A long-imprisoned murderer told a judge today he plans to plead guilty to a decades-old murder in the western suburbs.
"I am going to plead guilty," Michael Whitney, 58, said in a soft voice as he appeared at a bond hearing on charges of murdering Darlene Stack, a 28-year-old medical technician student.
When Associate DuPage County Judge Neal Cerne offered to appoint a public defender for him, Whitney said, "I don't want one, sir."
Cerne appointed one anyway and denied bail for Whitney, who was dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, his hands shackled in front of him.
Stack was found stabbed 33 times in her room in a boarding house in the 1400 block of North Stoddard Avenue in Wheaton in August of 1976. She was gagged and her hands bound behind her back with strips of a bedsheet. She had been raped, authorities said in court.
A law enforcement source told the Tribune that Whitney -- currently in prison for a 1982 murder -- has long been a suspect in Stack's slaying. But he had an alibi provided by his girlfriend who lived with him at the boarding house. Then DNA testing provided a breakthrough, prosecutors said in court.
About five to six years ago,Wheaton police reopened the investigation and sent the sheet from Stack's bed to the DuPage County sheriff's crime lab, which found semen on it. Authorities were able to match it to Whitney.
"Once police learned of this DNA evidence, they went back and spoke to the one alibi this defendant had," Prosecutor Joseph Ruggiero said in court.
Whitney and his girlfriend had told police they had gone to West Chicago to buy a can of pop and then went to the Blackwell Forest Preserve. The girlfriend told police Whitney was never away from her side, and that if he had left their twin bed, she would have known it.
"Not only was she in love with the defendant back then, she was also scared of him," Ruggiero said.
But after being confronted with the DNA evidence, she changed her story, Ruggiero said.
She told police that Whitney had gone out drinking that night and, at some point during the evening, had gotten up from their bed naked and walked out of their room and upstairs to Stack's room, Ruggiero said.
The woman told police she then heard muffled screams from Stack's bedroom, Ruggiero said. "In a panic for what she thought the defendant was doing, she left the house," Ruggiero said.
After the woman returned to the boarding house, she found Whitney pacing back and forth in their room. They drove to the DuPage River, across from the Winfield Fire District building. She saw Whitney wipe off the knife and throw it into the river, Ruggiero said.
Whitney told the girlfriend he had killed Stack, Ruggiero said.
Not only did the woman provide an alibi, she also testified at least three times before a DuPage County grand jury. "It wasn't until recently that she came forward with the truth," Ruggiero said.
Stack had just moved into the boarding house after having resided with one of three sisters in Chicago. She had been attending classes at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield to become a medical technician.
"She was only there a few days before she was brutally raped and murdered," said Ruggiero, who showed the judge two pictures of the crime scene.
Stack had been engaged to Dwight Omi, who died in 2004 at age 56. His brothers said he never got over her death. Omi never married and did not leave behind any children, according to Paul and Dan Omi.
"It think it had quite an impact on my brother, he tried to get past it but a certain joy seemed to have left his life," said Paul Omi.
Reached at her Florida home, the landlady of the board house, Grace Pahlas, said she rented three rooms to help make ends meet.
She recalled the day Stack moved in, and how Whitney helped the new tenant move boxes into the house. “She was so happy and nice,” Pahlas said. “I thought, ‘Finally, I got a nice girl to live in my house.’ ”
Whitney was sent to prison eight years later after being convicted of killing Cecil Wallar on Oct. 10, 1982.
Whitney, 29 at the time of the killing, was picked out by Wallar's wife Elizabeth as the man who stabbed her husband in the chest after breaking into their home at 560 Thornbill Drive. Whitney had cut a hole in a screen door, reached in and unlocked the door of the ground-floor apartment, according to a 1982 Chicago Tribune story.
Whitney ransacked the apartment after tying the hands of Wallar and his wife.
After taking $31 in cash and jewelry Whitney warned Wallar not to call police for five minutes after he left. He walked to the door, but turned back and stabbed Wallar. Elizabeth Wallar, who was in the couple’s bedroom, heard her husband scream, "I'm stabbed," then rushed to him.
She found her husband outside the patio door, stabbed once in the chest. He died two hours later. A knife was found in grass 10 and 20 feet away.
Whitney was arrested in a Carol Stream restaurant early the following day after the attacker's description was sent to local taverns and restaurants.
The couple had recently celebrated their 50 year wedding anniversary. He left behind five children, 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Whitney was due to be paroled from state prison in October 2012 for the Wallar murder. He had been convicted of armed robbery, burglary, home invasion and murder.
chicagobreaking@tribune.com
"I am going to plead guilty," Michael Whitney, 58, said in a soft voice as he appeared at a bond hearing on charges of murdering Darlene Stack, a 28-year-old medical technician student.
When Associate DuPage County Judge Neal Cerne offered to appoint a public defender for him, Whitney said, "I don't want one, sir."
Cerne appointed one anyway and denied bail for Whitney, who was dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, his hands shackled in front of him.
Stack was found stabbed 33 times in her room in a boarding house in the 1400 block of North Stoddard Avenue in Wheaton in August of 1976. She was gagged and her hands bound behind her back with strips of a bedsheet. She had been raped, authorities said in court.
A law enforcement source told the Tribune that Whitney -- currently in prison for a 1982 murder -- has long been a suspect in Stack's slaying. But he had an alibi provided by his girlfriend who lived with him at the boarding house. Then DNA testing provided a breakthrough, prosecutors said in court.
About five to six years ago,Wheaton police reopened the investigation and sent the sheet from Stack's bed to the DuPage County sheriff's crime lab, which found semen on it. Authorities were able to match it to Whitney.
"Once police learned of this DNA evidence, they went back and spoke to the one alibi this defendant had," Prosecutor Joseph Ruggiero said in court.
Whitney and his girlfriend had told police they had gone to West Chicago to buy a can of pop and then went to the Blackwell Forest Preserve. The girlfriend told police Whitney was never away from her side, and that if he had left their twin bed, she would have known it.
"Not only was she in love with the defendant back then, she was also scared of him," Ruggiero said.
But after being confronted with the DNA evidence, she changed her story, Ruggiero said.
She told police that Whitney had gone out drinking that night and, at some point during the evening, had gotten up from their bed naked and walked out of their room and upstairs to Stack's room, Ruggiero said.
The woman told police she then heard muffled screams from Stack's bedroom, Ruggiero said. "In a panic for what she thought the defendant was doing, she left the house," Ruggiero said.
After the woman returned to the boarding house, she found Whitney pacing back and forth in their room. They drove to the DuPage River, across from the Winfield Fire District building. She saw Whitney wipe off the knife and throw it into the river, Ruggiero said.
Whitney told the girlfriend he had killed Stack, Ruggiero said.
Not only did the woman provide an alibi, she also testified at least three times before a DuPage County grand jury. "It wasn't until recently that she came forward with the truth," Ruggiero said.
Stack had just moved into the boarding house after having resided with one of three sisters in Chicago. She had been attending classes at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield to become a medical technician.
"She was only there a few days before she was brutally raped and murdered," said Ruggiero, who showed the judge two pictures of the crime scene.
Stack had been engaged to Dwight Omi, who died in 2004 at age 56. His brothers said he never got over her death. Omi never married and did not leave behind any children, according to Paul and Dan Omi.
"It think it had quite an impact on my brother, he tried to get past it but a certain joy seemed to have left his life," said Paul Omi.
Reached at her Florida home, the landlady of the board house, Grace Pahlas, said she rented three rooms to help make ends meet.
She recalled the day Stack moved in, and how Whitney helped the new tenant move boxes into the house. “She was so happy and nice,” Pahlas said. “I thought, ‘Finally, I got a nice girl to live in my house.’ ”
Whitney was sent to prison eight years later after being convicted of killing Cecil Wallar on Oct. 10, 1982.
Whitney, 29 at the time of the killing, was picked out by Wallar's wife Elizabeth as the man who stabbed her husband in the chest after breaking into their home at 560 Thornbill Drive. Whitney had cut a hole in a screen door, reached in and unlocked the door of the ground-floor apartment, according to a 1982 Chicago Tribune story.
Whitney ransacked the apartment after tying the hands of Wallar and his wife.
After taking $31 in cash and jewelry Whitney warned Wallar not to call police for five minutes after he left. He walked to the door, but turned back and stabbed Wallar. Elizabeth Wallar, who was in the couple’s bedroom, heard her husband scream, "I'm stabbed," then rushed to him.
She found her husband outside the patio door, stabbed once in the chest. He died two hours later. A knife was found in grass 10 and 20 feet away.
Whitney was arrested in a Carol Stream restaurant early the following day after the attacker's description was sent to local taverns and restaurants.
The couple had recently celebrated their 50 year wedding anniversary. He left behind five children, 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Whitney was due to be paroled from state prison in October 2012 for the Wallar murder. He had been convicted of armed robbery, burglary, home invasion and murder.
chicagobreaking@tribune.com
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