Another take on the disappearance of Brian Carrick – new podcast retells the mystery

On the evening of Dec. 20, 2002 in a small Illinois town near the Wisconsin border a 17-year-old boy went missing.Carrick Poster

To many this first sentence will spark a complicated web of details, names, courtroom testimony, rumors and alleged lies in the yet unsolved disappearance and presumed murder of Brian Carrick.

The story has been a part of my life since 2007 when I first sat down with Brian’s mother, Terry. Brian was one of her 14 children. She and her husband raised their large Catholic family in a white house that set across the street from Val’s grocery store. Many of the Carrick children had worked at Val’s at one time or another. Val’s is where her son Brian, 11th of her 14 children, was last seen alive.

Though his blood was found in and around a produce cooler at Val’s, her son’s body has never been found. Authorities say a fight over a drug debt led to the young man’s death.

Today, nearly 16 years later, there is no one serving prison time for Brian’s murder and lawyers are wrangling hoping to settle big dollar lawsuits.

The story has been the topic of many newspaper articles and TV news reports, as well as an hourlong episode of ABC’s 2020 entitled “Mystery on Johnsburg Road.”

And with each report of Brian’s story comes more confusion, a myriad of characters and perpetrators (depending on whose story you believe), but no definite answers. Stories change, memories fade, and still the family waits to learn the truth. The story has divided the small town of Johnsburg, in some cases pitting local families against each other.

Well yet another storyteller is investigating Brian’s case.

Just last week a 10-part podcast entitled “Framed” was released on iTunes. The producers gathered details from police reports, court testimony and other sources and created the podcast in the hopes of telling the story in a fair and complete way.

They tell the story by using voice actors to recreate actual moments in police interrogation rooms and courtrooms.

They ask the listener to keep close attention to detail and to consider all the evidence before deciding who to believe.

I admit when I first learned about the existence of this podcast I was skeptical about its purpose. But as I listen I am beginning to feel the producers are genuine and striving to tell the story without leaning the listener one way or another.

Knowing the story as well as I think I do I was surprised by a couple details I heard in the podcast. I do not feel the producers are trying to manipulate or sway me and I appreciate that.

I won’t rehash the confusing details of the crime and its aftermath here as many of you reading this know much of what I have written about Brian and all the others whose lives have been made so public. I do encourage you to reread past stories here on my blog, but I also encourage you to listen to Framed.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/framed-an-investigative-story/id1422906504?mt=2

I do hope that this new approach brings about something positive for the family of Brian Carrick. Sadly, his parents have each died, but I can’t help but believe they are with their son and they now know the truth.

Please leave a comment and review of the podcast here.

Judge to decide if man who killed wife and left her body in their home for two days before attempting suicide is guilty of first-degree murder

Judge to decide if man who killed wife and left her body in their home for two days before attempting suicide is guilty of first-degree murder

A McHenry man who admitted to fatally stabbing his wife in 2016 and leaving her body in the basement of their home for two days was a “freeloader” who didn’t want to lose his “meal ticket,” prosecutors said Tuesday in closing arguments at the trial of Anthony Harrison.

“It is hard to imagine anyone more guilty of first-degree murder,” Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Zalud told Judge James Cowlin who will rule on the case Sept. 12.

Zalud said Harrison, 33, was unemployed and facing domestic battery charges stemming from an incident just a few months prior to her death on June 4.

He described Laura Harrison as a friend, daughter and co-worker who should have lived a long, happy life instead “she got butchered in her own home.”

He said her husband likely stabbed her to death in the kitchen sometime June 4, then drug her body to the basement. He then drove her car to area stores and bought items such as a shovel, wheelbarrow, bleach, a 31-gallon garbage can, wood and fire starter, scrambling to find the way to get rid of her body and hide his crime.

Two days later he attempted to slash his own throat then called 911 for help and reported that his wife’s dead body was in the basement and that he had killed her.

Some evidence pointed to the possibility that over those two days he was planning on burning down the house and her with it, while other details of the crime scene – such as a deep hole freshly dug in the backyard – suggested he planned to bury her body.

Seasoned police officers called the crime scene – her graying remains covered in dried blood, deep stab wounds to her neck, lying in a basement laundry room covered in firewood with a gas can nearby – as “horrific.”

And it was “all because she wanted to leave an abusive life, she wanted the opportunity to be happy,” Zalud said.

But Harrison’s attorney, assistant public defender Kim Messer, said it was Laura Harrison who was in control of the situation in the days leading to her death.

She said the 30-year-old woman was the provocateur in a situation that led to her death. Messer asked the judge to find Harrison not guilty of first-degree murder, but guilty of second-degree murder.

During the trial hundreds of photos and pieces of evidence, such as receipts, store surveillance videos, internet searches and text messages were presented. Messer acknowledged the sheer “volume of evidence” but said that “is not indicative of the strength of the evidence.” She urged Cowlin to take his time and look at the “small things.”

She said Harrison was calm around his wife in the days prior to her death as she texted a family member saying she wanted him out of the house and threatened to call the police on him. Laura Harrison also called the McHenry County Crisis Center and the non-emergency McHenry police line and asked how to have him put out of the house. She was told he could not be removed from the house unless he was violent.

“Laura Harrison (was) in control of the relationship,” Messer said. “Anthony Harrison (was) trying to follow the rules.”

After he killed her he felt guilty and “between June 4 and 6 he was trying to figure out how to kill himself,” Messer said noting all the blood evidence from his self-inflicted neck wounds. “(Harrison) couldn’t believe it once he realized what he did,” Messer said.

She pointed to statements Harrison made to Dr. Richard Dilger, a clinical social worker at Advocate Condell Hospital in Libertyville, that “things were getting out of control” when he killed his wife.

Messer then read texts between Laura Harrison and her sister from June 3 where she is saying: “I just want him gone, he causes me too much stress.”
Messer also noted Dilger’s testimony when he said Harrison was suicidal and said he wanted to set himself on fire.

And this all occurred, Messer said, as “mutual combat” that led to her death “and him spending two days trying to figure out what to do.”

In earlier testimony city of McHenry Police Sgt. Nicholas Clesen said the last text message sent from Laura Harrison’s cell phone was at 6:33 p.m. Saturday June 4. Authorities believe she was killed between 6 and 10 p.m. that evening.

Her last text was sent to Anthony’s grandmother saying “He can only stay here if he leaves me alone.” At 8:20 p.m. that same evening, her cell phone received a text from a woman saying “Thinking of you and hoping you are OK.” This and three other texts received on her cell that evening were never opened, Clesen said.

Clesen also went through searches Anthony Harrison made on his cell phone beginning at 10:04 p.m. that same evening and continuing until Monday morning.

He searched: ”What happens if you cut the juggler vein” several times in various wording. He also searched “How quickly can someone bleed to death from a cut artery” and “can you buy a firearm while on trial for battery in Illinois?”

His last search inquiring how long it would take to die after cutting a jugular vein was about 7:20 a.m. that Monday. Clesen said he then called 911 reporting his attempted suicide and alleged murder about an our and a half later.

Trial to begin for man accused of murdering wife found dead in basement under a pile of wood and a gas can nearby

Trial to begin for man accused of murdering wife found dead in basement under a pile of wood and a gas can nearby

A McHenry County judge on Monday will hear the case of a man accused of fatally stabbing his wife while facing pending domestic battery charges from just months prior.

Anthony Harrison, 33, is set for a bench trial to begin Monday afternoon before Judge James Cowlin in the murder of his wife Laura Harrison. Harrison chose to have his case heard by a judge rather than a jury of his peers.

Authorities said Harrison fatally stabbed his 30-year-old wife in the neck on June 4, 2016.

Two days later he called 911 saying he had stabbed himself in the neck “multiple times.” He also told 911 dispatch that he had killed his wife two days prior, according to authorities and court documents.

Police found his wife’s body in the basement of their home near a pool of blood with wood piled up on top of her remains and a gas can nearby.

At a pre-trial hearing Friday Cowlin allowed prosecutors motion to enter at trial photos and receipts from local stores showing on June 5, 2016 – the day after allegedly killing his wife – Harrison bought several items, presumably to cover up the murder and dispose of her body.

Those items include a 31-gallon garbage can, 5-gallon gas can, bleach, Clorox wipes, wood, fire starter and $400 in gift cards, said Assistant States Attorney Scott Jacobson.

Prosecutors said that on Dec. 26, 2015, seven months prior to the alleged murder, Harrison committed the act of criminal misdemeanor domestic battery against his wife. They said he choked and scratched her on and near her neck, in the same areas in which he ultimately stabbed and killed her.

At the time of her death that domestic battery case was still pending. Prosecutors argued Friday that the intention behind killing his wife was “in part” to “silence” her so she could not testify him in that pending case.

Prosecutors cited the case of former Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson. Peterson was convicted in the 2004 murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio. He still is suspected in the presumed death of his fourth wife Stacey Peterson who has not been seen since 2007.

In the Savio case a judge allowed statements Savio made regarding their pending divorce and child support hearings. Prosecutors alleged that this could have been the reason behind killing her. Peterson was ultimately convicted in this case and sentenced to 38 years in prison. He. Has never been tried for the disappearance of Stacey Peterson.

But Harrison’s attorney Assistant Public Defender Kim Messer said there is no evidence of such intent.

“The state offered no evidence he tried to silence Mrs. Harrison,” Messer said. “Mr. Harrison did not face jail (in the domestic battery case). There was an offer already made. He was not trying to keep her from testifying. This murder case has nothing to do with prior domestic battery.”

On Monday morning before the trial began Cowlin ruled against allowing statements Laura Harrison made to police during the domestic battery case. He said Harrison may have killed his wife for any number of reasons but, unlike the Peterson case, there were no statements made to anyone saying he had threatened her in anyway prior to the murder.

Cowlin also allowed the prosecution to enter written text messages Laura Harrison had sent to her sister on the day she was allegedly killed saying she wanted her husband to leave the home sooner rather than later as was a prior agreement between the couple. The judge also allowed evidence that the words “I did this” were written in marker on a ledge inside the home and that Harrison wrote a letter to his grandma supposedly admitting to killing his wife. He also will consider the 911 call that Anthony Harrison made on June 6, 2016 and computer searches he made.

Laura Harrison was one of a set of triplets and a half sister to another set of triplets.

Attorneys said they expect a large gathering at Monday’s trial including Laura Harrison’s father who is flying in from

For more background visit:
China.http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-husband-charged-with-killing-wife-laura-harrison-met-20160624-story.html

At murder trial defendant claiming insanity says he heard voices and “smoked pot with God”

A 29-year-old man was hearing voices that someone was going to kill him the day he strangled and stabbed his 53-year-old roommate in their Woodstock apartment, according to recent testimony in a McHenry County courtroom.

Expert witnesses testified in the beginning of a bench trial for Branden Napolitan accused of killing Daryl K. Fox Oct. 23, 2015.

Napolitan’s lawyers argued that he is not guilty by reason of insanity while prosecutors counter he is guilty but mentally insane, meaning he knew the criminality of his actions.

Defense attorneys called to the stand Robert Meyers, a clinical psychologist, who said Napolitan was having a “psychotic break” at the time of the murder, hearing voices and experiencing hallucinations.

“He knew killing … was wrong but in his mind he was acting in self defense,” Meyers said.

Meyers said Napolitan called 911 and told responders he is schizophrenic, was hearing voices and he was scared. Napolitan, who admitted to some cocaine use, was taken to a local hospital where he was evaluated, but released. He then walked home and killed Daryl K. Fox, attorneys said.

After killing him, Napolitan stole Fox’s wallet, cellphone, charger and his car and fled to Madison Wis. where he was later apprehended.

Meyers said Napolitan, who was “quite psychotic and confused” at the time of the murder, is a paranoid schizophrenic. He said there is “no way he’s faking” his illness.

He testified Napolitan has been mentally ill since about 18 years old. He has been in inpatient care multiple times since 2007. Napolitan told Meyers he hears threatening voices, and others that guide him such as Adam.

He also said Satan talks to him and is “dragging him to his destiny to be in hell.”

Napolitan also reported having hallucinations of smoking pot with God and seeing God and other shadows in the clouds.

When arrested Napolitan was agitated and showing “dramatic mood swings” and making “bizarre comments,” the doctor said.

Terrance Lichtenwald, psychologist for the prosecution, disputes Meyers’ assessment. He didn’t believe Napolitan was hearing voices or suffering a psychotic break. He believes he is a paranoid schizophrenic, but said mental illness does not make one a killer.

“Spontaneous, random assaults are uncommon,” Lichtenwald said. “He did appreciate the criminality of his actions.”

The doctor said Napolitan took substantial steps to cover up the murder including closing the blinds in the apartment to conceal the body before he fled. He also continued to answer Fox’s phone as if everything was OK, saying a Fox could not come to the phone.

Regarding his many hospital stays the doctor said Napolitan had a pattern of admitting himself when he was broke and homeless.

The bench trial will continue March 9.

Man released from prison after murder conviction of Johnsburg teen, seeks to be declared “innocent”

Mario Casciaro was released from prison after his conviction for the murder of his teenage co-worker was overturned, but authorities in McHenry County are balking at formally declaring him innocent.

Casciaro — the only person ever convicted in the 2002 disappearance of 17-year-old Brian Carrick — wants a McHenry County judge to grant him a certificate of innocence. But the prosecutors who took Casciaro to trial three times before getting a guilty verdict — once for perjury and twice for murder — have formally opposed the certificate.

If granted, the court document would allow Casciaro to seek compensation from the state for the 22 months he spent in Menard Correctional Center before his conviction for murder with intimidation — a rarely used charge — was reversed on appeal. Innocence certificates can also help exonerated former inmates get employment and generally reintegrate into society.

“It is unfortunate that the McHenry (County) state’s attorney continues to deny this grave miscarriage of justice,” said Casciaro’s attorney, Kathleen Zellner, who has won several high-profile murder conviction reversals and now represents Steve Avery, the Wisconsin man from the “Making a Murderer” Netflix series. “We are confident Mr. Casciaro will prevail, even if we have to take this matter all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court.”

But prosecutors argue that, although the appeals court determined they lacked sufficient evidence to convict Casciaro, that doesn’t mean he is “actually innocent.”

Casciaro “wishes to cast himself as the victim. He is not. The real victim is lying nameless in an unmarked, unhallowed grave,” prosecutors wrote, in reference to the fact that Carrick’s remains have never been recovered. “The defendant’s disinterest, deceit and contempt … during the investigation exposed his callousness and consciousness of guilt.”

Prosecutors further argued in their 300-page motion that, “even conceding that the state’s evidence of guilt was weak, it does not follow that (Casciaro) is innocent. Rather, (he) must still present evidence of actual innocence that overrides evidence of guilt. (Casciaro) offers no exculpatory physical or DNA evidence, no credible alibi during the time of the attack or thereafter, and no new witnesses or information.”

The case has attracted national attention and has become one of the most notorious murder mysteries in McHenry County. Carrick disappeared days before Christmas 2002 after being seen at the Johnsburg grocery store where he worked with Casciaro, whose family was part owner.

Authorities contended at Casciaro’s two murder trials that Carrick had been dealing marijuana for Casciaro and that he ordered another co-worker, Shane Lamb, to confront Carrick about a debt he owed. Lamb testified that- at both murder trials- he delivered a fatal punch to Carrick inside a grocery store cooler. At Casciaro’s second murder trial in 2013,  Casciaro was convicted of first-degree murder with intimidation and sentenced to 26 years in prison. Prosecutors told jurors that if it were not for Casciaro- acting as the “kingpin”of a drug dealing operation and putting into motion the wheels that led to Carrick’s death- Carrick would not have been killed.

Carrick’s blood was found in and around the cooler, but his body has never been found.

Lamb, who received immunity in the case but is now in prison on an unrelated weapons charge, later said he lied on the witness stand under pressure from prosecutors seeking to convict Casciaro of the murder, a claim officials have vehemently denied.

In their objection to Casciaro’s innocence certificate, prosecutors called Casciaro’s conviction reversal “problematic” and “imprudent.” They cited, for example, witness testimony that supported Lamb’s account, as well as a polygraph test Casciaro took that prosecutors say showed Casciaro being deceptive. They also noted letters Lamb wrote to a local newspaper – while in jail on the weapons’ charges- where he wrote he felt remorse for what happened to Carrick.

They cited trial testimony from one witness who said he saw Casciaro and Carrick arguing that night, as well as testimony from various former grocery store employees,  who said  that Casciaro was selling marijuana and that Carrick worked for him. Prosecutors also pointed to testimony that Carrick owed Casciaro money at the time he disappeared and that Lamb worked as an “enforcer” in Casciaro’s drug business.

In overturning the conviction outright last year, the appellate court noted, among several factors, the lack of physical evidence to convict Casciaro. They also questioned Lamb’s credibility and said his account did not prove intimidation by Casciaro. Additionally, they wrote that details of the alleged physical altercation did not match up with blood spatter found in and around the produce cooler.

“Lamb’s entire testimony was so inconsistent, contradictory and incredible that it was palpably contrary to the verdict,” appellate judges wrote in their ruling.

Prosecutors, however, said Lamb only recanted and claimed he was told what to testify because he was upset about the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence for the weapons charges. They also noted that he had learned he would be featured on a national TV news program about the Carrick case and wanted to “leverage the notoriety and exposure to undercut his prosecution.”

In her appeal, Zellner sought to cast suspicion on another grocery store co-worker, who has since died, as the possible killer. She noted that this man’s blood was found near the crime scene and that he had motive.  Prosecutors called that theory “fantastical” and said it did not match the facts of the case.

After Casciaro’s release from prison in September, prosecutors attempted to have their case heard at the Illinois Supreme Court but were denied.

Carrick’s disappearance and the drawn-out aftermath — nearly eight years went by before Casciaro was charged with the murder — have long been a source of interest and grief in the small town, where both families were well-known. Carrick was one of 14 siblings and his family lived across the street from the grocery store where he was likely killed. His mother, Terry, died months before Casciaro’s arrest. His father, William, saw Casciaro convicted of murdering his son but died before the conviction was overturned.

Prosecutors noted those turns of events in their objection.

“Since Brian’s disappearance … both of his parents have gone to their grave without ever having known their son’s ultimate fate,” they wrote, adding his siblings remain “haunted” by his presumed death.

The filing also noted that the attention given in recent years to wrongful convictions “has aroused a healthy skepticism of convictions reached without” DNA evidence or a firsthand witness account.

“It is important not to attribute injustices elsewhere to circumstances here,” prosecutors wrote. They added that, “If one accepts the criminal justice system is imperfect” and sometimes convicts the wrong person, it follows that the same system sometimes “acquits those who are guilty, in fact.”

Since his release from prison Casciaro, now 33, has pursued admittance to law school and his family has opened up another grocery store in McHenry County.

*I welcome anyone with information/thoughts on this case to contact me.