Dr. Wynekoop Indicted, Her Plea Ignored.
Dr. Wynekoop Indicted,
Her Plea Ignored.

Dr. Wynekoop
Indicted, Her
Plea Ignored
_____

Grand Jurors Pin Murder
Charge on Original
Confession.

    Chicago, Nov. 29 (AP).--Dr. Alice L. Wynekoop was indicted today for the murder of her daughter-in-law, Rheta.
    On her sick bed, three hours before the indictment was returned in criminal court, she had given a dramatic interview renouncing the confession upon which the grand jury action had been partly based.
    "Because I thought it was the right thing to do," the ailing elderly woman doctor replied, when asked why she signed a statement admitting she shot Rheta in the back after accidentally administering an overdose of chloroform.
    "I signed the statement in the first place because I thought it was the right thing to do," the frail, little woman said. "There was no compulsion.
    "I intended to stand by it, and I would have if my heart had not set up a terrible battle. I realized that I might reach another bar of justice, a higher one than the Cook County Criminal Court.
    "I wanted to tell the truth. I did, repudiating the statement."

Silent on Rheta's Death.

    Concerning the actual death of Rheta, Dr. Wynekoop said nothing.
    There was no mention of a theory she previously expressed, blaming Rheta's death on a moronic attacker. Nor was there mention of Tyrrell's earlier story concerning an infatuated man who wooed Rheta and whom she repulsed.
    In substantiation of his theory, Tyrrell made public a letter written in red ink and received at the Wynekoop home. It read:
    "Dr. Wynekoop and Earle had nothing to do with the murder of Rheta. I was in love with her. I killed her. Tommy."
    But Dr. Wynekoop did dwell at length on the bond of affection between herself and her children. Rheta, she said, was a central figure in that affection, "she was a daughter to me and I was a mother to her."

Tells of Talk With Son.

    She made no comment on the lack of grand jury action against her son, Earle. There were indications, however, that police still were attempting to gather evidence against him.
    One phase of the investigation which Dr. Wynekoop undertook to clear up was a two-hour visit with her son in an automobile on a side street the afternoon of November 13, the day before Rheta was found dead on an operating table in the Wynekoop home.
    Earle, she explained, had been "perturbed over what the neighbors might think," because he seldom held a job. He had departed the day previously on a commercial photography expedition to Arizona, been forced to return from Kansas City to complete business details, and did not want to come to the Wynekoop home because the neighbors might think the trip a failure, she said.

Condition Held Serious.

    Dr. Francis W. McNamara, jail physician, said Dr. Wynekoop's condition was serious, but not critical.
    Upon leaving Dr. Wynekoop, interviewers talked with Earle, who declared he would "find the actual murderers of my wife."
    The widower said he had clews.
    A policeman today accompanied Stanley Young, Earle's companion on the projected photographic venture, to Peoria, Ill., checking up on Earle's alibi. Police previously indicated the alibi had been substantiated.
    Dr. Alice will be arraigned Monday.


Source:

Unknown, "Dr. Wynekoop Indicted, Her Plea Ignored," The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Thursday, 30 November, 1933, p. 8.

Created May 11, 2006; Revised May 11, 2006
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