Neither city nor county counts DeFraties' death
DGH
There's no question that Dan DeFraties was murdered.
Police believe they know when, where and why it happened. Two people
have been charged with the crime. Perhaps the only question remaining
is statistical: Should the Springfield [Illinois] Police Department or
the Sangamon County [Illinois] sheriff's office count the DeFraties
killing case in its 2002 murder statistics?
"It's just amazing to me," Dawn DeFraties, sister-in-law of the murder
victim, says of the two police agencies' inability to decide.
City police say five people, not including DeFraties, were murdered in
the city in 2002. Sangamon County lists only one murder during 2002,
that of an elderly man believed to have been stabbed by his wife.
Springfield police say they don't count DeFraties because he actually
was killed on the side of a county road near Rochester, Illinois.
"In our opinion, the murder happened in the county," said Ralph
Caldwell, the assistant chief who supervises the investigations
division of the Springfield Police Department.
The sheriff's department responds that Springfield police conducted
the investigation into DeFraties' death.
"I'm almost sure we don't count that one," said Sheriff Neil
Williamson. "Springfield handled the investigation."
DeFraties, 42, the father of three, was a floor refinisher who also
worked part time at Clark Oil, 312 North Grand Ave. E. He was at the
gas station on March 26 when the station was held up and DeFraties was
taken into the country, beaten and left by the side of the road.
He later died of his injuries.
The alleged culprits, Amanda McGuire, 23, and Joseph L. Mays, 29, are
charged with murder, armed robbery, kidnapping and aggravated
kidnapping. Police say McGuire and Mays needed money to pay rent and
decided to rob the gas station.
DeFraties used to give candy to McGuire's young daughter, she
reportedly told police, and she was afraid DeFraties would recognize
her if they didn't kill him. Mays allegedly beat DeFraties with the
air gun he used in the stickup.
"The only number that really glares at us as a family is that we are
down one," Dawn said of her brother-in-law's death.
"We have one missing family member. That's the number we never forget
and never will. As a family, that number has had a resounding impact,
whether anyone else takes into account or not. That number is
something we have to deal with for the rest of our lives whether it
goes down in the books or not.
"They can choose to overlook it, but we can never ignore it."
DeFraties' murder isn't the only one that has fallen through the
statistical cracks in recent years. In 1999, neither Springfield nor
Sangamon County included the Lori Hayes murder in its statistics and
in 2000; neither agency claimed the killing of David M. Lambert, 33,
in its numbers.
Hayes, 25, had gone shopping on Aug. 1 when she was targeted by a
serial rapist turned murderer. Dale Lash of Loami abducted Hayes, took
her out into the county and murdered her. He left her 10-month-old
daughter in the back of the family's Jeep Cherokee and parked it at
the Parkway Pointe movie theater. Hayes' body was found the next day
in a cornfield near Chatham.
Lash was convicted last year of the murder. The jury recommended that
he be executed.
Lambert was murdered, apparently in a fight over prison gangs, in a
home in the 1100 block of North MacArthur Boulevard on Aug. 13, 2000.
His body was thrown into the Sangamon River from a bridge, but was
discovered by fishermen.
Both agencies gave similar reasons for not counting the murders in
their statistics.
In the Hayes case, the city said she was killed in the county. County
officials said it was unclear at the time where she was actually
killed.
In Lambert's case, the body was discovered in the county and the
county handled the investigation, so the city thought the county
should count it among its stats. The county said the murder actually
happened in city limits, so the city should have counted it.
The five murders Springfield does count in 2002 were a sharp
improvement over the 2001 total of either 14 or 15 (detectives ruled
one 2001 case a justifiable homicide.)
One other 2002 case remains in question. The decomposed remains of
Julia Testa, 40, were found in her bed at home in the 700 block of
South MacArthur Boulevard. The death originally was judged to be
natural.
However, an autopsy the next day indicated Testa had suffered neck
injuries, including a stab wound, and possibly injuries. A coroner's
jury ruled it a murder.
"The jury ruled it a homicide because we believe it was done by the
hands of another," said Sangamon County Coroner Susan Boone.
However, Caldwell said police still believe Testa died of natural
causes.
"We're currently treating this as a death investigation," he said.
"We're waiting for results from lab work and for follow up
investigations. We are not reporting this as a homicide at this time.
We're not hunting for anyone."
The other city cases in 2002 were:
-Ray Banks, 19, who was killed June 15 as the culmination of a
long-simmering feud. Leonardo White, 18, of Springfield has been
charged with first-degree murder. Banks had been scheduled to leave
for the service just a few days later.
-Jericko W. Clark, 21, who was killed the afternoon of July 13 in an
exchange of gunfire between two cars in the area of Martin Luther King
Drive and Ash Street. Three others were injured in the shootout.
Clark's friend and companion in the car, Eric Hickman, 18, was charged
with the crime. Authorities say he started the gunfight, ultimately
making him responsible for his friend's death.
-Paulleen L. Godoy, 31, a prostitute and drug abuser whose body was
found inside a non-functioning refrigerator in a garage behind a home
in the 800 block of West Washington Street on Aug. 18. A man who lived
in the home, Robert L. Reynolds, 35, was eventually charged in her
death.
-Marcus D. Rush, 32, who was shot to death in an apparent armed
robbery while standing on a porch in the 1100 block of South 12th
Street about midnight Sept. 26. Lloyd "Tommy" Hayes, 23, is charged
with murder and armed robbery. Police believe the murder may have been
drug-related.
-Jana Tatum, 41, who was bludgeoned to death in her home in the 1000
block of North Fourth Street Nov. 10. Tatum reportedly was on the
verge of leaving her husband, Edward, 46, who is accused of the
killing.
Sangamon County's only recorded murder was that of George
Andruskevitch, 85, who died Nov. 30 in his home in the 4100 block of
Riverside Drive. His wife, Delores, 75, apparently stabbed him to
death. She apparently also tried unsuccessfully to take her own life.
In 2001, the county handled two murders.