Litchfield: A Strange and Twisted Saga of Murder in the Midwest, 20th Anniversary Edition

by Wm. Stage

LITCHFIELDA TOWN GRIPPED BY TERROR …May 8, 1993: In the Central Illinois town of Litchfield, the nude, headless body of a woman is discovered in a pile of burning brush. Same time, same campground, several people take note of a mysterious red van. Seventy miles away, in St. Louis, a 35-year-old bank teller, Lynne Matchem-Thomas, is reported missing and presumed dead. Sixteen months pass before Illinois homicide investigators piece together the puzzle of events that connect the two cases. With the body identified, a new investigation the search for the killer. Lynne's husband, Curtis, soon finds himself in the crosshairs of scrutiny by detectives in two states. But Curtis, the last known person to see his wife alive, has been despondent over her disappearance—or was that an act? The evidence against Curtis is all circumstantial except for the word of a jilted girlfriend who claims he confessed the murder to her. Throw in a big city defense lawyer, a small town prosecutor, and a droll cast of real-life characters, and you've got one hell of a story. In the tradition of In Cold Blood, Litchfield is a psychological study of a brutal murder and its aftermath.

162 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 8, 2018

About the author

Wm. Stage has been a newspaper journalist / columnist and photographer for more than 30 years. Before that, he was a public health officer with the Centers for Disease Control assigned to the St. Louis Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinic. He has taught photojournalism at Saint Louis University School for Professional Studies; and feature writing with the Defense Information School [DINFOS], Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. As of 2025, he has authored 16 books with the most recent, Down And Out In The River City, being his fifth novel. Wm. Stage lives in St. Louis with his wife, Mary, and their many unruly children.

Reviews

[Christina wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Litchfield

I have been in this town since 1982 and we have seen some crazy stuff in our little town, but this story has been one of the worst ones. Our whole community was rocked by this horrible situation. We still pray for the family that was left behind. This is a very good version of went down that night. Definitely worth the read.