State of Illinois v. Alice Wynekoop was a criminal case prosecuted in two trials, the first of which, in January 1934, was declared a mistrial because of the defendant's fragile health, and the second of which, in February–March 1934, resulted in a guilty verdict and a sentence of 25 years at the Oakdale Women's Reformatory in Dwight, Illinois. The defendant was Alice Wynekoop (February 1, 1871 – July 4, 1955), a well-known and respected physician, civic leader, and lecturer. Alice lived and practiced in Chicago and specialized in the health and welfare of children. She was charged with the murder of her 22-year-old daughter-in-law, Rheta Gretchen Gardener Wynekoop, of Indianapolis, who on November 21, 1933 was found on the examination table in Wynekoop's surgery, deceased.
Alice Lois Lindsay Wynekoop was variously known as Alice Wynekoop, Lindsay Wynekoop, Lois Wynekoop, A. L. L. Wynekoop, A. Lindsay, and Alice Lindsay Wynekoop, or other combinations of her first, middle, maiden, or married names or initials, and as an adult with the titles "Dr." or "M.D." affixed.
The trial was labeled from the start as a "mystery murder rivaling those of detective story thrillers." The Akron Beacon Journal said: "The entire nation stands engrossed by the murder of pretty Mrs. Rheta Gardner Wynekoop."
November 21: A body on the table On Tuesday evening, November 21, 1933, Wynekoop reported finding her daughter-in-law, 22-year-old Rheta Gretchen Gardner Wynekoop, the wife of her son, James "Earle" Wynekoop, deceased in her surgery. The surgery was in the basement of the Wynekoop home located at 3406 West Monroe Street in Chicago. Described as "an eerie place, huge and rambling" by detectives who searched it, the home was three stories high and had 15 rooms with boarders on the first and second floors and "many small, almost secretive rooms not included in that total." There were even two "sliding panels" in the garage that allowed a person to enter the home without setting off the alarm. The "mansion" had been built by Wynekoop and her husband as a "dream house" as their young family expanded. Rheta and Earle were among the boarders.
Crime scene The night of Rheta's death was described as "typical of a mystery novel. Outside the weather was foggy and a dank mist overhung the city." The police arrived at the Wynekoop home at 10:00 p.m. and found Rheta lying partially clothed on her left side on the examination table with a bullet wound in her back. Evidence gathered by police that evening included: powder burns around the bullet wound, no evidence of a struggle, care given to covering her body with a blanket, a .32 caliber revolver near her head wrapped in gauze and wiped clean of finger prints, an open desk drawer and missing $6.00, and a written notice of a 4:30 p.m. telegram delivery attempt. In addition, detectives found a bottle of chloroform and a "passionately termed love note" dated Sunday night (November 19) written by Wynekoop to Earle, who could not be found. The note read, "Precious: I'm choked. You are gone—you have called me up—and after ten minutes or so I called and called. No answer. Maybe you are sleeping. You need to be, but I want to hear your voice again tonight. I would give anything I have to spend an hour in real talk with you tonight—and I can not—good night." Detectives also found the hat and coat Wynekoop had worn on a reported shopping trip that afternoon.
Unfolding story Detectives determined that Rheta was still alive around 3:00 p.m. that day, because, returning from an errand at that time, she declined an invitation to take a walk with a neighbor, Vera Duncan. Rheta explained to Duncan that she needed to get home before Wynekoop departed on an errand. Wynekoop stated that she left the house when Rheta arrived and that she returned about 5:30 p.m. Wynekoop then sent a boarder, Enid Hennessey, a school teacher, on an errand to buy some chloral hydrate. When Hennessey returned, the two had supper together. Rheta was not at supper, Wynekoop said, and when she was still missing a few hours later, Wynekoop became concerned and began searching the house, finally finding her daughter-in-law's body on the table in her surgery. Wynekoop immediately phoned two of her children, Catherine and Walker, and then summoned the undertaker, who realized two hours later that Wynekoop had failed to notify the police and did so himself. Wynekoop later apologized for failing to notify police first. Police took Wynekoop to the Fillmore Police Station along with Catherine, Walker, and Hennessey as well as Wynekoop's sister (Mrs. Harvey Woods), a niece, and a sister-in-law who had also come to the home. All in custody, including Wynekoop, were released around midnight. Police were stationed outside the Wynekoop home.
Break-in theory That evening detectives ruled out the possibility of suicide because "Nobody, not even Houdini, could have shot himself in the manner this girl was shot." It seemed more plausible to detectives that there had been a break-in by a "drug fiend," especially since other break-ins had allegedly occurred at her home. Contributing to the break-in theory was the story given by Wynekoop to the police that no one was at home at the time of Rheta's death.
Search for Earle Wynekoop Authorities immediately launched a search for Earle, who, Wynekoop said, was on his way to the Grand Canyon to take pictures. This story was corroborated by Stanley Young, a companion on the trip, who ultimately provided the alibi that eliminated Earle as a suspect. Young's story was that the two had departed Chicago about 10:00 a.m. on the day of Rheta's death, passing through Peoria, IL, around 3:00 to 3:30 p.m. and arriving in Kansas City around 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday. At Peoria Earle sent his mother a telegram saying they were late starting because Young was having "domestic problems," a perplexing message to police and Young's uncle because Young was not married. Law enforcement in Kansas City had already been notified to apprehend him.
November 22: Wynekoop a person of interest
Inquest Wynekoop was back at the Fillmore police station by 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday for the coroner's inquest, which was held at the mortuary. Several witnesses were heard, including Wynekoop, who provided general information about the house, Rheta, and Rheta's marriage to Earle. She stated that she had not seen Rheta alive since 2:00 p.m. the day before, when she left on an errand. When questioned about any life insurance policies on Rheta, Wynekoop denied knowing anything, except that Rheta had been turned down by several companies because she was underweight. Wynekoop stated, also, that she loved Rheta "as much as the dead girl's husband, Earle, her son" and that "Earle and Rheta were very, very much in love—so much so that I often said jokingly it couldn't last."
Rheta's father, Burdine Gardner, "a well-to-do flour and salt broker" from Indianapolis, testified that his daughter had been unhappy in the marriage. Officers Sam Peterson and Walter Kelley next described the position of Rheta's body on the table and confirmed the physical impossibility of her placing the gun about 18 inches away from her head where it was found. They stated that Wynekoop had contradicted herself in the story-telling, first saying she had not missed Rheta until finding the body and later saying she found it after calling the neighbor, Vera Duncan. Duncan gave details of her 3:00 p.m. encounter with Rheta, as well as Wynekoop's phone call to her around 7:00 p.m. to inquire if she had seen Rheta. Enid Hennessey, the boarder, testified that "Earle and Rheta were a devoted couple. There was no discord of any kind." She defended the decision not to call the police because "we were all so nearly collapsed that we didn't know what we were doing." It was pointed out to her that they were apparently oriented well enough to call family members and the undertaker. After these witnesses, the inquest was ended abruptly when the coroner announced that he had received additional information that would be relevant to further deliberations.
Ongoing investigation
Insurance and indebtedness Other discoveries on Wednesday included a report from officials of New York Life Company that on November 14, less than two weeks prior to Rheta's death, Wynekoop had, in fact, purchased a $5,000 double indemnity life insurance policy on Rheta, of which Wynekoop herself was the beneficiary. Wynekoop explained the purchase in terms of a "kindly ruse" to convince Rheta, who worried about her health, that she was healthy, because she had passed the insurance company's exam. A second explanation was that she considered Rheta a child, and she had policies on each of her own. An additional double indemnity policy for $1,000, taken out November 2 and benefiting Earle and Catherine, was discovered the following day. Captain John Stege, the officer in charge of the case, learned that the doctor, despite having received a $75,000 inheritance from her deceased husband and having an annual income of $8,000 per year, was down to $26 in her bank account. She had a mortgage on which she was delinquent, and she owed back pay to her boarder Hennessey for housekeeping services.
Inconsistencies Stege seriously questioned Wynekoop's story that she was downtown shopping all afternoon, rejected the idea that an intruder would have taken time before leaving to cover Rheta's body, and wondered why Wynekoop had not called police first. Detectives at the house stated that there were no signs of attempted break-in through windows or the door; nor were there sightings of an intruder by neighbors. Neighbors did report hearing a loud sound about 3:00 p.m. that they attributed to a backfiring auto.
There was also the matter of the telegram messenger's observation that lights in the house were on when he left notice of the delivery attempt at 4:30 p.m. This contradicted Wynekoop's story that the lights were off when she arrived home at 5:30 p.m., as well as the discovery of the messenger's 4:30 p.m. notice in the operating room Wynekoop claimed she had not entered until 8:30 p.m.
Postmortem While the inquest was in session the coroner's assistant was conducting the postmortem. He noted that Rheta was mostly undressed at the time of the shooting. Burns around her mouth indicated she had been given chloroform, and powder burns around the wound indicated that the barrel of the gun had been held close to her back. The postmortem also showed she was missing about three quarts of blood, which was not accounted for until the finding of three blood-stained blankets later that day.
Other sudden deaths In addition, on Wednesday some "gossiping neighbors" advised authorities that there recently had been four other sudden deaths in the doctor's house, three in the last year. First was Wynekoop's husband, Frank Eldridge Wynekoop, "a man of apparent strong constitution," who suddenly sickened and died in the fall of 1929. The second was the March 1933 death of Wynekoop's adopted daughter, Mary Louise, who was not as concerning because she was "less robust than her foster father." A third was Catherine Porter, "a spinster", whom Wynekoop was treating for heart disease. Wynekoop, it was told, shared a $2,000 bank account with Porter and was named the beneficiary of her property, including a 100-acre farm. The woman's body was cremated a day after her death, and a relative later contested the will. The fourth sudden death was Hennessey's father, who was under the medical care of Wynekoop and died from a heart condition the previous May. Death certificates were secured on the four named, and no basis was found for further investigation.