Second trial ends in murder conviction
A DuPage County jury convicted a man today of a 7-year-old murder that a co-defendant said was part of a mob rite.
Jurors found Luigi P. Adamo guilty of murdering John E. Conrad, 31, with a tire iron in a northwest DuPage forest preserve Oct. 28, 2000.
Prosecutors argued Adamo, 26, formerly of Wayne, killed Conrad, robbed him of $8 and later bragged about it.
Adamo, 26, did not testify in either trial. His first trial ended May 30 when DuPage Circuit Judge George Bakalis declared a hung jury after the foreman said further deliberations would be futile.
A couple walking through Pratt's Wayne Woods, off Munger Road near Bartlett, discovered the remains.
The murder remained unsolved for three years until a co-defendant's ex-girlfriend convinced him July 17, 2003, to go to police. Jason S. Reardon, 24, was charged with murder, too. But, in a plea deal, he is serving a 19-year term for armed robbery.
The prosecution team -- David Bayer, Paul Marchese and Thomas O'Connor -- said their witnesses, physical evidence and the defendant's statements prove his guilt.
Reardon and the ex-girlfriend, Sarah Haggard, testified in both trials. Reardon also secretly recorded phone calls with Adamo. The jury listened to those recordings. Adamo did not confess, but he made incriminating statements, such as if police had evidence, they'd both be in custody.
Prosecutors said Conrad approached Adamo, Reardon and a third friend, Eric Ewing, in late October 2000 outside a restaurant wanting a ride. Reardon said he watched Adamo beat Conrad with the tire iron after Ewing dropped them at the forest preserve. Reardon said Adamo urged him to help kill Conrad as part of an initiation into the Italian mob.
The defense team -- Richard Beuke, Jack Donahue and Michelle Moore -- painted Haggard, Reardon and Ewing as liars and noted their inconsistencies. They criticized the police probe and questioned why all the evidence wasn't tested for forensics.
The defense pointed to another man as the murderer. That man tearfully denied killing Conrad. He is a former friend who was convicted of using Conrad's Public Aid card at a store within one mile of where the body was found.
Prosecutors lacked a murder weapon or a concrete confession. Adamo's fingerprints, though, were found on the spare tire in Ewing's trunk, and the tire iron was missing -- which was consistent with the prosecution's witnesses.