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Burr Ridge killer gets 32 years in prison

If John Gilbert, 48, lives to see freedom, prosecutors hope he will be an elderly man incapable of ever harming anyone the way he killed Jason Dragos,

Gilbert, of Chicago, was sentenced Friday to 32 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for the 2009 execution-style slaying of Dragos, a co-worker at Burr Ridge trucking facility.

Gilbert pleaded guilty but mentally ill in October to the first-degree murder of Dragos, a 38-year-old salesman and father of three from Highland, Ind.

Prosecutors asked for the maximum 60-year-sentence Friday. Gilbert’s attorney asked Judge George Bakalis to consider Gilbert’s mental illness history and otherwise clean criminal record and sentence him to no more than 25 years.

In a tearful statement read to Bakalis, Gilbert said he “truly regrets” the devastation he caused to the Dragos family but mostly apologized to his sons for “the journey they’ll make” through life without him,” and said he is constantly reminded of his family falling apart and the sadness of the women he loves “not being able to be with me.”

Bakalis said he took into account Gilbert’s medical history, which includes bouts of paranoia, anxiety and depression, but also the lack of remorse Gilbert has shown leading up to Friday.

Dragos’ wife, Tracy, had hoped Gilbert would serve at least 38 years, representing her husband’s age at his death. Following Friday’s sentencing, she had no sympathy for Gilbert.

“I hope he doesn’t make it,” she said exiting the courtroom. “I hope he kills himself in jail. I hope he hangs himself.”

Gilbert’s attorney Jed Stone offered his condolences to the Dragos family and said he was grateful for the sentence and that Bakalis considered Gilbert’s mental illness.

“John’s boys now have hope that their father will come home one day,” Stone said. “That he’ll get to meet their spouses and see his grandchildren.”

Prosecutors said Dragos was killed by a single gunshot to the head after Gilbert called him in to their office at SAIA Trucking Co. on Feb. 8, 2009, a Sunday. A co-worker found Dragos’ body slumped in a closet there the next day.

Dragos, who reported to Gilbert at work, told his wife the morning of his murder he was needed at the office to help Gilbert with a presentation they planned to give in Chicago. When he didn’t return, she reported him missing. After the killing, prosecutors said, Gilbert drove for several hours, stopping at two tollway plazas to buy candy, aspirin and Lysol. He later checked himself into a hospital complaining of chest pains.

Prosecutors said Gilbert also that day circulated an email through the company in which Dragos purportedly resigned, claiming company executives forced him to “secretly follow” Gilbert and report back on his whereabouts.

The email, investigators later determined, had been generated and modified on Gilbert’s laptop in the weeks and hours leading up to the murder. Gilbert then used Drago’s login to send the email from a common computer in the office.

Authorities never located the murder weapon, a .40 caliber gun, but said Gilbert owned one as a part-time police officer in south suburban Phoenix in 2001. Gilbert had also held part-time police positions in two other jurisdictions, according to court records, and prosecutors theorized previously that he utilized some of his training in the murder.

Staff writer Josh Stockinger contributed to this report.

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