Unit 1012 Cover Photo

Unit 1012 Cover Photo

Monday, October 27, 2014

IN LOVING MEMORY OF KELLI O’LAUGHLIN (APRIL 2, 1997 TO OCTOBER 27, 2011)



            We, the Comrades of Unit 1012 will remember Kelli O’Laughlin on April 2 and October 27 every year. She will be one of The 82 murdered children of Unit 1012, where we will not forget her. Unit 1012 encourage everybody to donate and show support Kelli Joy O’Laughlin Memorial Fund.

            The killer will be behind bars for a long time, if he ever asks for parole, we will ensure he will stay behind bars. Nevertheless, we will think of how Kelli live and not how she died.




Ex-convict sentenced to 160 YEARS for stabbing teen to death during random home invasion and then taunting her mother with disturbing text messages

·         John Wilson Jr, 41, was convicted in September of murdering Kelli O'Laughlin, 14, on October 27, 2011 
·         Kelli's mother discovered her daughter lying face down in a pool of blood in the kitchen
·         Brenda O'Laughlin later received a series of texts from Kelli's stolen phone, one of which read: 'She wanted to tell you something before I killed her'
·         Wilson pretended to be asleep during his sentencing and taunted Kelli's mother after she spoke  

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A man convicted of stabbing to death a suburban Chicago high school freshman during a 2011 burglary of her home was sentenced Friday to 160 years in prison.

Career criminal John Wilson Jr, 41, learned his fate today after a hearing during which the mother of 14-year-old Kelli O'Laughlin testified.

Prosecutors contended the teenager was killed in her Indian Head Park home when she interrupted Wilson ransacking the residence.

Brenda O'Laughlin testified she wished she'd been the one who walked into the house that day ‘to see that evil killer.’

'I cannot even begin to imagine or endure her last moments of life with that evil man,' the mother said in court. 'Kelli was a true innocent victim. What physical threat could she have been?'

After stabbing the girl, Wilson sent the mother taunting texts from the girl's cellphone.

When questioned by the judge, Wilson said he didn't know why he was in court and ‘the voices in me told me not to talk to you.’

During the sentencing, Judge John Hynes called the girl's murder 'a crime that shocked the conscience of the community.'

The prosecution argued that Wilson, a 38-year-old parolee with a lengthy criminal history, used a landscaping rock wrapped in a red knit cap to smash a window and break into the O'Laughlin's $500,000 house.

They claim Kelli surprised Wilson in the family room during the break-in when she got home from school about 3.40pm on October 27, 2011.

Wilson grabbed an eight inch carving knife from a butcher's block and stabbed Kelli in the neck, back and chest. One of the wounds pierced her aorta.

He then dragged her lifeless body from the family room into the kitchen, before ransacking the home.

Wilson fled with a bowl of coins, an iPod Touch and Kelli's phone. Prosecutors said he caught a cab home and used the coins to pay for the fare.

When Brenda O'Laughlin came home from work at around 5.30pm that day, she discovered her daughter in the kitchen lying face down in a pool of blood.

Kelli died in a hospital that night, but at about 11.30am the next day Brenda started receiving disturbing text messages from her daughter's stolen smart phone.

One of the texts read: 'She wanted to tell you something before I killed her.' 

Wilson was arrested on November 2. DNA evidence recovered from the knit cap matched Wilson's, and three witnesses also identified him from a police line-up.

In court Friday, Wilson sat stone-faced and even pretended to be asleep during the hearing, except to taunt the victim's mother after she delivered her impact statement, ABC 7 Chicago reported. 

'We was in a relationship, Bren. What happened? Are you serious?' he said with a grin.

Speaking to the media outside the courtroom, John O'Laughlin said he was glad the case was over.

'One hundred sixty years doesn't seem like long enough, but it's the maximum,' said the grieving father.

Kelli's mother told reporters that she was satisfied with the overall outcome of the trial  

'Justice will never be done because Kelli’s never coming home,' Brenda O’Laughlin said. 'But, as far as the sentencing, I am very pleased with it because he will never be out on the streets again to harm another child.' 

The family are now planning to focus their attention on Kelli's charitable foundation.


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