Photo: JEWEL SAMAD / Getty Images
Patricia Columbo and Frank DeLuca were arrested for the brutal murder of Columbo’s parents and brother in Elk Grove, Illinois on 15 May 1976.
Patricia, from 20 years old, had left his family home two years earlier to live with DeLuca, a married man from 36 years.
Later, the couple murdered Frank, Mary and Michael Columbo to receive the family inheritance, not knowing that Patricia had been removed from their wills years before.
When I had 16 years ago, Columbo worked at a suburban coffee shop where he met pharmacist Frank DeLuca, who worked next door. he soon hired her to work in her store and the two began an unusual sexual relationship ; Colombo showed her classmates photos of her having sex with DeLuca’s dog.
In April 1974, DeLuca took Patricia to stay in his own house, even though he still lived with his wife and five children.
Her parents were relieved when she later told them that she would move into her own apartment and even provided her with money. However, they soon found out that DeLuca had left his wife and moved in with their daughter, causing Columbo’s father to severely beat DeLuca.
On May 4, 1976, Patricia Columbo, then of 19 years old, and Frank DeLuca, of 39, they decided to carry out the plan themselves. They sneaked into the Columbo family home and shot Columbo’s parents. They then hit Mike with a bowling trophy and stabbed him almost 80 times with scissors.
The police questioned Patricia, but had no reason to suspect her until the following week.
Inspired by the promise of a cash reward, a friend took the men who had discussed the murder of her family with Patricia to the police. After the couple were arrested, DeLuca’s employees revealed that they had seen him wash and burn blood-stained clothing the day after the murders. Apparently, he had kept them quiet by threatening their families.
While in jail, DeLuca tried to get a cellmate to kill these witnesses, but another inmate foiled the plan by telling the police.
The jury convicted Patricia Columbo and Frank DeLuca, each sentenced to between 200 and 300 years in prison, but Patricia managed to stay in the spotlight: in 1979, was reported to have helped organize sexual orgies involving guards and wardens at his prison in Dwight, Illinois.
High-ranking prison officials, including the director, were forced to resign in the wake of the scandal.
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