The Discovery Channel’s affiliate station, Investigation Discovery, is investigating the dubbed “Murder Mansion” in unincorporated Libertyville where Bruce and Darlene Rouse were brutally murdered by their son on June 5, 1980.
Stephanie Hill, an associate producer for Sirens Media, asked the village’s Board of Trustees on Oct. 14 for permission to film on the property through the 17. The footage would include snippets of real-life roads, village signs, neighborhood streets, and local landmarks. According to the Libertyville Review, Hill said as a public statement that the documentary needs a mix of real-life footage and digital imaging.
“We’re establishing the setting as a suburban area near Chicago and in or by an All-American town where these things had never happened before,” Hill said. “Part of the story also touches on how the murder shocked the town.”
Bruce and Darlene Rouse were self-made millionaires who took up residence in a 13-bedroom mansion in unincorporated Libertyville at 2057 N. Milwaukee Ave., a few blocks north of Route 137. Owning a chain of gas stations and cable services, they became prominent members of the Libertyville community. They had three children, Kurt, Robin, and Billy, ages 20, 17, and 15, respectively.
According to the Crimelibrary.com, None of the children confessed to the murder at the time. However, Robin, then 17, said that she believed one of her brothers had done it; she failed to mention which one, however. All of the children moved on with their lives and received $300,000 each in life insurance.
The case eluded police for many years. Billy Rouse, the youngest of the children, after spending his fortune away on drugs and alcohol, living from couch to couch, and having been arrested multiple times, later confessed on camera to the murder of Bruce and Darlene Rouse.
Billy Rouse was convicted in August of 1996, 16 years after the murder, and sentenced to 80 years in prison for murdering his mother and his father .
According to Billy Rouse’s recollection of the night, Billy recalled the night as having gotten into what seemed like a recurring fight with his mother after she came home to smell alcohol on him. Nonetheless, this time Darlene threatened to send Billy to military school.
Feeling like he wasn’t good enough, Billy felt like he had to get rid of his mother. At 2:30 a.m. Billy Rouse took his father’s shotgun and fatally shot his mother in the face and then proceeded to shoot, stab, and beat his father.
This was not the end of the “Rouse house saga.” The new owners of the mansion created just as many problems. Members of the Chicago mob opened up a cocktail lounge and casino shortly after. According to the Chicago Tribune, In 1983, bookkeeper Robert Plummer was strangled and beaten to death on the stairway for working for a rival organization. The mansion was now dubbed “Murder Mansion.”
The infamous house did not stay out of the spotlight for long, though. In 2002, the house mysteriously burned down when the then-residents of the house were away on vacation. No evidence was found of arson.
The story of the “Murder Mansion” will appear on the Investigative Channel as a documentary. According to the notes recorded at the Libertyville Board meeting on Oct 14, the producers of the show have met some resistance from the Board of Trustees and the mayor of Libertyville.
Mayor Terry Weppler has encouraged the associate producer to be cautious as to how she is portraying the town of Libertyville.
“You’re talking about taking pictures of our signage, which to us will read ‘Welcome to Libertyville, the place where we have murders and Mafia-run gambling houses,’” Mayor Terry Weppler told associate producer Stephanie Hill, according to the Libertyville Review. “That was not the case and has not been the case in any time frame since then either.”
Mayor Weppler reiterated the point to Drops of Ink that it was important the term “unincorporated Libertyville” was stressed on the aired documentary.
“I just want to make sure it is made clear that these events happened in unincorporated Libertyville,” Mayor Terry Weppler said. “Reality TV is not always real, and it tends to dramatize a place or situation. We were recently named one of the top 20 safest towns in Illinois. We like being perceived that way.”
Mayor Weppler went on to say that the filming done by Sirens Media went smoothly and should stay true to his requests on air. When the show is finished, it will air early in 2015.
Alana Christiano • Apr 22, 2017 at 6:05 pm
Who originally built the home?
Douglas McCarty • Feb 7, 2015 at 7:38 am
I agree with the previous comment about bad events happening in good places. There really is no place that is safe. We can choose where we live, what friends we keep, how we raise our kids and so forth. The Libertyville mayor needs realize that towns reputation will suffer more at the hands of their law enforcement than those that violate the law. In the mid-1990’s, I recently graduated with an engineering degree and worked second shift at the Motorola. I tried to drive home one night and found US Highway 44 blocked by a train. I was forced to detour into the town. The time was about 2:30am and I guess I must have been past curfew in the little communist town of Libertyville as I was pulled over with no probable cause. On another note, my family has friends that live just North of the small town of Edwardsburg, MI in an old brick victorian home on Davis Lake. Driving by the area, you would have no idea that this old house on a small lake in what really is nowhere was once a house of ill repute visited often by Al Capone.
Louie A. Bertaux • Jan 20, 2015 at 4:14 pm
Go Wildcats!
I am an 81 alum, and was 16 at the time of the murders. I had worked at Rouse’s gas stations just a month before…very chilling. I suspected Billy all along, as the facts emerged.
I was amazed when he confessed, but glad he did. The murders might have remained unsolved forever, if he never said so. I send him a small bit of money in prison for his birthday when I can.
I guess it’s a Christian thing, not sympathy. After all, he was just 15, and I don’t know if his age as a minor was taken into consideration or not.
Bruce was tough but fair, in running the station. He had a problem that year- the price of gas crept up over a dollar for the first time in history. . . .but the old gas pumps only went up to 99.99 cents per gal… his solution was to re-calibrate the price down to half. So 5 dollars was 10. Many customers argued about what the pump said, as opposed to what we were telling them they owed. . .I would get Bruce to come out and explain. He did this alot. It caused stresses. One time a lady got in an argument with Bruce, he yelled: “Then pull your car into the garage, and I’ll SIPHON half the gas out”. . .but she started crying, so Bruce said: “Get outta here”. . .
Rouse’s was the last of the ‘Full Service’ stations, you know, where the loud bell sounded every time a car pulled in, and we raced out to them, got their gas flowing, and were required to wash the windshield, check the oil and other fluids, and glance at the tire pressure, and ask if they wanted an oil change or a tune up, or wipers, or tires, etc…
Renate lazzaretto • Feb 5, 2017 at 10:34 pm
douglas,
I am very interested in hearing more ! One statement that you referred to Mr rouse as saying……get outta here!…
Really jumped out at me for a reason.
I would like to speak with you sometime soon, if you are willing.
Thank you!
Renate Lazzaretto ( I’m rarely on Facebook…..but best way to IM me
Kristin Lee • Dec 2, 2014 at 7:53 am
Lived 1 door down for many years……always untrigued by that place…..what they don’t say is Billy was always a problem- and Kurt lived in a guest house out back. I can see why the Mayor doesn’t want this dredged up- Libertyville has become a very affluent area……..but sometimes bad things happen in good towns
Dawn Abernathy • Dec 1, 2014 at 7:29 pm
I remember Billy Rouse from grade school. On our “ditch day” from 8th grade we went to Great America, on the way there we saw all the police cars at the “Rouse House”. We all then were wondering “what did Billy do now?” Later that day we heard what had happened. Another sad part of the story is Robin Rouse. She was a nice girl that couldn’t live with the truth.
Louie A. Bertaux • Jan 20, 2015 at 4:19 pm
Hello Dawn, great to hear your story!
May I please ask, which grade school?
Michelle Clutter Brandt • Mar 9, 2017 at 1:50 pm
We were on our class trip Louie from Butterfield that day.