Post by CCADP on Aug 26, 2005 8:08:01 GMT -5
Frantic 911 calls from wife heard in murder trial
By Jeff Coen
Tribune staff reporter
Published August 26, 2005
A desperate Ronyale White had just told a 911 operator her husband had a gun when he burst back into the room and shouted, "You dead!"
It was the second of three increasingly frantic 911 calls White made in May 2002. A jury hearing the murder trial of her husband, Louis David Drexel, listened to all three tapes Thursday as White's family wept and prosecutors presented their case at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building.
In the first call, just after 11:40 p.m. on May 3 that year, White could be heard telling a 911 operator what was happening.
"Can you send a squad car to [the 10600 block of South LaSalle Street] please?" White asked, sounding fairly composed. "My husband is here. He's under an order of protection. He's not supposed to be here."
The operator told White help was on the way. "Watch for the police, ma'am," she said as the first call ended.
But it would take another 15 minutes for help to arrive at the house. The first police officer there discovered White had been shot in the head and killed, her body left on a bed.
Drexel, 34, is facing the death penalty. His lawyers contend White was shot accidentally as the couple struggled over a gun during a quarrel.
The slow police response erupted into controversy in 2002, with police brass moving to fire the first two officers who were sent to the scene. They eventually were reinstated.
White's family has sued the department and the city in pending legal action.
On the second day of Drexel's trial in Judge Stanley Sacks' courtroom, White's father, Robert Kidd, was on the stand as the recordings were played. He wept at times as he told jurors he recognized the female voice on the tape was his daughter's, and the male voice her husband's.
The second call was made to 911 at 11:45 p.m., with a more upset White telling an operator, "I just called." She told the operator her husband had a gun. He was outside damaging the tires on her sport-utility vehicle, she could be heard to say.
But seconds later the call was cut off, just after Drexel apparently came back inside and yelled, "You dead!" The tape then went quiet.
The 911 center automatically called the LaSalle address twice, but it went straight to voice mail, according to the tape.
White's third and final call came after 11:50 p.m. "Where are you? Where are you?" White sobbed. "My husband has a gun. He's trying to kill me."
The recording then caught the sounds of a door being kicked down, White shrieking, and shots being fired.
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jcoen@tribune.com
By Jeff Coen
Tribune staff reporter
Published August 26, 2005
A desperate Ronyale White had just told a 911 operator her husband had a gun when he burst back into the room and shouted, "You dead!"
It was the second of three increasingly frantic 911 calls White made in May 2002. A jury hearing the murder trial of her husband, Louis David Drexel, listened to all three tapes Thursday as White's family wept and prosecutors presented their case at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building.
In the first call, just after 11:40 p.m. on May 3 that year, White could be heard telling a 911 operator what was happening.
"Can you send a squad car to [the 10600 block of South LaSalle Street] please?" White asked, sounding fairly composed. "My husband is here. He's under an order of protection. He's not supposed to be here."
The operator told White help was on the way. "Watch for the police, ma'am," she said as the first call ended.
But it would take another 15 minutes for help to arrive at the house. The first police officer there discovered White had been shot in the head and killed, her body left on a bed.
Drexel, 34, is facing the death penalty. His lawyers contend White was shot accidentally as the couple struggled over a gun during a quarrel.
The slow police response erupted into controversy in 2002, with police brass moving to fire the first two officers who were sent to the scene. They eventually were reinstated.
White's family has sued the department and the city in pending legal action.
On the second day of Drexel's trial in Judge Stanley Sacks' courtroom, White's father, Robert Kidd, was on the stand as the recordings were played. He wept at times as he told jurors he recognized the female voice on the tape was his daughter's, and the male voice her husband's.
The second call was made to 911 at 11:45 p.m., with a more upset White telling an operator, "I just called." She told the operator her husband had a gun. He was outside damaging the tires on her sport-utility vehicle, she could be heard to say.
But seconds later the call was cut off, just after Drexel apparently came back inside and yelled, "You dead!" The tape then went quiet.
The 911 center automatically called the LaSalle address twice, but it went straight to voice mail, according to the tape.
White's third and final call came after 11:50 p.m. "Where are you? Where are you?" White sobbed. "My husband has a gun. He's trying to kill me."
The recording then caught the sounds of a door being kicked down, White shrieking, and shots being fired.
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jcoen@tribune.com
