Son Charged 15 Years After Parents’ Deaths

Ever since a teenage girl found her wealthy parents shot to death in their bed in 1980, suspicions lingered around her two quarrelsome brothers.

On Friday, the youngest child, William Rouse - 31 now and 15 at the time of the slayings - was charged with two counts of murder after confessing he alone killed his parents, State’s Attorney Michael Waller said.

Rouse had been living in Key West, Fla., for 11 years, squandering his share of his parents’ estate, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.

Key West police had Rouse in custody on charges of concealing a handgun used by someone else in a September bank robbery, the newspaper said. Rouse, divorced and broke, admitted his part in the holdup, saying, “All I got was beer and vodka,” according to the Tribune report.

Bruce Rouse, who owned a string of gas stations, and his wife, Darlene, were killed June 6, 1980, in their mansion in Libertyville, between Chicago and Milwaukee.