The case of Curtis Thompson, sentenced to death for killing three people in 2002 during a shooting spree, is examined.The case of Curtis Thompson, sentenced to death for killing three people in 2002 during a shooting spree, is examined.The case of Curtis Thompson, sentenced to death for killing three people in 2002 during a shooting spree, is examined.
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Bill Kurtis
- Self - Host
- (voice)
Mark James
- Self - Bradford (IL) Police Dept.
- (as Officer Mark James)
Dale King
- Self - Illinois State Police
- (as Det. Dale King)
Brian Rewerts
- Self - Wyoming (IL) Police Dept.
- (as Officer Brian Rewerts)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Featured review
End of the story
Curtis Thompson, the bully referred to in this sad tale, was found dead in his death row cell after an apparent suicide on June 6, 2008. Thompson had been on death row since he was sentenced to die in August of 2003 in Stark County criminal court. He had murdered Sheriff's deputy Adam Streicher, 23, after Streicher tried to serve a warrant to Thompson. The warrant was in relation to failing to pay court fees imposed after Thompson was found guilty in an assault case. The police officer was shot on the porch of Thompson's home, hit in the left shoulder, upper chest and neck by a blast from Thompson's sawed-off shotgun. Thompson then stole the officer's 9mm weapon and went on a rampage, driving the police car into a parked vehicle and then through the fence at the home of his neighbors Jim and Janet Giesenhagen, with whom Thompson had a long-running feud. He broke down the door of their home and rushed into the house with his shotgun. He shot Janet in the chest, nearly blasting off one of her arms completely. Then he went to the basement of the home where Jim was with his 10-year-old daughter, and shot Jim directly in the face, destroying Jim's lower jaw and killing him nearly instantly. He left the child unharmed and fled the house. The girl called her grandmother who lived nearby and said "Curt Thompson just killed my daddy and hurt my mommy!" Janet was still alive when her mother-in-law arrived, and asked for a pillow and said her back hurt. Thompson drove into town and rammed the dead officer's car into another vehicle, driven by another young man with whom Thompson had issues, then pointed a shotgun at him as he ran away. He then went to the house of another man he had bullied, but that man was not home. Police eventually surrounded Thompson in the deputy's car and Thompson was injured in a gun battle with the officers and taken into custody. Janet Giesenhagen died before she could be airlifted to a Peoria hospital. A detailed history of the case can be found at http://www.chicagomag.com/
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