Despite assurances from the parents of murder suspect Steven Pfiel that their son poses no threat, residents are stepping up their protest of the family’s impending move to the close-knit town.
St. John residents say they have collected more than 600 signatures on a petition asking Cook County State’s Atty. Jack O’Malley to work to rescind Associate Judge Harry Buoscio’s decision to allow the Pfiel family to move out of state while their son is on bail.
“It’s not just St. John residents that are signing but all concerned Indiana residents,” said Barbara Beeman, who lives down the block from the home the Pfiels are buying. “People are concerned and angry that this has been foisted on the citizens of Indiana.”
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Beeman said neighbors are asking state and federal representatives for help in the hopes that legislation could be drafted to bar a murder suspect on bail from making such a move.
Hoping to quell the community’s fears, Pfiel’s parents issued a statement Wednesday that they believe their son, 17, is innocent and no threat to other people while he awaits trial on charges he stabbed a 13-year-old Palos Hills girl to death.
The six-paragraph statement, issued through lawyer Raymond Pijon, is the first public comment from the family since Pfiel was charged in the July 14 murder of Hillary Norskog.
In their statement, the Pfiels said they wanted to assure people in St. John that their son was not dangerous. They also said he would be tutored at home and would not attend any local schools.
“We feel his innocence is not only a statement of his legal situation, but of actual fact,” the statement read. “Confident that this will be proven, we will stand not behind him, but beside him, as he establishes his innocence through the justice system.”
Copies of the statement were passed to St. John neighbors attending a crime watch meeting Wednesday.
Susan Croner, who lives in the home next door to where the Pfiel family is expected to move, said she “felt much worse” after reading the statement.
“These people are denying that their child is involved,” said Croner, adding that the statement has not calmed fears in the town of about 5,000.
“Parents don’t want their children coming to our house,” she said. “There’s a lot of fear.”
Pfiel was released from jail Oct. 8 after his parents put up $100,000, 10 percent of his $1 million bond. He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed violence. Since then, the family notified the court that they wanted to move from their Palos Park home to the rural community.
In Wednesday’s statement, they said the move was to be closer to relatives and to escape “what has proven to be a nightmare.”