A Very Cold Case: The Vampire Master
Friday, July 8, 2011 at 6:01AM I remember this case well as I lived in Springfield, Missouri, at the time. Here is the crime scene:
Mr. Feeney, 36, had said he was at a teacher's conference 90 miles away when his wife, Cheryl, their 6-year-old-son and their year-old daughter were killed early on the morning of Feb. 26, 1995. The three were found face down in their beds. Mrs. Feeney and the son, Tyler, had been beaten to death; the daughter, Jennifer, had been strangled with a drapery cord.
Prosecutors, who had no witnesses or physical evidence, contended that the crime scene was staged and that Mr. Feeney had the motive to kill. Four women testified they had had affairs with Mr. Feeney, and evidence indicated that he stood to gain $500,000 in life insurance and other property from the death of his wife and children.
This was the extent of the evidence against him. The reason that Feeney was the prime suspect was statistics. The perception is that most women that are murdered are murdered by their husband. I myself had thought this was true until I wrote this entry in the blog. While such statistics are hard to come by, the correct percentage seems to be 28 percent. Famed attorney F. Lee Bailey says 30%, but to come to that figure he had to include ex-husbands and ex-boyfriends.
It is only natural that a husband as odd as Feeney would be a suspect. For example, as a High School teacher he was known to play a game called Vampire The Masquerade with his students. While the insurance motive was possible, in a dual income household such policies are common. Mrs. Feeney was a nurse.
But police, once they had their "murderer," did not do much with some of the other oddities of the case:
There was also evidence that others may have been involved. Unidentified hairs were found on Cheryl Feeney's bloodstained nightgown. And the boy was found to have a sexually transmitted case of hepatitis B that did not come from his parents, raising the possibility that someone who had infected the boy also killed him and his family.
There was even a semen stain on the marital bed that did not belong to the husband.
At the time I wondered why prosecutors bring such weak cases. Then an eye witness came forward. While there was proof that Feeney had been at the convention, key to the prosecution’s case was that a 90 mile drive from the teacher’s conference in the middle of the night was not out of the question. The eye witness was a convenience store clerk who remembered Feeney buying gas in the middle of the night in Springfield. I remember thinking, "He must have done it then." But when the employment records were examined it was discovered that the "eye witness" was not working the night of the murder. Whoops.
It is not clear what the motivation of the clerk was. It could be similar to the problem of police perjury called testilying, where the police lie to convict a suspect they "know" is guilty. Or the clerk could have been sincerely mistaken. Eye witness identification is not as reliable as most people think.
The point of these series of blog posts is to highlight the need for us to think about the templates we use to evaluate the criminal cases in the news. We need to abandon our preconceptions that if someone is arrested they must be guilty. It ain't necessarily so.
After 5 hours of deliberation Jon Feeney was acquitted.
[Positive Dennis]
Vampire Master was changed to Vampire The Masquerade.
Reader Comments (32)
Was talking about this tonight at work and how closely it was to another murder in fremont hills. I too was a GHS student and thought he was odd, never had him as a teacher. I need help in where did the murders take place. George reville case was in Fremont Hills I thought the feeney case was located at Sherwood residential area off Campbell. Is this correct?
Cristina, Mr Askinosie did not leave the business because of this case. He had a long time desire to own a chocolate factory and make a difference in the world which he has done.
The facts are the facts and they don't change. Someone else's semen was found, someone else's hair fibers were found, Tyler had a sexually transmitted disease that neither parent gave him, and footprints not matching Jon's were found. I am confused how anyone could even consider it was him. This was poorly handled by the police department and further DNA testing should be completed to find the killer or killers.
Several yrs ago, I worked with one VERY CLOSE relative of Hon Feebet. I will not disclose the relative to protect them BUT I will say what they told me is REAL. And I am commenting bc I feel people should know, as it's info I have never heard or read before. And HOPEFULLY, one day, the case will be reopened and new details will be looked into.
First: It was reported the son had Hepatitis. While we read the parents didn't have it, this relative told me that one grandparent voluntarily submitted a blood sample but a male grandparent REFUSED to. Hmmmm....
Second: This relative told me that Mrs Feeney KNEW her son had contracted the STD and confronted Jon and he then told his parents (one of those grandparents was the one who refused to give a blood sample) Again, hmmmm....
Third: There was a particular size and shoe type found in the paint that was tracked. That same grandparent wore the SAME size and his shoes (that he wore for yrs) matched the print. Yep...hmmmmm....
After hearing these details and more, I have absolutely NO DOUBT this relative did it. This case is just disgusting and it's PATHETIC that NOBODY was ever convicted and that the case went cold. Why not try to link the semen and hairs to someone? Technology is more sophisticated these days; why is NOTHING being done?
Things that make you go HMMMMMM...
*Jon Feeney (obviously -- geez, autocorrect)
Yes, this guy had a weird, pointless class. I recall he would fire chalk at students through a blow-tube if he felt that they were not paying attention to his meanderings. It's very hard to imagine Feeney had multiple affairs, but the fact that he did, makes me think he was capable of anything. In hindsight, he did flirt with the female students. Also, there is something definitely wrong with Springfield, or at least there was in the mid-80s to 90s. RIP to the victims of this crime. May justice come to the perp in such a way that wold knows the truth.
Missing or murdered in Missouri by Barbara Hemm Highton
Read it!
I need to find Nursemom did you know my cousin Cheryl?
I was one of the detectives on the case. There was a lot more evidence that didn't come out that should have. Darryl Moore was just no match for Shawn Askinosie. Shawn truly belived in Jons innocence. He was wrong. The crime scene: the heat was turned up to make the bodies decompose faster. There were footprints from the garage in paint all the way through to the bedroom. Problem is they stayed consistent throughout the whole house. The paint never got less even though he was walking on carpet. So the footprints of the smaller shoe than Jons was staged. The photos of the family were taken off the wall and turned to face the wall so that he didn't have to look at the photos, classic for a family member who kills. the door that was allegedly kicked open hadn't been. The screws were unscrewed not stripped. The battery charger was on the car but the battery was not dead. The car was loaded up with items that pooked as though it was a robbery but the car battery was dead so they just left the items. Yet jon claimed 300 items were missing with his insurance company. Cheryls draweers were ransacked yet they failed to take the money in them. drawers that were his had items removed but they were neatly placed so as to not break anything. Even the cords to his computors everthng was unscrewed and piled neatly. FIles in her filing cabinet drawer was pulled out and thrown down all mixed together. His files were removed but placed down neatly so they could easily be put back. Then there was the woven belt. Cheryl had cleaned the house afterhe left for the conference. Everything nice and tidy. Yet here rolled up on the kitchen counter was a woven belt that belonged to jon. No big deal right? Except in th edash cam video when the trooper stopped him at the lake of the Ozarks for speeding and he had PAm Probert in the car with him, he is out and leaning in the drivers window talking to her and you can see he has a web belt hanging down. Yet when we went and got him from the motel room he didn't have that belt. It wasn't in his suitcase, room or car. That's because he had called Cheryl to tell her he felt bad about leaving her with the baby being sick then the voice recording is cut off. SHe was in a red nightee. I have no doubt he called her and told her he was coming home and told her to be ready for him. She was sin the shower and he got undressed in the kitchen so as to not get any blood on his clothes as he needed to have the same ones with him that Pam had seen him in. He took off his belt and laid it on the counter, after he killed them he went in kitchen and got dressed and forgot the belt. Also he and Pam Probert had been planning their sex romp for weeks, but after he got stopped and they got back to the resort he told her he had a head ache and was just going to call it a night. She later called him around midnight but he didn't answer. He said he was out on the balcony smoking and didnt hear the phone ring The little boy had Hep C because jon had taken him to one of his sex groups that involved several teachers in town. We learned that JOn was letting some have sex with the boy but we couldn't ever pin down who. That's how he got infected. He ate at the McDonalds at 7 am right outside the resort. Jon NEVER got up early. He didn't go out to eat he ate as he was pulling back in town. He told his class she was going with him so that later he could say, that all his students thought the house was going to be empty so they must have broken in oatvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvly to find she hadn't left so they killed her.Problem with that is that he and Pam probert had been making plans, plans that didn't involve Cheryl. His car was seen at a gas station about 20 minutes from TanTara. by a person from outside of springfield. She described the red mustage to a tee. She described jon and even over heard him telling the clerk about the conference. She says he even open the door for her. She told police but after the first fiasco Daryll decided not to use her. The station was about 40 minutes from Tan TAra Ra and she saw him at 620 am. That puts him pulling into the McDonalds. That's just a FEW of the things never brought out at trial but there was so much more. Jon got away with Murder I have no doubt.
Hello: My name is Cam and I am one half of the pod Our True Crime Podcast. I am currently researching this case and would very much like to talk to a few of the commentators above- especially the detective and Cheryl's relative. We are from Missouri currently living in St. Louis. I have been reading about this non-stop and have several questions. In fact, I was dating my husband who's family resides in Springfield and on a trip to visit them they were airing the trial live daily and I remember watching it and, well I had lots of thoughts then as I do now. If you can, please contact me and we can talk. It can just be via email if you prefer but would love to have you on this podcast, but that is up to you.
Hello All,
I came across this site and thought I’d make a contribution of what I know about this case. Jon Feeney and Shawn Askinsoie (Feeneys attorney) both came to the same hair salon I worked at. This was coincidental before the murders even took place. Shawn kept coming in years before the trial, during and after. Jon never returned after the trial. They never came in together and saw different stylists. I read above someone state Shawn did not retire from law due to this case, he had other things he was interested in. This is partly true. He did go on to doing something he wanted to do, but he left law in large part because this case got to him. He told a story that his sister in law came to visit from California and at that time Feng Shui was popular and she did this as part of her living. He invited her to do his office to create positive energy. He said she came in his office, looked around and after a few moments pointed exactly to a cabinet that held all the documents regarding the Feeney case and told Shawn to get that out of there immediately and he did move it. She had no idea what was in that cabinet. I can tell you it freaked him out big time. He believed Feeney to be guilty. He quit law after this trial. He’s a good man and a family man and it effected him. The girl who cut Jon’s hair always complained when she saw him on the appointment book. This was before he was accused of anything. He was her client for years prior to the murders and she dreaded his visits. He asked her out first drinks and always gave her the creeps. Anyway, that’s all I know.
This case always seemed like an extention of the Satanic Panic. I remember seeing reports of this as a teen. A very big deal was made of his role-playing hobby, to the extent that other physical evidence was ignored.
The case is a testament to the inadequacy of jurors, this should have been a judge only trial. Finding Jon not guilty was an easy way out. Possibly this is why Shawn Askinsoie left the profession. He still has the option/responsibility of empowering the untested evidence.