Video: Longtime Psychology Professor Killed Family 46 Years Ago, Skated on Insanity Defense

Photo Credit: Sun TimesA psychology professor at Downstate Millikin University killed his parents and sister 46 years ago when he was a teenager, a revelation that has jolted the bucolic liberal arts college that has employed him for nearly three decades and sparked calls for his resignation.

Described as “an older hippie,” James St. James landed a top teaching award at the small college in Decatur and chairs its psychology department, but he kept the dark secret from his past from Millikin’s administrators and the central Illinois city in which he has lived.

Reached Thursday at his Decatur home — its front porch cluttered with plants, patio furniture and a stack of newspapers — St. James, 61, declined to comment.

“The university has issued a statement and that will, that will have to do,” he said.

Not until the publication of an investigation by a Texas newspaper did it become known that he was at Millikin after shooting his parents and teenage sister to death in Texas in 1967. St. James avoided prison time after being found insane at the time of the slayings.

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