Anyone who heard the story was stunned, and those who listened to the chilling 911 audio tape were likely horrified.
A young man had taken a kitchen knife from a drawer and attacked his fiance's family members, killing three of them -- her father, grandmother and sister.
Now the Daily Herald has published an interview with the first person to learn of the massacre outside of those present, the 911 dispatcher who took the call on April 17 -- a man who has had broadcasting experience, but opted to work as a police dispatcher instead.
"It sounded scarier listening to it than taking it," Paul Jenkins told the paper of the anguished, rambling and chaotic 911 call. "When you're taking it, it's business. You fall back on your training."
The dispatcher told the Herald that the call came in just 16 minutes before the end of his 11 p.m. - 7 a.m. shift, and that it was initially a medical call.
"You can't really depend on tone and cadence," he said of the caller. "She sounded relatively calm."
The caller turned out to be the accused killer's girlfriend, Amanda Englehardt. She told Jenkins that they needed ambulances. As he asked more questions, it became clear that something terribly wrong had happened in the Hoffman Estates home.
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Although he handles more than 1,000 calls a year, Jenkins told the Herald, "I can probably count on my fingers and toes the truly traumatic calls I've taken. Most of it is just routine."
"This is the first major crime call."
