Judge tosses statements defendant made in 1972 murder case

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A judge has thrown out statements that a 77-year-old Minnesota man charged in the stabbing death of a 15-year-old suburban Chicago girl nearly half a century ago made to police and to his wife.

Will County Judge David Carlson on Wednesday granted defense motions tossing out statements that Barry Whelpley of Mounds View, Minnesota, made to police while they searched his home in June last year and a conversation between Whelpley and his wife that police recorded.

Whelpley was arrested in June 2021. He is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated criminal sexual assault for the 1972 stabbing death of Julie Ann Hanson. The 15-year-old Naperville girl disappeared on July 7, 1972, while riding her bicycle. Her body was discovered a day later in a field.