James Free was executed by the State of Illinois for the murder of Bonnie Serpico
According to court documents James Free would go into a data processing office where he attempted to sexually assault Bonnie Serpico and another woman. When Bonnie Serpico attempted to escape she would be fatally shot. The other woman would also be shot but thankfully survived her injuries
James Free would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
James Free would be executed by lethal injection on April 6 1995
James Free Case
The circumstances of the crimes were testified to by Lori Rowe. The defendant testified but claimed not to have any actual recollection of the circumstances surrounding his criminal acts.
Lori Rowe began work shortly before midnight on April 24, 1978, at the M-2 Service Center, an all-night keypunch business. It is located in a large office complex known as the Glen Hill Office Complex in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Shortly before 4 a.m., while Lori Rowe was sitting at her desk, she saw a stranger, later identified by her as the defendant James Free, standing just inside the door. Bonnie Serpico, the only other employee present, was in a back room. The defendant held a gun in his left hand and a cloth bag in the other.
As Lori Rowe approached the defendant, Bonnie Serpico came out of the back room. The defendant James Free ordered both women into the back room. He forced them, at gunpoint, into the lunchroom and ordered them to lie down on their stomachs, which they eventually did.
The women asked him what he was there for and if he wanted their money. The defendant stated that he did not want their money, but that they should take off their clothes because he wanted to rape them. Rowe started to cry, and Serpico tried to persuade the defendant to take their money and leave the office. The defendant again stated that he did not want their money and turned toward Rowe, telling her to remove her clothes. *389 Serpico continued trying to reason with the defendant, but he stated, “I’ve done this before.” As he made that statement, he moved toward Rowe and took some twine out of the cloth bag he was carrying. He told her to put her hands behind her back.
After securely tying Rowe, the defendant took Serpico into the other room. As they were going into the other room, Serpico looked in his bag and commented, “You came prepared for this.” The defendant replied, “Yes, I’ve all sorts of stuff in there.”
After Serpico and the defendant went into the next room, Rowe began struggling to get loose. She heard Serpico say that she had her clothes off and the defendant responded, “Get on your stomach, put your hands behind your back. I want to tie your hands.” Serpico urged the defendant not to tie her hands, pointing out that she had not resisted the defendant.
In the meantime, Rowe managed to get her shoes off and was attempting to get the rope off her feet. The defendant came into the room to check on Rowe, and he saw that Rowe had loosened the rope. He became angry and yanked the rope, pulling her sideways until she fell onto her side.
While lying on her side, Rowe heard Serpico get up and run. The defendant started running after her. Seconds later Rowe heard a gunshot. The defendant then ran back into the room where Rowe was lying. Rowe was sitting up now and the defendant pointed his gun at her and she cried, “Oh no.” As she lowered her shoulder and turned away from the defendant, he shot her and ran from the building.
With her hands still tied behind her back, Rowe managed to crawl out to the main office area where Serpico lay dead. Rowe was able to pull the telephone off a desk and contact the police. She remained there until the police arrived about 15 minutes later.
*390 An autopsy revealed that the cause of Serpico’s death was exsanguination, or severe loss of blood, related to a gunshot wound.
Through a police investigation, suspicion focused on the defendant James Free, who was arrested early the next morning, April 25, 1978, in a house owned by his father in Dubuque, Iowa. He was charged with one count of murder and attempted rape against Bonnie Serpico and one count of attempted murder and attempted rape against Lori Rowe.
The jury found the defendant James Free guilty on all counts. At a sentencing hearing on the murder conviction, as noted, the jury found that Bonnie Serpico was killed in the course of a rape and a burglary and that no mitigating factors existed sufficient to preclude imposition of the death sentence. The trial judge entered a judgment sentencing the defendant to death. At a later sentencing hearing, on the other convictions, the court sentenced the defendant to serve two concurrent 15-year prison terms for the two counts of attempted rape and a consecutive 30-year sentence for the attempted murder.
https://law.justia.com/cases/illinois/supreme-court/1983/52775-6.html
