Belleville Rocked By Triple Homicide

By Andrew Peerless in News on Mar 3, 2005 3:16PM

Chicagoist can't help but feeling that Illinois has been awash in horrible things of late... school shootings and serial killers in Peoria, execution-style murders and stabbings on the north side of Chicago, and now this: The southern Illinois community of Belleville was rocked yesterday when the bodies of three elderly residents were discovered in a beauty salon.

The victims, salon owner Michael Cooney (62) and elderly sisters Dorothy Bone (82) and Doris Fischer (79), were stabbed to death at Michael's, a beauty salon and antique shop Cooney ran out of his home. The victims were discovered shortly after 11:00 a.m., when a customer arrived for a scheduled appointment.

Police are uncertain of a motive for the slayings, but note that Cooney was known to be wealthy, and due to the nature of the antique business, was frequently seen carrying large amounts of cash in his pockets. However, because neither the salon nor antiques store had a cash register on the premises, police don't even have a way of confirming whether money (or antique jewelry) was stolen from the scene. Authorities did locate Cooney's wallet, but it was empty.

Police are currently looking for Cooney's 2000 light brown Nissan Pathfinder, which was purportedly stolen by the perpetrator(s) and has yet to be located. It had Illinois handicapped license plate MJC 6. That car, and a bloody man's shoe print left at the scene, are currently the strongest pieces of potential evidence in the case.

Belleville, reportedly a community of friendly neighbors and unlocked doors, will clearly be forever changed by yesterday's tragedy. Chicagoist wishes its residents a speedy resolution to this case, and for all of our sakes, hopes we have fewer opportunities to write stories like these in the future.

Image courtesy of shermanhealth.com