Yorkville Mass Killer Now On Murderer Registry

YORKVILLE, IL — Carl Reimann was 31 when he walked into Yorkville's Pine Village Steakhouse intending to rob the place. By the time he walked out, five people — three employees and two diners — were dead. Now, at age 77, Reimann is free. The convicted mass killer was released late Thursday, according to media reports that cite the state prisoner review board.

On Thursday, the board voted 8-4 in favor of granting Reimann parole.

Though some outlets cited sources saying Reimann will live in Hinsdale with a local church official, as of Saturday morning Reimann was listed on the Illinois State Police Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry, which noted an address in LaGrange. Reimann was required to register because victim Catherine Rekate was just 16 years old when he killed her.

His listed address, in the 700 block of 7th Avenue, is just several doors down from a local preschool and half a mile from a park. Under the state's Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registration Act, the sheriff's department is required to notify public school boards, child care facilities ind libraries in the county where a violent offender resides — with the exception of Cook County, where Reimann currently lives.

The Illinois Department of Corrections listed him as "out of custody" with a parole discharge date of September 2039. He had been incarcerated since June 18, 1973, walking free after just shy of 45 years in prison.

On the night of Dec. 29, 1972, Reimann and his accomplice and then-girlfriend, Betty Piche, made stops at two Plano bars before heading to the Pine Village, then situated at the corner of Route 47 and Route 34. Five people were inside the restaurant when the pair walked in, according to court documents. Once inside, Reimann pulled a gun and Piche proceeded to take money from the cash register.

During the robbery, a family walked into the Pine Village and were told that if they sat down they wouldn't be harmed, court documents note. But before Piche and Reimann left, Reimann "methodically, carefully and slowly shot and killed" the five people originally at the restaurant. The family was spared when Reimann ran out of ammunition, according to Kendall County Now.

The dead were Pine Village employees George T. Pashade, 74, of Aurora, John H. Wilson, 48, of North Aurora and Catherine M. Rekate, 16, of Plano; along with patrons Robert E. Loftus, 48, of Bristol and David M. Gardner, 35, of Yorkville.

Piche and Reimann fled the scene but were spotted by Catherine Rekate’s father, who saw that Piche was wearing a blonde wig as the two fled the Pine Village. They were apprehended within minutes of the murders. The wig was found near their car, and the gun was still in their possession, but had been reloaded.

In 1973, Reimann was sentenced to 150 years for each murder and 60 years for the armed robbery. Piche was sentenced as an accomplice in the crimes and paroled in 1983. She died in 2004.

Due to Illinois sentencing laws at the time of the killings, Reimann was eligible for parole. Under stricter sentencing laws passed after his conviction, Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis told the Daily Chronicle that if Reimann had committed the same crime today, he would be serving natural life in prison.

Weis said the victims' family members present at the parole hearing took the news "very hard," adding, "I think they were disappointed that the impact Reimann had on their families and their lives wasn't taken into much consideration as they would have liked, but it was difficult for me to see them walk out disappointed in the outcome and a little concerned about what's going to happen next when he does get out."

In a twist of fate, Reimann’s son, Matthew J. Reimann, would also become a convicted killer. The younger Reimann was sentenced to life under stricter laws for brutally murdering his neighbor, 41-year-old Sharon Rollins, in DeKalb 14 years after the Pine Village slayings. Matthew Reimann is in custody at Lawrence Correctional Center in Sumner, Illinois.

Image: Carl Reimann's most recent IDOC photo/Illinois Department of Corrections