Man who confessed to Starved Rock killings granted parole after nearly six decades in prison

Chester Weger re-enacted the killings of three west suburban women in Starved Rock State Park on Nov. 17, 1960, the day he confessed. A LaSalle County jury sentenced him to life in prison for killing one of the women. He was paroled on Thursday. | AP file photo

The same month that John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960, 21-year-old Chester Weger confessed to the brutal killings of three west suburban women in Starved Rock State Park.

Weger is now 80 and still behind bars for those gruesome deaths. He’s the longest-serving inmate in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

But on Thursday, after serving nearly six decades in prison, the state Prisoner Review Board voted to free him.

They voted 9 to 4 to grant Weger parole. Last year, he fell one vote short of being released.

The board must still decide the conditions of Weger’s parole. St. Leonard’s, a halfway house in the West Loop, has agreed to take Weger in.

Weger, who suffers from asthma and arthritis, is qualified for medical care from the Veterans Administration because he served in the military.

The parole board voted to delay his release by at least three months to approve the conditions of his release.

Chester Weger

The families of the three Starved Rock victims were relieved that Chester Weger was convicted, but Lillian Oetting’s husband wished he received the death penalty, not life in prison. | Chicago Daily News files.