In the quiet, rural setting of Monee, Illinois, the autumn of 1972 was shattered by a brutal act of violence that claimed the lives of 56-year-old Stephen Hawtree, his wife, and their teenage son. On a September day, the family was discovered in the basement of their home, all having been executed in a chillingly similar fashion. The tranquility of their lives was extinguished with a motive that, at first, seemed incomprehensible to investigators, leaving a community in fear and searching for answers. The Homicide of Stephen Hawtree, a male machine designer, and his family was not an isolated incident but part of a string of violent crimes that had been terrorizing the Chicago area.
The investigation into the Hawtree family murders soon connected their deaths to other recent slayings through ballistics evidence. This link led authorities to a group of disgruntled Vietnam veterans who called themselves "De Mau Mau." In October of 1972, a significant breakthrough occurred with the arrest of eight members of this group. The suspects were identified as Reuben Taylor, his brother Donald Taylor, Michael Clark, Nathaniel Burse, Edward Moran Jr., and Robert Wilson, all from Chicago. The motive behind the killings, including the Hawtree slayings, was believed to be rooted in racial hatred. The "De Mau Mau" gang was said to have been formed by dishonorably discharged Black veterans of the Vietnam War and was characterized by some as a group filled with bitterness and hatred.
The legal proceedings that followed the arrests revealed a crime spree that included not only the three members of the Hawtree family but also the murders of four members of the Corbett family in Barrington Hills, an Army Specialist in Highland Park, and a Southern Illinois University student. In 1974, Reuben Taylor, Donald Taylor, and Michael Clark were convicted for their roles in the murders and handed sentences of over 100 years. Another suspect, Nathaniel Burse, was killed in jail while awaiting trial. Donald Taylor died in prison in 1991. In a turn of events that brought the case back into the public eye decades later, both Reuben Taylor and Michael Clark were eventually paroled, in 2018 and 2019 respectively. The case of Stephen Hawtree and his family remains a dark chapter in Illinois history, a stark reminder of a wave of violence that was born from a place of deep-seated anger and racial animosity, leaving a trail of devastation and loss.
