Christmas Vacation

by dedalus

On the morning of December 29, John, Stuart and Larry proceeded north on Walnut Street Road in Springfield, intending to commit one or more burglaries.

As they approached the residence of John McCutcheon they observed Mr. and Mrs. McCutcheon leave the premises in their car at approximately 10 A.M.

Shortly after the McCutcheons' left, the three drove into the driveway of the McCutcheon home, Stuart went to the front door, knocked and rang the doorbell for some time in an effort to ascertain whether or not anyone remained in the house.

There being no response he returned to the station wagon which John then drove to the rear of the house where Larry and Stuart got out, intending to enter and commit the burglary. John then left the premises in the station wagon.

There were several inches of snow on the ground, and he became momentarily stuck in the snow and finally backed out to the highway.He intended to return later, pick up Larry and Stuart, and the property taken from the home.

Eileen S., who was 18 years of age at the time, resided in the residence with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. McCutcheon as did her mother. Her mother worked, had left earlier, and Eileen was alone in the house.

It was Christmas vacation, she was awake but still in bed and dressed in her pajamas. She heard the insistent knocking on the front door, and the ringing of the doorbell and soon went to the window.

She saw a man with black hair run up the steps and the tan station wagon with the blacked-in windows. It was momentarily stuck in the snow, the driver's window was down.

Eileen became frightened when she saw Stuart on the back steps, ran into her mother's bedroom and hid in the closet where she remained standing. She closed the sliding doors to the closet. She then heard the back door broken in.

Someone then ran up the steps and pulled the telephone from the wall.

A person then came into the room where she was hiding and begin to rummage through the dresser drawers. This individual then opened the closet door, discovered Eileen's presence, looked at her for "a couple of seconds", then placed his hands in front of her face.

Larry then yelled to Stuart who came into the room, though she was prevented from seeing him by reason of Larry's hand over her face. He did speak from time to time. They then covered her head with a dress.

The two men then dragged Eileen from the closet, Stuart got on top of her, held her hands, struck her in the face with his fist, finally told Larry to hold her legs and spread them apart, which he did, and Stuart then raped Eileen. Larry then got on top of her, both men held her arms, but no one held her legs, and Larry did not make penetration.

Following the attack Larry and Stuart put the bedspread over her head, tied her hands behind her back and again placed her in the closet; she was told that if she told anyone what had happened she would be killed. A few minutes later Larry returned, and talked to Eileen for about five minutes.

He asked her name, how old she was, told her to straighten up the room after they left, told her that Stuart was apprehensive that she might be able to identify Larry, told her they wanted to take her grandfather's car. She did not hear the men leave the house.

Mr. and Mrs. McCutcheon returned home about 10:30 A.M.; found Eileen in a state of hysteria, her face bruised; she told them of the attack, her mother was called and she was taken to the hospital where Doctor B. examined her and directed that she remain in the hospital overnight.

There is no point in detailing at length physical findings testified to by Doctor William B., who examined the victim shortly after the incident; he testified to the presence of sperm, the tearing of the hymen and to the other uncontradicted physical and conclusive evidence of intercourse which had occurred.