A Bloomington, Ill., man hacked his wife and three children to death with a butcher knife and hatchet before he left home on a trip to Wisconsin in 1983.
The devoutly religious David Hendricks called Illinois police from Wisconsin, claiming he hadn’t heard from his family in days and requesting police check on their welfare. When police entered his home, they discovered the bloody scene.
There were no signs of forced entry, and investigators took a close look at Hendricks’ alibi. He told police he’d left at midnight after taking his family out for pizza around 7:30 p.m.
The alibi checked out and there were no bloodstains on the father’s clothes or in his car.
But when a medical examiner checked the children’s stomachs, he found undigested vegetarian pizza toppings. Vegetables typically digest quickly and the examiner estimated the time of death as 9:30 p.m. and while Hendricks was still at home.
Police never identified a motive, but a jury found the physical evidence conclusive and convicted Hendricks of four counts of murder.
