Chicago Native Publishes Book on the Brown's Chicken Massacre

In January 1993, two robbers shot and killed seven employees at a Brown's Chicken restaurant in Palatine, IL. The victims' bodies were callously stuffed into freezers and refrigerators, and the perpetrators remained at large for over nine years. Then came DNA samples to match one of the subjects, and eventually, both men were apprehended, put on trial, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The crime became known as the "Brown's Chicken Massacre," and it still lives in the minds of Chicagoans and those in the outlying suburbs. I remember first being acquainted with the case during the trial of Juan Luna, one of the perpetrators, in 2007. With the help of my mother, I tracked down a copy of Maurice Possley's book on the massacre and used it as the basis for a book report in seventh grade.

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A New Book on the Massacre Has Hit Shelves:

Now, another book on the case has finally been written, by a Chicago native no less. Patrick Wohl is an author and attorney who recently published Something Big: The True Story of the Brown's Chicken Massacre, A Decade-Long Manhunt, and the Trials That Followed. As the title suggests, this is a comprehensive account of the massacre that rocked the typically quiet community of Palatine and still has a lasting effect to this date.

Being transfixed by the case since a child, I reached out to Wohl, who agreed to chat with me about his book. In our discussion, we talked about his approach, the wealth of interviews he obtained in order to make the book rich with human interest, and how he gained access to material not previously made public.

Wohl Setts the Record Straight:

The notes for Something Big suggest that the case has been "misremembered," which prompted Wohl to set the record straight:

The Brown’s Chicken massacre is one of the most infamous cases in Illinois history, yet it is often misremembered. In Something Big, Patrick Wohl gives a new account of the story, taking readers behind the scenes and sharing the perspective of the people who lived it - per Patrick Wohl's website

I asked Wohl what about the case was misremembered, to which he responded that the Palatine Police Department faced intense, and what he believes to be unwarranted, criticism over their handling of the case. This was a police department not used to a crime of this magnitude, and DNA testing wasn't where it would be a decade later that would help authorities apprehend both Luna and James Degorski.