| Jailed Mortgage Broker Threatened Murdered Sister
Eric Hanson detained by Wisconsin police October 24, 2005 By PATRICK CROWLEY |
| A Chicago-area mortgage broker is being held by police after four family members were found beaten to death in the Naperville, Ill., home.Eric C. Hanson, 28, a broker with The Home Loan Center in Chicago, was arrested Oct. 7 in Wisconsin after being stopped by state police near the Wisconsin Dells resort area. He was taken into custody without incident but not charged with the murders of his family members, DuPage County State’s Attorney Joseph Burkett told MortgageDaily.com.
Instead, he was charged with felony intimidation and was being held on a $1 million bond, Burkett said. Authorities want Hanson returned to Illinois, but he is fighting extradition proceedings. Burkett said Hanson is a “suspect being detained in a case that may or may not be related” to the murders. The charge relates to an alleged threat Hanson made against his sister on Sept. 8. Hanson allegedly told his sister, Katherine “Kate” Hanson Tsao, 31, he would kill her if she told their father he was stealing from him. “He’s charged with intimidation,” Burkett said. “He communicated a threat to his sister.” The sister was murdered along with her husband, Jimmy Tsao, 34. Hanson’s parents — Terrance, 57, and Mary Hanson, 55 — were also killed. The bodies were found in the Tsaos’ home in Aurora, Ill. All four had been badly beaten. Hanson denied the killings in an interview with The Chicago Tribune. “Who’s saying I’m a suspect? Are police telling you that?” he reportedly told the paper. “I’m just shocked that anyone would think that. I loved my family.” Hanson only started working as a mortgage broker earlier this year and reportedly told friends he has struggled in the business. Hanson had also worked waiting tables in the Chicago area. Burkett said Hanson described himself as a “mortgage broker.” The Web site for The Home Loan Center does list an Eric Hanson has a loan officer in its Chicago office. A message left on the office’s voice mail was not returned. Hanson was driving a Chevrolet Blazer on Interstate 90/94 when he was stopped by a Wisconsin state trooper for questioning. He told authorities he had been in Los Angeles at the time of the killings. Hanson reportedly told The Tribune that he did not threaten his sister and was not having money problems. Asked why he was using a public defender he reportedly said because she was “doing a fabulous job.” “Nobody knows the story of what happened and how things went down,” he was quoted as saying. “Everybody is getting the stories all tangled up and confused.” Hanson had served time in prison for a string of home invasions in Michigan and jail time for shoplifting. |
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Patrick Crowley is a MortgageDaily.com feature journalist and blogger, and a reporter, blogger and columnist for The Cincinnati Enquirer. e-mail Patrick at: [email protected] |
