Jim Dey: Pritzker's pardon puts old murder case back on front burner

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The news that a former death-row resident convicted of a 1986 double murder in Edgar County has been declared innocent has revived interest in the decades-old case.

Though released from prison in 2004, 72-year-old Randy Steidl recently learned Gov. J.B. Pritzker granted him a pardon based on "innocence" in mid-December.

One question that comes to mind is whether Steidl's co-defendant — Herbert Whitlock — will receive a similar pardon, and if so, when.

"If Randy Steidl gets a pardon, why wouldn't Whitlock?" asked former Illinois State Police Lt. Mike Callahan.

Callahan is intimately familiar with the case because he was asked in 2000 by his superiors to review the investigation into the murders of Dyke and Karen Rhoads. He said he discovered a shoddy investigation, came to the conclusion that Steidl and Whitlock "were framed" and ran into a brick wall of opposition when he wanted to reopen the case.

Ultimately, Callahan had a serious falling-out with his superiors over whether to proceed. The dispute ultimately prompted him to retire after 25 years and write a book titled "Too Politically Sensitive" about what occurred.

The phrase "too politically sensitive" comes from a comment by one of Callahan's superiors about why the murder case would not be re-opened.

The other main question has been haunting Edgar County for decades: Who stabbed the young newlyweds to death and set fire to their Paris residence?

Authorities long ago abandoned any interest in solving a case that proved a huge embarrassment to them.

Callahan, who now lives in Austin, Texas, said he still gets tips about what happened. Although there are multiple theories, he speculated in his book that the murders were an offshoot of the infamous federal "Pizza Connection" heroin-distribution case that had roots in Paris.

The Pizza Connection was a nationwide organized-crime conspiracy that used pizza restaurants as covers for heroin distribution. Paris pizza shop owner Joe Vitale was among the dozens of defendants convicted in the sprawling federal probe.

That, however, was background noise to the Steidl and Whitlock trials.

Authorities built their case on the testimony of two alcoholics, the late Darrell Herrington and Debra Reinbolt. Both testified they were present at the murder scene, but each denied seeing the other. Reinbolt also produced a knife she claimed she provided to Steidl and Whitlock to use.

Forensic examinations conducted later showed the knife's blade was too short to inflict the victims' deep stab wounds. Further, if it had been plunged into either body, its hilt would have caused bruising that was not found during autopsies.

Authorities also withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense. Herrington, for example, initially identified the killers as "Jim" and "Ed." He later identified Steidl and Whitlock.

Reinbolt spent years after the trials recanting her trial testimony and then recanting her recantations.

Steidl, who lives in Charleston, said the "innocence" pardon will help clear his family's name.

Meanwhile, Whitlock, an Oakland resident, was disgusted by being ignored. Denied a pardon in the past, he said he will re-apply in the aftermath of Steidl's pardon.

Steidl spent 17 years in prison before U.S. Judge Michael McCuskey reversed his conviction and ordered the state to retry him or release him. McCuskey ruled, after reviewing the case, that Steidl's acquittal "was reasonably probable if the jury had heard all the evidence."

Whitlock, who served 21 years in prison, was not released until 2008 following a decision reversing his conviction by the Fourth District Appellate Court in Springfield.

The Whitlock trial verdict reflected the bizarre nature of the case. Authorities alleged both Steidl and Whitlock killed the couple, and Steidl was convicted of both murders.

Whitlock, however, was convicted only of Karen Rhoads' murder, a clear sign of a jury compromise over conflicting evidence.

Both men later received multimillion-dollar settlements from the various governmental entities involved in the case.

One irony is that state police created this public-relations nightmare for themselves by trying to avoid bad publicity. The CBS program "48 Hours" was on the verge of broadcasting a program on the case when Callahan was asked to review what had occurred so state police could reassure CBS News that the two men were properly convicted.

"They wanted me to rubber-stamp it. In fact, that's what (one of my superiors) said. 'You can just rubber-stamp it, they're guilty,'" Callahan recalled.