(KTVI) -
The daughter of a murder victim hypnosis could hold the key to solving the only unsolved murder in the history of Calhoun County, Illinois. She was nearby when her father was shot to death in their home near Kampsville, 16 years ago this week.Calhoun County Sheriff Bill Heffington is re-examining the 1993 murder of Tom Craigmiles. The father of two and a correctional officer, was shot once in the head with his own .12-guage shotgun, which was never found.
Heffington said whoever pulled the trigger had it planned to do so, because he was in the house waiting for him to come home. Heffington said the killer had to know things like where Craigmiles kept his shotgun, leaning up against the wall in the corner of the kitchen. Also, Craigmiles' wife, Cindy, was away from the home with their children. He said the house was also extremely hard to get to during the Flood of '93.
"You couldn't just drive anywhere in the county. You had to use certain roads," explained Heffington.
Craigmiles' sister, 23-year-old Courtney Davidson, says she will willingly be hypnotized. She believes she has the answers authorities need, and her grandmother agrees.
"Now that she's older, she tells me she can remember hearing a loud noise and she says, 'grandma, I think I remember going up the steps and going in, seeing dad lying on the floor. But, mom told me he had fallen and cut his head and told me to go back outside.'," said Billie Craigmiles, the victim's mother. "I would love for this to be solved before I died."
Courtney's mother, Cindy, has re-married to a man named Mark Thurm. They live in Medora, Illinois, where she's raised both children.
Heffington said whoever pulled the trigger had it planned to do so, because he was in the house waiting for him to come home. Heffington said the killer had to know things like where Craigmiles kept his shotgun, leaning up against the wall in the corner of the kitchen. Also, Craigmiles' wife, Cindy, was away from the home with their children. He said the house was also extremely hard to get to during the Flood of '93.
"You couldn't just drive anywhere in the county. You had to use certain roads," explained Heffington.
Craigmiles' sister, 23-year-old Courtney Davidson, says she will willingly be hypnotized. She believes she has the answers authorities need, and her grandmother agrees.
"Now that she's older, she tells me she can remember hearing a loud noise and she says, 'grandma, I think I remember going up the steps and going in, seeing dad lying on the floor. But, mom told me he had fallen and cut his head and told me to go back outside.'," said Billie Craigmiles, the victim's mother. "I would love for this to be solved before I died."
Courtney's mother, Cindy, has re-married to a man named Mark Thurm. They live in Medora, Illinois, where she's raised both children.
