Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 8, 1993                   TAG: 9312080115
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JULIE IRWIN and CAMERON McWHIRTER CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Medium

SUICIDE FOR HIRE? POLICE CALL IT MURDER

But few knew how ill or how depressed she was. They were shocked this week to hear allegations that Potempa, of Summit, paid a man $2,100 to kill her last month, then sought him out to finish the job after his first attempt at strangling her failed.

The man succeeded the second time, authorities said. Potempa's husband and son found her beaten and strangled in the garage of their home Nov. 26 when they returned from a two-day trip to Detroit.

Reginald Williams, 18, of Summit, was charged Saturday with first-degree murder and ordered held on $350,000 bond.

Although authorities acknowledged that the case is bizarre, they claim that Williams gave credible written and oral statements implicating himself in the crime both before and after his arrest.

"She wanted to end her life because she was ill," said Cook County State's Attorney Jack O'Malley.

Police say Potempa paid Williams $2,100 to kill her. On Nov. 24, she was choked and left for dead in her home, authorities said. However, she only passed out, and when she regained consciousness, she drove around Summit looking for Williams, officials said.

Williams returned with Potempa to her house and tried to strangle her again, this time using an electrical cord, according to authorities. He also struck her on the head with a power drill, officials said.

An autopsy found that Potempa died from strangulation and blunt trauma to the head.

According to O'Malley, Potempa's family apparently was not aware of her death plot. But authorities said that upon her husband's and son's return from their weekend trip, they found notes in the house indicating that Potempa knew she would die soon. In them, she apologized for her death and bequeathed jewelry and other items to her relatives.

Authorities said they became suspicious of Williams because he bought a used car and stereo equipment even though he was unemployed. A friend of Williams' then agreed to wear a hidden radio transmitter during a meeting between the two, and Williams was recorded talking about the killing.

After listening to the tape, Summit police arrested Williams.

O'Malley said the case is considerably different from the suicides assisted by Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the Michigan doctor who is in jail for helping several people kill themselves.

"[Kevorkian] assists people in taking their own lives," O'Malley said. "[Williams] took the affirmative step to end her life. When the defendant takes the affirmative step, it's first-degree murder. It doesn't matter that she agreed."

Assistant State's Attorney James McCarter confirmed that Potempa carried life insurance, but O'Malley said there was no indication that Potempa wanted her death to look like a murder so that her family could collect on it. Most insurance policies will not pay benefits if the death is ruled a suicide.

Williams, who was on probation for an unrelated 1992 burglary conviction, lived a few blocks from Potempa, but authorities did not know how the two had met.

Keywords:
FATALITY