A Western Springs woman who saw a man clambering out of a wooded area on the day a suburban Chicago teen was fatally stabbed said she collapsed with grief days later when she identified the man in a police lineup.
Shelagh Juracic told jurors Thursday during the third day in the trial of John Wilson Jr. that she was driving home on Oct. 27, 2011 when she saw a man climbing up a steep, weed-choked embankment along the border of Indian Head Park.
The man hopped over a guard rail along Plainfield Road, which caught her attention, she said, because he could have taken an easier route along a frontage road.
Juracic said she called police shortly after she heard about the murder of 14-year-old Kelli O’Laughlin, who was fatally stabbed in her parents’ home in Indian Head Park.
On November 3, she viewed a lineup at the La Grange Police Department, where Wilson was being held after his arrest the previous day. Juracic said she fell to her knees and began to sob after she identified him.
“I was very emotional and crying,” she said. “When I saw that individual, I realized I saw the person who killed Kelli on that afternoon.”
Wilson, 41, is accused of stabbing the girl after she returned home from school and walked in on him as he was burglarizing her family’s home in tiny west suburban village.
Wilson allegedly stole her cell phone, which he used to send taunting messages to Kelli’s mother.
Joseph Ruzich is a freelance reporter.
More Top Picks Wemo Mini