Dr. John Cavaness

Timeline

• January 6, 1986 — Dr. John Dale Cavaness was sentenced to death in Missouri.
• November 17, 1986 — Dr. John Dale Cavaness committed suicide by hanging himself in his death row cell with an electrical cord.
• December 13, 1984 — Sean Cavaness was shot dead in an isolated area near the St. Louis suburb of Times Beach.
• December 14, 1984 — Dr. Cavaness attended a Christmas party after Sean’s death.
• 1983 — Police identified Sean by fingerprints on file thanks to a misdemeanor traffic stop.
• April 9, 1977 — Mark Dale Cavaness failed to show up at the Cavaness house during the Easter holiday arrangements and Marian, 15-year-old Sean, and 19-year-old Kevin headed out to the trailer on Dr. Cavaness’s farm to see if he was there.
• 1972 — Dr. Cavaness pleaded guilty to reckless homicide in a three-car crash that killed a 10-month-old girl and her father; he received two years of probation and a $1,000 fine.
• Early 1970s — Marian left Dr. Cavaness.
• 1977 — Mark Dale Cavaness was doing odd jobs around the Little Egypt area and was working on his father’s farm.

Background

Dr. John Dale Cavaness was a general practitioner from southern Illinois. He was “Dr. Dale, as he was affectionately called,” and was described as being “akin to Mother Teresa to his patients and friends,” and as making house calls and sometimes waiving fees for those unable to pay.

Dr. Cavaness had a “darker side” known to his family and his closest office workers. He grew up in the Little Egypt area and was taught to be tough and stand his ground by his “gandy dancer father.” He came from a family that was well off during the Depression, and he managed to attend college and medical school.

Dr. Cavaness was abandoned by his first wife. His second wife was Marian, a nurse. Marian became the target of Dr. Cavaness’s frustrations and he began physically and emotionally abusing her, after which Marian put up with the abuse for several years and gave Cavaness four sons before leaving him in the early 1970s.

Dr. Cavaness began using alcohol and drugs to excess around the time the abuse occurred. Dr. Cavaness once told his ex-wife after a fight with his son, Sean, that “I don’t care if I go to jail. I’ll kill him.”

The offence

Dr. Cavaness murdered his son Sean. Jurors found Dr. Cavaness guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his son, Sean, 22.

Sean’s body was found last December near Times Beach, Mo., and Dr. Cavaness was convicted of killing Sean with two shots to the head to collect more than $140,000 in insurance benefits. Another account states that Dr. Cavaness was sentenced to death in the gas chamber for murdering his son to collect $148,000 in insurance.

The prosecution described Sean’s death as occurring in an isolated area near the St. Louis suburb of Times Beach. Sean was shot twice in the back of the head by a .357 Magnum. The autopsy revealed that Sean consumed more than a dozen alcoholic drinks before he died.

Forensic details were described:

• There were two entrance wounds to the back of Sean’s head and “one apparent exit wound under the left eye.”
• The shot just right of the centerline of Sean’s skull traveled upward, exiting just below his left eye.
• The distance was one inch or less, but it was not a contact wound because of gunpowder stippling to the flesh.
• Blood spatter analysis indicated Sean had been standing with his left arm slightly raised when the shot was fired.
• The second shot entered near the right ear and was lodged in his brain after being fired from a distance of 12 to 18 inches as Sean lay on the ground.
• Either shot would have caused death.

The crime scene was described as appearing execution-style and initially indicating robbery or a removed killer with no personal attachments:

• “These circumstances imply a a removed killer with no personal attachments to the victim and motivated by financial gain to pull the trigger,” the analysis of the crime in the Crime Classification Manual states.

Investigation

Police focused on Dr. Cavaness after finding clues indicating his involvement. Dr. Cavaness’s first statement to police was quickly dispelled by police work. He claimed he had not seen Sean for several weeks, but eyewitnesses placed him at Sean’s apartment the evening before Sean died.

A couple living in the apartment building made a note of Dr. Cavaness’s license plate on a paper bag after observing him “cruising” the area and then recognizing him when they later saw him embracing outside the apartment. They recognized him as Sean’s father and forgot about the event until contacted by authorities. At 3 a.m., the couple heard two distinct sets of footsteps leaving the apartment.

After questioning, Dr. Cavaness changed his story to an account that did not fit forensic evidence from the scene. Dr. Cavaness admitted he and Sean had been drinking and had gone out for a ride, ending up at the park where Sean’s body was found. He claimed that while outside the car Sean asked to see his pistol, that Sean allegedly said “tell Mom I’m sorry” and then pulled the trigger, and that the resulting shot corresponded to the one entered by Sean’s right ear.

Dr. Cavaness said that he staged a robbery scene by taking the pistol and firing a second bullet into his son. He said he then took Sean’s wallet and watch. Experts said the blood spatter indicated the shot Dr. Cavaness claimed was self-inflicted occurred when Sean was on the ground. Experts also said Sean’s 0.26 blood-alcohol content would have limited his dexterity so he could not have shot himself with the shot that exited below his left eye.

Dr. Cavaness’s behavior at a Christmas party also conflicted with the claimed timeline, since friends said he was acting normally, laughing and drinking. His financial benefit from Sean’s death and police past suspicions of his involvement in Mark’s death also contributed to him being charged with murder.

Arrest

Dr. Cavaness was charged with murder.

Trial

A Missouri jury convicted Dr. Cavaness of first-degree murder. Jurors deliberated less than three hours in finding Dr. Cavaness, 60 years old, guilty of first-degree murder.

The jury recommended the death penalty, then heard arguments on whether he should die or be sentenced to life in prison without parole. The jury was recessed until Wednesday morning to begin the sentencing phase. Dr. Cavaness showed no emotion when the guilty verdict was read.

It was the second time Dr. Cavaness had been tried on the charges. His first trial ended in a mistrial when the judge determined that the jury had seen documents not introduced as evidence.

Sentencing

A judge sentenced Dr. Cavaness to death. One account states that Judge Drew Luten Jr. of St. Louis County Circuit Court imposed the sentence Monday, January 8, 1986. Another account states the sentence was imposed on January 6, 1986.

The trial information stated that no execution date was set. In Missouri, a death sentence was automatically appealed to the State Supreme Court.

Outcome

Dr. Cavaness was sentenced to death in Missouri in January 6, 1986 and committed suicide by hanging himself in his death row cell with an electrical cord on November 17, 1986.

Other details

The record described deaths of other family members and earlier conduct:

• Mark Dale Cavaness was introduced as the eldest son whose parents’ divorce and his father’s conduct influenced him. He dropped out of high school and became depressed. Mark was described as a “no-good pot smoker.”
• On April 9, 1977, Marian, 15-year-old Sean, and 19-year-old Kevin headed out to look for Mark at the trailer on Dr. Cavaness’s farm. They found Mark’s Jeep pickup truck and discovered the decaying corpse of Mark lying in tall grass near the truck. Mark was dead a little over 12 hours, and the body had been attacked by scavenger animals. The flesh of Mark’s skull was completely gone, with one eyeball and his hair remaining, while his lower body in blue jeans and heavy work boots was intact. Sean identified Mark by his unique belt buckle, and the medical examiner made a positive identification through dental records.
• Criminalists could not determine where Mark had been standing because of likely movement of the body by animals. Mark’s shirt was found some distance away from his body and was described as being the shirt he was wearing when he was shot. The description stated he was shot by a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with buckshot; a 2.5-by-4-inch hole surrounded by blood was between the left breast pocket and the centerline of buttons.
• The truck was described as having blood on the driver’s seat, floorboard, and driver’s side door panel. The shotgun was on the floorboard, with the end of the barrel extending out of a case. A coat hanger with a camouflage hunting vest partly hanging off was attached to the trigger of the loaded shotgun by the hook end; the bottom of the vest had been shut in the passenger side door. The police surmised that the coat hanger pulled the trigger.
• Kevin Cavaness refused to believe the coroner’s ruling of accidental death and argued that his brother was too experienced with guns to grab one by the barrel. The chief investigator agreed based on the fact that a Browning automatic shotgun would not have ejected the shell onto the floorboard if it had been fired while still in the gun case; instead the shell would have remained in the case.
• Investigators found a $40,000 life insurance policy Dale Cavaness took out on his son, naming him as beneficiary.
• It was stated that robbery was ruled out because Mark’s wallet was found near his body.

Earlier convictions and events were described:

• In 1972, Dr. Cavaness pleaded guilty to deceptive medical practice and it was his second criminal conviction. The record also states that in 1971 he was sentenced to two years’ probation for a fatal traffic accident in which two persons died. It further stated that Dr. Cavaness was found guilty of driving while intoxicated.
• The record also states that in 1972 he pleaded guilty to reckless homicide in a three-car crash that killed a 10-month-old girl and her father, and that he was also charged at the time with driving while intoxicated and unlawful possession of a loaded pistol and shotgun. It stated he managed to avoid prison, receiving two years of probation and a $1,000 fine.
• It stated that four years after his medical fraud conviction, Dr. Cavaness convinced his sons Sean and Kevin to participate in an insurance investment that would benefit them because of borrowing power the policies would accumulate. Dr. Dale was said to have paid the $1,000 monthly premiums and to use this as a tax deduction to offset his income. It stated that by that time his own drug abuse and bad business deals had resulted in tax returns indicating he was sinking into debt and owed close to half a million dollars.

Sean’s background and discovery details were described:

• Sean was said to have been the first person to find his older brother’s corpse, which he never fully recovered from. Sean sought to appease his pain through alcohol and drugs and sought help through a 12-step program and inpatient treatment.
• It stated that Marian moved to St. Louis, Missouri.
• Sean had been invited by Marian and his brothers to come to Little Egypt for the Easter holiday in 1977.
• In December 1984, Sean’s dead body was found by a farmer in a remote area near St. Louis that had once been Times Beach, an area ordered abandoned by the Environmental Protection Agency earlier in the decade when it was found to be heavily contaminated by high levels of cancer-causing dioxin; the area was later cleaned up as a Superfund site and reopened as a park and bird sanctuary.
• Sean’s body was found beside what was once a gate. He was dressed and no means of identification was found on the body.
• Police identified Sean by fingerprints on file thanks to a misdemeanor traffic stop in 1983.
• The record described that the body was found within about three hours of discovery because the body was still somewhat warm.
• It described that Sean was lying on his back with both arms resting parallel to his torso and that there were two entrance wounds to the back of his head and “one apparent exit wound under the left eye.”

Trial-related contextual detail was described:

• On the evening of December 14, hours after Sean’s death, Dr. Cavaness attended a Christmas party attended by many people in his community. Friends who saw him said he was acting perfectly normal, laughing and drinking.
• A courtroom was filled with supporters for Dr. Cavaness, and their efforts were described as being for naught.

The record included a publication reference and additional description:

• The case was chronicled in the book by Darcy O’Brien, “Murder in Little Egypt”.
• The record quoted from the “Crime Classification Manual” and described it as the result of a decade-long project by the FBI’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, and as outlining a standard system designed to assist law enforcement. It stated that one type included was “Insurance/Inheritance-Related Death: Individual Profit Murder,” and that the murder of Sean Cavaness was “almost a direct tissue match.”