As she looked for her son, the mother of a troubled 27-year-old instead found the flashing lights of police cars parked at the home of her elderly neighbors, authorities said.
Police had rushed to the quiet, tree-shaded block in a McHenry County subdivision after an emergency call from inside the neighbor's house. The couple, John G. Feldkamp, 83, and his wife, Audrey, 81, had been fatally stabbed. And her son, Doran Bloom, was dead, killed by gunshots fired by the couple's son, police said.
For reasons that aren't clear, Bloom stabbed the property developer and his wife in their Marengo-area home Tuesday night, authorities said. Bloom also badly wounded the couple's son, Scott Feldkamp, 54, who shot Bloom to death, police said.
Scott Feldkamp was listed in fair condition in an Elgin hospital Wednesday.
Bloom had no relationship with the couple, who lived down the street from his parents, said McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren.
"This a random incident of violence aimed at (the Feldkamps) for no apparent reason," Nygren said.
The sheriff said Bloom's mother had told investigators that her son was prone to "episodes of rage" and had struggled with mental illness since he was a teen. She told investigators that she last saw her son sitting in her backyard Tuesday night, police said. When she looked again for him, he was gone.
Bloom's mental fitness had also been discussed in McHenry County courts. After he was charged in October 2008 with stealing a bottle of whiskey from a Marengo convenience store, a judge wrote that his lawyer had a "bona fide doubt" as to his client's mental fitness.
The findings of the mental fitness evaluation were unavailable, but he later pleaded guilty to retail theft. He was also convicted of drunken driving in 2010.
After the killings, his mother told investigators he had recently moved back in with his parents after a stint at a Woodstock apartment.
Nygren said that at first, Scott Feldkamp thought he saw Bloom punching his father in the entryway of the home, located in the 7500 block of Somerset Drive. But the son realized as he moved closer that his father was being stabbed with the 4-inch blade of a folding knife Bloom brought with him, police said.
After he was stabbed while trying to intervene, the son ran upstairs, grabbed a 9 mm pistol, aimed over an upstairs banister and shot Bloom several times, Nygren said. But Bloom had already stabbed Audrey Feldkamp 14 times in the torso, police said.
Bloom and John Feldkamp both died at the scene; Audrey Feldkamp died in a Rockford hospital.
Those who knew them said the Feldkamps were generous, friendly people formerly known for their Fourth of July cookouts.
Called Jack by friends, John Feldkamp grew up on Chicago's South Side, served in the Navy and worked in a steel plant before moving to McHenry County decades ago and buying Harmony Real Estate, said John Boyle, a business partner who worked with him on property developments. Feldkamp had not retired, and could still often be found at his desk, friends said.
He was "old-fashioned and frugal, but fair," Boyle said, adding that calling him a staunch Republican would undersell his conservatism.
Where Feldkamp was "opinionated," his wife was usually quiet, Boyle said. She retired years ago after working at area banks, Boyle said. An excellent baker, she often flooded her husband's office with confections, Boyle said.
Family members gathered Wednesday at the home — one of about 10 in a rural subdivision of sprawling lots — but they declined to comment.
There are no plans to charge Scott Feldkamp in Bloom's shooting death, Nygren said.
Dan Hinkel is a staff reporter; Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter. Tribune photographer Keri Wiginton contributed.
dhinkel@tribune.com
Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-mchenry-attack-20110608,0,2561734.story