The Columbus Herald from Columbus, Indiana • Page 1

I VOLUME 112 NUMBER 4 COLUMBUS, FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 1933 The Walton Chad Walton was without emotion when Judge Chris D. Monroe, right, sentenced the 17-year-old to 120 years for killing his parents. gete 12 Judge: Chad would kill again given the chance 1 Republic Illustrations by Robin Roggenkamp rift WW' II I I JJI ft -M. Chronology of events in Chad Walton case: Oct. 7, 1991 Columbus police are called to the Charles and Ginger Walton residence at 1020 North St.

about 10:30 p.m. The caller, a woman, said the Walton's son. Chad, had called her nephew and told him that Walton had killed his parents. Police arrive to find Charles and Ginger Walton dead in their bed and Chad Walton missing. Oct.

8, 1991 Walton is picked up by Champaign, police outside a high school there where he tells officers he is looking for a girl he met at camp. Walton, claiming his parents were too strict, confesses in Illinois to beating and stabbing them to death as they slept at the family's north-side home. Bartholomew Superior Court Judge Chris D. Monroe issues a warrant charging Walton with two counts of murder. Oct.

9, 1991 Walton says nothing and shows no emotion as he is brought back to Columbus from Champaign. He is then booked into Bartholomew County Jail on murder charges. Oct. 10, 1991 Walton sits expressionless through a brief hearing in Bartholomew Superior Court I to formally advise him of the murder case against him. An informal not guilty plea is entered' on Walton's behalf by Bartholomew Superior Court I Judge Chris D.

Monroe. An order preventing officials from 'issuing further statements in the case is issued by Monroe. Oct. 11, 1991 Lawyers for Walton, concerned that Bartholomew. County Prosecutor Joseph Koenig might seek a death sentence despite earlier assurances to Illinois officials, request an order to 'preclude the possibility.

Monroe schedules the case for trial April 21, 1992. Oct. 16, 1991 Walton's lawyers ask a judge to strike down a portion of the Indiana Constitution dealing with bail for murder defendants and to set a reasonable amount in Walton's case. Nov. 13, 1991 Walton will assert the insanity defense, according to a notice filed by his attorneys.

Nov. 18, 1991 Walton's attorneys file a motion to expand an order prohibiting witnesses from speaking outside court about the case. War. to .1 "3 I' V. 7" The Republic file photo called her nephew and told him that Walton had killed his parents.

Police arrive to find Charles and Ginger Walton dead In their bed and Chad Walton missing. On Oct. 7, 1991, Columbus police were called to the home of Charles and Ginger Walton at 1020 North St. about 10:30 p.m. The caller, a woman, said the Walton's son, Chad, had The "You have cast a cold, gray December sky over the lives of people you don't even know." judge Chrb Monroe to Chad Walton bat murder and commented there were other means of killing besides guns.

Laura Newcomb, a junior, said Walton asked her during the same time frame if she could get the keys to her father's airplane. "I told him that, -yes, I could get them, but I wasn't going to them to him," Newcomb said. She testified her father told her Walton had taken a Civil Air Patrol course that would teach him the basics of flying an airplane. Senior Nathan Martin testified Walton was angry with his parents because he remained grounded longer than his friends for skipping school and attempting to run away in September of 1991. Martin said about six students skipped school in Walton's minivan and went to Bloomington, where they ate at McDonald's and walked around Indiana University campus.

"We decided since we didn't get caught the first day, we'd skip again," he said. The second skipping included three or four Columbus East students, another trip to IU, and the theft of hood ornaments from cars in Tipton Lakes, Martin said. "When we got back, (student) Jason Humble came up to us and told us we were all caught and that our parents were in the dean's office and had been looking for us all day," he said. Rather than face their parents, Martin said, he and Walton decided to run away. After a failed attempt to get money and food from one of Walton's friends in Seymour, Martin said, the boys drove to Walton's grandmother's house in Salem, where she fed them cheese and crackers and gave them $10 for gas.

"Chad said he knew some people in Florida who would take care of us," Martin said. "He called them mercenaries." The boys drove back to Seymour and were stopped by police after Walton ran a stop sign. On the night of the murders, Martin said Walton called him around 9:30. "He seemed fine," Martin said. "He was just asking about Spanish homework for the next day." Martin said after he'd gone to bed, Walton called again and talked to Martin's father.

"Dad. came in and asked me what was wrong with Chad. He said he sounded pretty nervous." Detective Sgt Robert Jarrard of Columbus Police Department said police received a 911 call at 10:26 p.m. from a woman who saia Walton had called her nephew and told him he had murdered his parents. Jarrard and about five other officers arrived at the Walton's at Fund gift I 0 5: 1 By Susan The Republic Saying he believed Chad Walton would kill again if given the chance, Judge Chris D.

Monroe sentenced Walton to 120 years in prison Friday for the murders of his parents. "You have cast a cold, gray December sky over the lives of people you don't even know," Monroe told Walton in a hushed courtroom filled with more than 100 spectators. Monroe delivered the sentence at 4:15 p.m. in Bartholomew Superior Court I after deliberating for about an hour. Sentencing Walton to the maximum 60 years on each count of murder, Monroe ordered Walton to serve the terms consecutively.

Walton, 17, pleaded guilty but mentally ill in October to the murders of his parents, Charles and Ginger Walton, who were found dead in their bed, beaten and stabbed, Oct 7, 1991. While spectators wept Friday during testimony from members of the victims' families, Walton maintained a demeanor described by Prosecutor Joseph Koenig as "fiat, stone cold." Cathy Bowers, sister-in-law of Ginger Walton, and Linda Cooke, sister of Charles Walton, spoke with difficulty of the emotional trauma the murders caused their families. "I have a 7-year-old niece who is seeing a psychiatrist," Bowers said. "If you sit down to eat a steak, you can't have a knife on the table because she is just petrified. "She won't let her mother cut her bangs because of the scissors.

"If he got out, we would all have to leave this town because we would be afraid he would come after us." Bowers and Cooke described the Waltons as loving, giving parents. "Chuck and Ginger had to have been two of the finest people that ever lived," Cooke said. "They were not these over-demanding, drill sergeant people they have been made out to be." During testimony Thursday, witnesses for defense attorneys James Long and Julia Caudill portrayed Charles Walton as a controlling, overprotective father who directed every aspect of his son's life. Four students from Columbus North High School, where Walton was a junior when the murders occurred, told of Walton's anger with his parents for grounding him after he skipped school twice and tried to run away. Junior Wendy Hardy, who had been friends with Walton for three years through the Civil Air Patrol, said- Walton asked her shortly before the deaths if she had access to a shotgun.

When she asked him why he wanted a shotgun, Hardy testified that Walton told her he wanted to kill his parents. didn't think anything of it Hardy said, "because when teen-, agers get mad at their parents they might say, 'I want to kill my but they never act on it" Hardy also said Walton had read in another student's paper on gun control about a baseball- Heritage By Paul Wagner The Republic The Heritage Fund of Bartholomew County announced it has received a major gift that will establish the Donald W. and Catherine G. Jurgemeyer Endowment to support annual cash awards for outstanding community service. "This gift to the Heritage Fund caps a record year during which the fund has received over $2.6 million in new endowment gifts and pledges," said Ed Sullivan, executive director of the Heritage Fund.

The gift is a charitable remainder annuity trust A donor establishes a charitable remainder annuity trust by turning assets to the Heritage Fund to invest Income from the 10:31 p.m., they found Jarrard said, where lights on and doors locked. After telephoning the house several times and pounding on the door with no answer, police forced entry into the house. Jarrard, the first officer to enter the master bedroom, testified he found the Waltons in bed beneath the covers with blood splattered on the lampshade, ceiling and walls. A blood-covered aluminum baseball bat and 13-inch bayonet lay on the floor, parallel to the foot of the bed and eight inches aoart he said. On the dresser at the foot of the bed, Jarrard said, were Ginger Walton's purse and wallet The wallet contained credit cards but no cash.

Charles Walton's blue jeans lay on the floor nearby, his wallet also containing credit cards but no cash. Jarrard said Ginger Walton was lying face up. Her husband was lying on his side facing her with his hands cradled beneath his head. Based on scuff marks on the ceiling, Jarrard said, police determined both had been struck in the head at least twice with the baseball bat Stab wounds that penetrated the sheets indicated Charles Walton had been sleeping when he was stabbed, Jarrard said, and a "defensive wound" on Ginger Walton's right forearm indicated she had awakened during the Jarrard said he believed Walton's sudden rage could return unpredictably. "I'm fearful of him being in the community," Jarrard said.

"I've stood in his parents' bedroom." Detective Sgt Randy Aspenson of Columbus Police Department and Probation Officer Leeanne Anderson recommended the max- Detective Sgt. Robert Jarrard of the Columbus Police Department speaks with Chad Walton during his stay at Bartholomew County Jail. Dec' 9, 1991 Monroe rules Walton will be tried in Bartholomew County, but jurors will be selected from another county. March 13, 1992, Statements given by Walton to Illinois police following the deaths of his parents will not be allowed as evidence during his trial. Monroe rules.

March 20, 1992 A court order suppressing statements made by Walton' to Illinois police is appealed by Prosecutor Joseph R. Koenig, and the youth's trial is delayed until July. June 14, 1992 Walton's trial is continued to Sept. 29 to allow further psychological testing to determine whether Walton is competent to stand trial and to allow the state to rule on an appeal made by the prosecutor. Oct.

8, 1992 A half hour before jury selection is to begin for his trial. Walton pleads guilty but mentally ill. Oct 12, 1992 Walton's sentencing hearing has been moved to Jan. 14 as his defense enlists the aid of a state organization that assists in sentence modification and rehabilitating criminals. Jan.

14, 1993 Psychologists and psychiatrists testify that Walton was driven to psychotic behavior by overbearing parents, that he may have been a victim of child sexual abuse by his biological parents before the Waltons adopted him, and that he had lost track of reality. Jan. 15, 1993 Walton is sentenced to 120 years in prison. -month-old child injured From Staff Reports A 9-month old Hope boy is listed in fair condition today at Columbus Regional Hospital with injuries suffered in a two-vehicle accident Tuesday morning on Indiana 46. Andrew P.

Meek was injured in the 7:48 a.m. accident near Foxpointe Drive. According to police reports, Meek's mother, Janice K. of Hope was westbound on Indiana 46 when she turned left into the path of an eastbound vehicle driven by Gary L. Janes, 21, of Pennsylvania Street Patrolman Richard Funch of Columbus Police Department said proper child restraint prevented Andrew Meek from being seriously injured.

to establish service award nrntwt or enhance the life of an protect or enhance the life of an The Republic file photo Walton left Bartholomew County Jail at 6:15 p.m. Friday for the Reception Diagnostic Center in Plainfied where he will be evaluated and placed in an Indiana Department of Correction facility. other. Donald Jurgemeyer was senior vice president of the trust department at Irwin Union Bank for 12 years and practiced law in his firm in Columbus for 29 years. He has been active in the community as treasurer of the Bartholomew County Hospital Foundation, president' of Harrison Lake Country Club, the Mental Health Association and a life member of the -Rotary Club.

Catherine Jurgemeyer served as. president of the Bartholomew Consolidated School Foundation and chaired the American Bar Auxiliary and the Indiana Lawyers Auxiliary. She also chaired the Indiana Bar's Law. Related Education Program and was responsible for the introduction and adoption of the program into the BCSC curriculum. imum sentence for Walton.

"We have two choices," Aspenson said. "Rehabilitation, which I don't think anyone can say is an exact science, or a maximum sentence, where there is no risk." When Catherine Jurgemeyer, dies, income generated from the trust fund will create two annual cash awards for community service. The first award will be given for the recognition of an attorney or other person serving in the legal field who has informed and educated the public about the dedication of lawyers and the commitment of many local lawyers to donating time to improve the community. The second award will go to a person demonstrating concern for fellow citizens and making an outstanding contribution of a law-related nature within the community. The person might be from one of the areas of law enforcement fire department education or any.

person who has reacted Intelligently or neroicany 10 The Donald W. and Catherine G. Jurgemeyer Endowment will support annual cash awards for outstanding community service. DONALD JURGEMEYER investments can create a lifetime income for an annuitant designated by thedonor. In this case, Catherine Jurgemeyer has been designated.

The donor also qualifies for a charitable tax deduction. Suflivan said the amount of the income tax deduction qualifies immediately for a $25,000 matching contribution through the Lilly Endowment challenge grant The Lilly grant provides up to $1.7 million for the Heritage Fund, which must be matched locally two to one. Total assets of the community foundation now exceed $7 million..