The Palatine Massacre

This notorious murder spree stands alongside the St. Valentines Day Massacre, as it was in the area of the infamous slaughter, Chicago, and had the same number of victims; Seven.  That is where the comparisons end, as this was not an underworld feud but a slaughter carried out by two young men for "kicks".  This happened on January 8th 1993 at Browns` Chicken Restaurant in Palatine, Illinois.  The two gunmen had gone in, ordered food, sat down to eat, and as it was near closing time, they then struck.  The wife of the manager was forced to open the safe then she had her throat slit, the others were forced into a big walk-in refrigerator, where the gunmen took turns in shooting the hostages, closing the door, reloading, then opening again shooting.

    An early suspect was a very disgruntled former employee, dismissed a couple of weeks before, but eventually, he was eliminated and the case ran cold.  It was March 2002 when Police received a call from a woman named Anne Lockett, a former girlfriend of James Degorsky, saying that he and a friend, Juan Luna, were responsible.  She said she kept quiet for nine years due to murder threats from Degorsky.  They investigated the backgrounds of the two, and found they had led entirely lawful and peaceful lives since the massacre, which was highly unusual for such an horrific crime.  They did have evidence that could now be checked, through advances in DNA technology.  It was a discarded meal.  Getting from the two DNA samples, the preserved meal was tested and produced a match to one of the accused.  They were arrested and charged.  The reason for the massacre?  Luna wanted to know how it felt to "Ice somebody" and Degorsky agreed to help him.

   Both were sentenced to life imprisonment because a couple of jurors on both trials, bottled it when it came to deciding on the Death Penalty, citing they were young.  They had no trouble slaughtering seven people just for the hell of it.  Families of the victims say they got away with it because they have a life, the victims don`t.  The victims are as follows;
Richard Ehlenfeldt 50
Lynn Ehlenfeldt 49
Guadalupe Maldonaldo 46
Michael Castro 16
Rico Solis 17
Thomas Mennes 32
Marcus Nellsen 30

    They should never be forgotten.