In 1988 while working for our county health department I received a complaint concerning illegal dumping of motor oil, antifreeze, and transmission fluid into an old well on some property in a very rural area of the county. Shade tree mechanic situation. When making my investigation I knocked on the door of the trailer. No one answered. I left my card in the door and went to the well to take some samples. Not long afterward I felt some eyes staring at me.

I turned around quickly and there was the owner of the property Richard Nitz. His wife Rita came out of the trailer a bit later. Talk about dead eyes! The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I found what I was looking for and issued a citation for both Richard and Rita without letting them out of my sight.

This area is "Deliverance Land" and I always went armed there. Richard happened to notice my .45 and said he was going to call the sheriffs dept. and also sue me. I told him that was fine since I was also deputized and to be sure and get my name right on the complaint.

They came for their first court appearance and complained to the judge about me. He set their trial date for thirty days later. Less than two weeks later they were both arrested for murder. They had killed a young man by hitting him with a baseball bat, then shot him in the head with a .22. They then decapitated him to get rid of any ballistic evidence. His head and the .22 were never found. The victims body was found when some drunken teenagers thought it would be fun to overturn a car parked in a forrest preserve and the headless body fell out of the trunk of the car.

Richard initially got the death penalty, but, got a retrial because of some medication he was taking during the first trial. He was then sentenced to life. He is doing his time in Menard. Rita got life and is doing her sentence at Dwight Corectional Center. I recently saw her on a segment of "Women Behind Bars."

Talk about evil, that was evil personified. I'm glad I had some spidey sense. I also found out that it is amazing what some people will threaten to hurt or kill you for. Not the first or last time.