"I Was Just Happy That He's Dead": WGN's Report on Richard Speck's Death, 1991

Name: "I Was Just Happy That He's Dead": WGN's Report on Richard Speck's Death, 1991
Uploaded: 2016-04-25T00:00:00Z
Duration: 4 min 43 s
Description: On the day Richard Speck died in 1991, WGN's Robert Jordan revisited the 1966 murders with the first detective on the scene, the trial prosecutor and victims' relatives, who spoke of relief that the parole hearings were over.

On the day Richard Speck died in 1991, WGN's Robert Jordan revisited the 1966 murders with the first detective on the scene, the trial prosecutor and victims' relatives, who spoke of relief that the parole hearings were over.

Subject: Richard Speck
Recorded: about December 5, 1991
Runtime: 4:43

Content warning: Describes the murders of eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966 (binding, strangling, stabbing) over archive film of a bloodstained room; relatives welcome Speck's death.

The Interview

This is a WGN-TV news report of 4 minutes 43 seconds, made on the day Richard Speck died in prison in December 1991 and posted by WGN News in 2016 under the title "From the WGN archives: Richard Speck murders." Speck himself is not heard. Reporter Robert Jordan recounts the 1966 murders and manhunt over archive film and from outside the townhouse where the nurses were killed, and interviews the first detective on the scene, the trial prosecutor and relatives of the victims, who are not named.

Historical Context

On the night of July 13 to 14, 1966, Richard Speck murdered eight student nurses in a townhouse on Chicago's South Side. A ninth, Corazon Amurao, survived by hiding under a bunk bed. Speck was identified after a suicide attempt at the Starr Hotel, when a doctor at Cook County Hospital saw his "Born to Raise Hell" tattoo. He was convicted at Peoria in April 1967 and sentenced to death; the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the death sentence in 1971, and in 1972 he was resentenced to 400 to 1,200 years. He was denied parole seven times and died on December 5, 1991, after being taken from Stateville Correctional Center to a Joliet hospital.

Circumstances

The interviews were recorded for a same-day report on Speck's death: the relatives are asked what they felt "this morning" when they heard the news. The date is inferred from those questions; the upload itself carries no date or description.

What the Interview Covers

Jordan describes the manhunt, Speck's suicide attempt in a West Madison flophouse, and his identification by the tattoo that Amurao had described. A police investigator says that without her identification "chances are I will probably still be working on it." Jack Wallenda, retired, recalls that he knew three of the victims personally. Prosecutor William Martin calls the killings evil conduct against "absolutely harmless and innocent women." An unidentified speaker says Speck "should die." A victim's relative (whether one or two relatives speak is not clear) describes the repeated parole hearings and the petitions strangers helped them sign, and says: "I was just happy that he's dead." The relative also complains that Speck "has gained, like, tremendous amount of weight" and was "taken very good care of."

What Makes the Recording Significant

It records how the victims' families and the men who investigated and prosecuted the case reacted on the day Speck died, twenty-five years after the murders.

Archival Importance

Contemporaneous Chicago television coverage of Speck's death from WGN's own archive, posted by the station.

Important Caveats

Speck is not heard. The date of December 5, 1991 is inferred from the report, not stated on the upload. No captions exist for this video, so the transcript rests on a single machine pass and has not yet been checked by a listener. The relatives are not named, and it is not clear whether one or two relatives speak. The speaker at 02:40 is not identified. WGN's statements that the survivor "returned to the Philippines" and that Speck attended only his first parole hearing are the report's own and were not checked further. The report's "eight consecutive terms of 50 to 100 years" does not match the 1972 sentence of 400 to 1,200 years (eight consecutive terms of 50 to 150 years).

Robert Jordan: The murders shocked and horrified the entire city, resulting in one of the largest manhunts in the city of Chicago. For two days, the suspect, later identified as Richard Speck, eluded police by holing up in a seedy West Madison flophouse. Fearing that capture was imminent, Speck slashed his wrist and arm, allegedly attempting suicide. Police later discovered bloodstained papers and clothes in room 584 of the Starr Hotel. Speck was taken to Cook County Hospital, where an alert doctor noticed the tattoo emblazoned on his arm that read "Born to Raise Hell," a tattoo which had been described earlier to police by the only surviving nurse, Corazon Amurao. The morning after the murders, Amurao was able to tell police what the world would soon know.

Robert Jordan: When Chicagoans awoke that hot July morning, they received the horrible news that Richard Speck had killed eight nurses in this apartment, taking them one by one from the bedroom, tying them with bedsheets, either strangling or stabbing them all. Only one nurse survived, Corazon Amurao. She hid under a bed and survived the entire ordeal, [unclear: "later, to crawl out on this ledge" (Whisper); probably "later to crawl out onto this ledge"] and scream to the neighborhood, "They're all dead. All of my friends are dead. I'm the only one who's alive."

Police Investigator: Without her identification and the description, chances are I [unclear: "will probably still be" / "would probably still be"] working on it.

Robert Jordan: Jack Wallenda was the first detective on the scene after the murders were reported. Now retired, he still remembers the gruesome scene like it was yesterday.

Jack Wallenda: It was a terrible scene. What made it so bad for me is that I knew three of the girls personally, and you walk in and you see something like this. It was a pretty good shock.

Reporter: And what did you feel this morning when you heard the news that he died?

Relative Of A Victim: Well, I was just happy that he's dead. Too bad the man didn't suffer more. [unclear: "than he took" / "Then he took"] the easy way out. But I think it's going to be a lot better for remaining members of the family, so we don't have to suffer every year when that sucker came up for parole hearings.

Robert Jordan: The prosecutor, William Martin, called Speck a sociopath who killed without remorse.

William Martin: To be able to come face to face with each victim and personally, either with a knife or his bare hands, extinguish the lives of absolutely harmless and innocent women who did nothing to him. It's hard to imagine more evil conduct.

Robert Jordan: Speck, who was 24 at the time, was found guilty and sentenced to die in the electric chair. But the Supreme Court overturned the death penalty.

Unidentified Speaker: There were hideous crimes. He murdered them in different ways. He strangled them. He knifed them. He did all kinds of things. And it's just unbelievable. And for that, he should die. He should [unclear: "forfeit" / "force it" (Whisper)] with his life. Remove him from society, shall we say.

Robert Jordan: Speck was later resentenced to serve eight consecutive terms of 50 to 100 years in prison, a duration which for the family became an agonizing term as well.

Relative Of A Victim: And every time a parole hearing has come up, we've had just calls from people that we don't even know, and asking if they could help sign petitions. And people have been really wonderful, trying to keep him behind bars. And I don't know who would really let him out. But there's always a chance.

Reporter: So then this morning, when you heard the news?

Relative Of A Victim: Well, I knew that we weren't going to have to go through that anymore. And we can kind of let it ride and not have it in our minds constantly brought up. So it was a big relief. Something, of course, there's no remorse. And I feel like it's really happened a little bit late. I wish it could have happened [unclear: "sooner or sooner" (Whisper); one word may be different], so it would have saved a lot of grief and sort of torturing type thing every time it came up. And I think he's had a pretty good life and a pretty good ending, really, for what he has done. And I understand that, you know, he just, he really didn't do very much, and he just, he must have ate very well, because I understand that he has gained, like, tremendous amount of weight. And so I think he was taken very good care of, which he really didn't deserve.

Reporter: Do you think now this will allow you to get on with your life?

Relative Of A Victim: Definitely, definitely.

Robert Jordan: Speck appeared at his first parole hearing in 1976 but did not attend subsequent hearings. The surviving nurse, Corazon Amurao, returned to the Philippines. Robert Jordan, WGN News. ---