If they put it in a movie it would seem terribly trite: the murder of the family of a judge presiding over a case involving white supremecists — who reportedly are now celebrating the murders on the Internet.
But it’s for real…here in 21st Century America. And, today, Joan Humphrey Lefkow, finds herself living her worst nightmare as officials scramble to find a definitive answer to what at first glance certainly seems like a hit made to send a powerful message:
For Joan Humphrey Lefkow, the nightmare began shortly after her appointment as a federal judge in 2000, when an Oregon group’s lawsuit to block white supremacists from using a name it had trademarked, World Church of the Creator, landed in her lap.
Soon, Judge Lefkow found her home address and family photographs posted along with violent threats on hate-filled Web sites. Last April, one of the Aryan movement’s most notorious leaders was convicted of plotting her murder.
On Tuesday, Judge Lefkow was under armed federal guard in an undisclosed location, mourning the deaths of Michael F. Lefkow, her husband of 30 years, and Donna Humphrey, her 89-year-old mother, whom she found dead of gunshots to the head in their basement the evening before.
Random act? Cerainly sounds awfully coincidental. More:
“I think she’s very upset with herself, maybe, for being a judge and putting her family in this danger,” said Laura Lefkow, 20, the third of the judge’s five daughters, “but there’s no way she should have known.”
Local and federal law enforcement officials said on Tuesday they were investigating possible connections between the double killing and Matthew Hale, the white supremacist now in federal prison awaiting sentencing for soliciting Judge Lefkow’s assassination, or his many sympathizers. Federal officials in Washington said agents were reviewing Judge Lefkow’s caseload in search of suspects, with the main thrust on the hate groups that had focused on her before.
And how are Hale’s followers reacting to all of this?
Already, some white supremacists were celebrating the killings on the Internet, while others spun conspiracy theories that the crime had been committed by Mr. Hale’s enemies to poison the atmosphere before his sentencing next month. Experts who have spent years tracking Mr. Hale’s organization, now called Creativity, also pointed to the sentencing, recalling that one of his acolytes, Benjamin Smith, went on a shooting spree in 1999 after Mr. Hale, who had passed the Illinois bar exam, was denied a license to practice law.
They may rue the day and mark it in the future a day of mourning.
Because the world has changed since 911. If this crime is put into the category of a terrorist act rather than a criminal act, Hale’s followers could find that they are going to face the weight of an angry state heavier than they’ve ever felt it before. And even if that doesn’t happen, there’s this: policemen and security officials don’t like to see their family members threatened and put in danger, and neither do judges. And when they see something like this they are not in a good mood at interrogation and sentencing time.
It boils down to a matter of state deterrence: officials will likely put this case on the front burner — and make an example of anyone who was involved or anyone who doesn’t cooperate fully in the investigation of this case. What could be worse than someone murdering your husband or mother (or kids)? Remember Mrs. Lefkow in your prayers.
UPDATE: Fox News, citing a Chicago Sun-Times report, says investigators are “looking into the source of several phone calls the judge and her family received Sunday night that may have come from a correctional facility and a mysterious car parked near the home Monday morning…”
ABC News now reports that authorities say the judge’s two family members were shot in the head in the house’s basement. Investigators are looking into a broken window and note that a revenge killing is only one facet of their investigation (in other words, burglary still can’t be ruled out).
And there are more gruesome details from CBS — details that indicate this was an execution:
The mother and husband of a federal judge were brutally killed execution style, according to a newspaper report. The judge was once the target of a murder plot by a white nationalist, and postings praising the slayings on supremacist Web sites were accompanied by “RAHOWA!”, meaning “racial holy war.”
Investigators believe that Judge Joan Lefkow’s husband and mother were taken into the basement of her house, forced to lie down, then shot multiple times, including in the head and chest, sources told the Chicago Tribune.
It appeared that Michael Lefkow, 64, remained alive briefly and tried to move, according to the report. The judge’s mother, Donna Humphrey, 89, was apparently forced to the basement without the two walking canes she required to get around. Investigators also found a shoe print in blood, the sources said.
The “racial holy war” message shifts this into a clear gear: if it’s related to the people who murdered these two, then we’re unquestionably into an era of unfettered domestic terrorism.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.