Evening star., 1933-11-26
WYNEKOOP ADMITS
CONFESSION HOAX
TO SAVE MOTHER
Husband Re-enacts Staying,
but Later Tells Police He
"Was FooIing."
ALIBI WITNESS CALLS
YOUNG WIDOWER "LIAR"
Tale Includes Point He Forced
Slain Wife to Drink Chloro.
form Before Shot.

BY the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, November 25-Booked on
a charge of murder for the operating
table death of his wife, Rheta, %, Earle
Wynekoop, 27, today confessed" and
enacted" the Staying only to later
tell police he was fooling" in order to
save his mother, DR.. Alice Wynekoop.
Assistant States Attorney Charles S.
Dougherty, who at once had branded
the confession" fantastic. ordered
Wynekoop locked up for further ques-
tioning tomorrow after the husband
agreed he was taking.
Mother Still Prisoner.
His So year-old mother, recommended
held yesterday for murder after she
admitted firing the bullet into her
daughter-in-law's half-clad body-al-
ready a victim, she contended, to &C
a prisoner in the hospital of the coun-
ty jail, She collapsed when her re-
quest for habeas corpus writ was con-
tinued to next week.
Dougherty said Earle first told au-
thorities that at pm. TueSday-at
a time, his friend, Stanley Young,
claimed they were en- route by auto
mobile to Kansas City-he went to
his home and killed his wife.
Young was quick to declare the Con
feSsion" false and after the widower
confronted him. Wynekoop grinned at
Police Sergt. Thomas Kelly. OBJ
server of his "re-enactment" of the
Staying, and said:
Wanted to Clear Mother.
THE only reason I was fooling in
this confession was to make you believe
it to take my mother out of it. But
Young's too smart. He remembered
dates and places better than I do.
know that mother couldn't have done
it and neither did I. We ought to beat
this case easily in court"
In the house of death, with Detec-
tive Bert Gray taking the role OF
Rheta. Earle had acted out his ver-
sion of the death short time pre-
viously
Gray stood on the scales and then
swung his legs over the edge of the
operating table in the mansion base
ment office as he sat down.
After Rheta undressed," Earle told
him and Sergt. Kelly, "she sat on the
edge of the table for moment, swing
ing her legs. Suddenly she lost her
balance and fell. I noticed how freil
she was, and put her back on the
table"
Details of Confession.
"As she lay there I went to the cab
met and picked up a bottle Of chloro-
form and poured some in her mouth
and held my hand over her lips. She
Izl f@y- I1iI ND 1ou cfi
Then 1 took the gun and shot her"
He said, he flew afterward to Kansas
City by private plane and met Young
in the lobby of hotel.
But Young'S assertion he could prove
by witnesses that at the time of the
killing they both were en- route to
Kansas City, having left at 10:3o am,
brought Wynekoops reputation of his
latest story. Because of Young'S in
sistence that witnesses would vouch for
the story. police said they might check
filling stations where he said they
bought gasoline.
Young, stating he didn't want to be a
party to a pack of lies," was released
into custody of his uncle, George E. @
johnson, former United States district
attorney, after assurance that he would
be glad to talk to police at any time.
All the best minds Of the police. the
States attorney and the coroner's Of
flee were concentrating upon a solution
of the enigmatic death Of Rheta,
Earle's 23-year-old wife. They asked
these questions:
Was she, in truth, dead, as her
mother -in-law asserted, when DR.. Alice
fired shot into her back to save the
doctors professional reputation?
What was the purpose OF Earle's Sc
cret tryst with his mother the night
before the girls strange death?
Had they a motive to kill her?
Young Wynekoop was formally
charged with murder late today, and
held without bond The States hand
had been forced by the order OF Judge
Continued on Page 8, Column A.