Tragedy On Chatham: Family Members Dead in Murder-Suicide

Caption: Home on Chatham Avenue where four family members were found shot to death in a murder-suicide on Saturday evening. | WGN

By Patch Chicago (Patch Staff)

More details about the family members found dead inside their Elmhurst home emerged Sunday.

Frank Stack, 82, shot and killed his wife, Joan, also 82, and their two adult children, Francis, Jr., 48, and Mary, 57. Francis and Mary were both severely developmentally disabled, authorities said.

A friend of Stack’s called Elmhurst police on Saturday around 6:45 p.m. after he had a conversation with Stack, who told the friend that he was going to shoot his family, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Police discovered the family members deceased in their home in the 600 block of South Chatham Street shortly after.

Autopsy results show that Stack shot his wife and children before turning the gun on himself, the paper said. The Stacks were well liked by their neighbors, who they described as doting parents to Francis Jr. and Mary.

The children lived in group homes and frequently came home to spend weekends and holidays with their parents, reports said. The couple also had two adult daughters who lived in the Chicago area

During the 1990s, Stack expressed concern in a Chicago Tribune story that eventually he and his wife would become two old care for Mary and Francis, Jr.

Via Chicago Tribune