which glorifies killing to begin with. When he does kill it is somehow shocking. A society such as this which condones persecuting such a man is itself insane.

Building a sane society 101: don't train your citizens to be killers and generally glorify killing and then expect them to not kill!

[goodintentions]

Come on Danno - I usually have great respect for you & your thoughts. But surely you aren't suggesting that this country trained anybody to kill and rape twelve year old girls? That just sounds stupid..

[Dennis_Ista]

In many documentaries I see about US soldiers being trained, the drill sarge's hammer on the fact that killing becomes automatically, no thought, just pull the trigger and kill the enemy.

It could be that in certain cases, the wiring goes faulty.

Then an innocent bystander becomes a victim, or enemy. And because the killing became second nature, it could be the case that it just happends.

[Danno]

goodintentions Wrote:Come on Danno - I usually have great respect for you & your thoughts. But surely you aren't suggesting that this country trained anybody to kill and rape twelve year old girls? That just sounds stupid..

There is a diffenence between intentionally training a preson to do something and indirectly training by example.

The environmental factors for every individual are different. I'll bet Mr. Kerpan, like most of us, was bombarded by thousands of messages during his life which glorified violence and killing. Some may have been subtle some not so subtle. I would bet he saw a lot of violence and inhumanity while he was in Vietnam. He may have even been a direct participant in such violence and inhumanity. There certainly was untold inhumanity there; over 3 millions people were killed because of the war between 1959 and 1975. Roughly 58,000 Americans were killed, 150,000 wounded, 1700 missing. The U.S. forces were responsible for causing approximately 90,000 innocent civilian deaths. That's a vast amount of human misery... all because our government wanted to impose our will on someone else. There is a very good chance that a protracted war in Vietnam was orchestrated solely for profit.

There is a lot of hypocrisy in war... a lot of absurdities, but the brain tends to function in a logical manner. You can't torture someone or not feed them when they are prisoner but you can blow their brains out and it's ok. We even seem to condone the killing and maiming of innocent civilians, merely calling them "collateral damage". Gee, that just happens to be the name of an Arnold Swartzenegger movie that is loaded with the glorification of violence. One of the more significant factors having an impact on the human psyche in Vietnam was the fact that it was difficult to tell friend from foe.
For anyone to discount those experiences, such as a states attorney during a murder prosecution, only reveals how inept and ill-prepared they are to effectively and logically address such issues. To consciously discount those experiences and solely have a desire to punish someone without fully understanding the forces which caused them in the first place and without procedure to rehabilitate the person is itself insane.


Our society is rife with the glorification of violence.
If you teach school children heavy in mathematics would anyone be surprised that there are a lot of mathematicians in our society?
We tend to not notice and we tend to discount the effect of the huge amount of glorification of violence in our society but the results speak for themselves.

Based on logic I have no doubt that violence in equal’s violence out.