Jul 8, 2008 1:03 pm US/Central
Lincolnshire Murder Suspect Caught In Indiana
Clarence Weber Jr. Was Wanted For Murder Of Wife In Lincolnshire
LOWELL, Ind. (CBS) ―
Police in Northwest Indiana have arrested a north suburban man wanted in connection with his wife's stabbing death over the weekend in Lincolnshire.
CBS 2 Northwest Indiana Bureau Chief Pamela Jones broke the story this morning, and she reports the manhunt for Clarence John Weber Jr., 58, ended with his arrest just south of Crown Point, Ind. The arrest came the day after his rental car was discovered in Northwest Indiana.
Weber was unarmed walking northbound on Delaware Street near 137th Avenue, about 6:30 a.m. when he was arrested without incident, Lake County, Ind., police spokesman Michael Higgins said. He is being held jail in Indiana, and will remain in custody until an extradition hearing, which may occur Wednesday in Crown Point.
"His clothes were disarrayed. He was filthy, he was soaking wet," said Lake County, Ind., Sheriff's Department Capt. Raymond Borchert, who arrested Weber. "Last night he had made his way and slept underneath and overpass along I-65. So he looked a little disheveled and worn out."
Weber has been wanted in the slaying of his wife, Adelina Weber, 31, who was pronounced dead Saturday afternoon about an hour after she staggered into Springhill Suites Marriott hotel off Milwaukee and Marriott Drive in north suburban Lincolnshire.
On Monday afternoon, members of the Lake County, Ind., sheriff's office found Weber's silver Chevy Equinox, reportedly a rental car, at the Flying J Travel Center in Lowell, according to Indiana Stat e Police Trooper Tom Quinn. Weber ditched the car, but he was spotted on a surveillance camera walking inside the truck stop.
When he was arrested Tuesday, Weber was wearing the same T-shirt as he had been in the truck stop.
"He went out the back door, and obviously, he didn't go to his car," said Lake County, Ind., Sheriff Roy Dominguez. "He went out the back door and walked northbound."
Weber made the journey from Lowell to Crown Point on foot.
"He was trying to make his way back to Waukegan, Illinois, on foot," said Lake County, Ind., Borchert said.
A resident some 8 miles from the store called 911 Tuesday morning to repot a suspicious person. He was found just wandering along.
Borchert is also a U.S. Marshal, and has past experience with arresting fugitive.
Originally, Weber told authorities he was not the man police were looking for, police said.
On Saturday, Adelina Weber had just finished waiting tables at the Walker Bros. Pancake House in Lincolnshire when she was attacked.
She made it into the lobby of the hotel, where she collapsed. Hotel workers called 911 and provided first aid, said hotel general manager Mike Croke. Adelina Weber was not a guest at the hotel, he said.
Court documents show Adelina Weber had filed for divorce from her husband June 30. She had been staying at her brother's home, according to her family and attorney.
"He got served on July 1, and she was dead four days later," Helen Rogal, Adelina Weber's divorce lawyer, said.
She obtained a court order of protection against her husband May 5.
Waukegan Police Chief William Biang said his officers had been called to Adelina and Clarence Weber's home in the 3400 block of North Lewis Avenue on disturbances "three or four times in about the last year, (but) it was never anything physical."
Then, on May 7, two days after the order of protection was issued, Waukegan firefighters responded to an overnight fire at the Weber home. The blaze caused $250,000 damage and left Clarence Weber with severe burns to his head and hands, requiring him to be airlifted to the Loyola Medical Center burn unit in Maywood. Adelina Weber reportedly was not home in that fire, which remains under investigation as an arson.
Department of Corrections records in Florida show Clarence Weber spent six years in prison there from 1989 to 1995 after he was convicted of attempting to murder his first wife. He also was convicted of kidnapping his 8-year-old daughter, aggravated assault, battery of a law enforcement official, arson, burglary, grand theft and resisting arrest in 1989.
The St. Petersburg Times reported in 1989 that he threatened to blow up his first wife's home with highly flammable hydrogen gas, which he stole along with a pickup truck from a welding supply company where he worked. When police pulled him over and arrested him, he lit some of the gas on fire and was hospitalized with serious burns.
The Times reported it was Weber's second public attempt to harm his first wife, who wanted a divorce after 19 years of marriage.
A month earlier, he had been arrested after holding a knife up to his wife's throat and threatened to kill her and their three children. He choked his wife until she lost consciousness, then drove away with the couple's 8-year-old daughter.
He dropped off the child in the street as police chased him to the top of a bridge, where he threatened to jump.
CBS 2's Pamela Jones, the Associated Press and the Lake County News-Sun contributed to this report.
(CBS 2 and the Lake County News-Sun are news partners covering stories in the north suburbs. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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