Suspicious Inferno Illuminates a Murky Past

The story of the investigation into John T. Veysey III is based on interviews with numerous officials, including Pat Layng and Lori Lightfoot of the U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago; members of the Cary, Ill., police, including Chief Ron Delelio, Deputy Chief Ed Fetzer and former Det. Denise Bradstreet; Cary firefighters Brad Dellatore, Andy Veath, Scott Mohr and Robert Deau; U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agents Jack Malooly, Tina Sherrow, Jane Balkema and Jim Allison; Deserie Beetle and her mother, Irene Beetle; Betty and Gerald DeBruyne, and Kathleen "Callie" Hilkin.

It also draws on thousands of pages of court testimony, as well as a transcript of an interview with Veysey conducted by Sherrow and John Korth, a sheriff's deputy in Jo Daviess County, Ill. Through his attorney, Veysey declined to be interviewed.

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Next week: A small-town detective finds clues and follows his suspicions.