One of central Illinois’ most notorious
murders will be the subject of an hour-long television show this
weekend. Guilty or Innocent?, a new program on the Discovery Channel, will
examine the murder of Karyn Hearn Slover, the 23-year-old Decatur Herald & Review sales representative whose remains washed up on the
shore of Lake Shelbyville in 1996. She had been shot in the head
several times and dismembered.
Almost three years later, Slover’s
ex-husband and his parents were charged with first-degree murder.
The case against them was based largely on a few common buttons and
blue-jean rivets unearthed during an archaeological dig of their
used car lot. In 2002, they were convicted and sentenced to at
least 60 years in prison [see Dusty Rhodes, “Suffer the
children,” Oct. 16, 2003].
The Slover case marks the debut of Guilty or Innocent,
which featured another Illinois murder case — that of Julie
Rea Harper — as its pilot. (The program was originally titled
Reasonable Doubt.) For the Slover episode, the producers consulted with
several local people involved in the case, but no one here knows
quite what to expect.
A producer declined to comment on the show.
But according to the Discovery Channel’s Web site, the
program will focus on the work of a group of students at University
of Illinois at Springfield. Known as the Downstate Illinois
Innocence Project, the class is part of the Institute for Legal,
Administrative, and Policy Studies at UIS. At least one student
attended the trial from start to finish. Others reviewed and summarized the 20,000-page transcript and handed over
their work to lawyer John McCarthy, who is handling the Slovers’
case at the Office of the State Appellate Defender.
But the blurb on the Web site plays up
something more intriguing — the possibility that the
Innocence Project has “uncovered other suspects.”
Bill Clutter, a private investigator who works
with the Innocence Project, says he has never believed the
state’s theory: that the murder was committed at the
Slovers’ used-car lot. No blood was found there, even when
the area was examined with the use of luminol, which can reveal
traces of blood years after a cleanup. Clutter believes that the
accounts of multiple witnesses who saw Karyn driving toward
Champaign indicate that she went to a shopping mall. Clutter
believes that the pretty young woman met someone there who
kidnapped and killed her.
“We’re hoping the attention
focused on this program generates additional leads,” Clutter
says. “There’s a possibility someone may see this show
and come forward, and if they do, we’ll follow up and
interview any witnesses.”
Meanwhile, the Slovers’ appeal is
proceeding through the courts. Both sides have submitted
“briefs” so voluminous that the usual page limit had to
be waived. McCarthy filed his reply brief this week. Oral arguments
should be scheduled within a few months.
Guilty or Innocent? airs Saturday at 8 and 11 p.m. on the Discovery Channel.
This article appears in Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2005.
