For nearly six decades, Chester Weger has lived his life in prison after confessing to the haunting 1960 Starved Rock State Park murders of three suburban Chicago women who were attacked during a hike in broad daylight.
On Thursday, members of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board decided that was long enough, granting the 80-year-old inmate his freedom in a stunning 9-to-4 vote that brought relief to his family but stirred memories of loss and pain for relatives of the slain women.