Mary Nowak and Richard Foster live next to the Wheeling home where the suspect in Sunday’s Wisconsin shootings grew up.
The neighbors on the cul-de-sac were close when the family of Radcliffe Franklin Haughton lived here about 10 years ago, the couple said Sunday.
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“He was a pretty good guy, clean cut,” Foster said. “He never caused any trouble.”
Foster described Haughton, 45, who police said was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Sunday, as ambitious and said he often talked about a plan to work hard, make money, and buy a nice house and car.
“He was on top of his game,” Foster said. “A real go-getter.”
Nowak said Haughton was a quiet man — so quiet his stepmother joked he was “like a ghost.”
The two families often spent time together and knew each other’s extended families, Nowak said.
One summer, Haughton taught Nowak’s 9-year-old son to play chess.
Nowak reminisced about block parties in the summer and said the Haughtons were “great neighbors.”
“I am totally surprised. I would have trusted him to no end,” Nowak said.
But Cook County court records paint a different picture. Haughton had been arrested several times over the years, according to the records. He was guilty of three:
*In 1994, he was arrested for possession of cannabis and was found guilty and given supervision Nov. 7, 1994, which he did not satisfactorily complete, records show.
*On Sept. 9, 1992, he was arrested on possession of cannabis and was found guilty and ordered to pay a fine.
*On Jan. 5 he pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 12 months of court supervision which was to be completed in December.