Officials to be featured in documentary

Three Lake County officials will be featured in an upcoming Discovery Channel documentary on a 1984 murder spree.

Circuit Judges Fred Foreman and Victoria Rossetti and state's attorney's Investigator Marc Hansen were interviewed this week by a crew from the planned series "Wicked Couples."

The three talked about their experiences in the Alton Coleman and Debra Brown case, which began in May 1984 when Coleman murdered 9-year-old Vernita Wheat in Waukegan.

The series will focus on the evil doings of romantically involved people, and few couples rate higher on that scale than Coleman and Brown.

Although Brown was not involved in the Wheat slaying, she was an active participant in the string of eight murders and kidnappings across six states.

Rossetti prosecuted Coleman for then-State's Attorney Foreman, and Hansen was the lead detective on the Wheat case for Waukegan police.

Hansen said after recalling his experiences from the case for the camera, he took the crew on a tour of the city and pointed out some of Coleman's old haunts.

"It was 24 years ago, but in a lot of ways it seems like yesterday," Hansen said. "There are some cases that just stay with you, and that was certainly one of them."

Coleman, who was sentenced to death for Wheat's murder in 1987, was executed in Ohio on April 26, 2002. Brown is serving life sentences in that state and Indiana.

No premier date for the documentary has been set.

Dunne retires: John Dunne retired last week after 30 years of work for the county as a psychologist.

The holder of a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, Dunne came to work for the county in September 1977 in the mental health section of the health department.

In August, 1989, he became head of psychological services for the 19th Judicial Circuit, and did evaluations of thousands of defendants over the years.

"He was a very valuable asset to our organization," Chief Judge James Booras said. "I saw his opinions in many cases and I always respected his work."

Swept clean: The Lake County sheriff's office conducted a contraband sweep of the jail last week and came up empty.

Which is exactly what officials were hoping for when they launched the search of all six floors of the facility on June 26.

Officers from the Corrections Response Team were joined by K-9 units from the sheriff's office and Gurnee, North Chicago, Round Lake, Wauconda, Waukegan and Winthrop Harbor.

Sheriff Mark Curran said no drugs or weapons were found during the sweep and thanked his staff for running a tight ship.

Heard in the hallway: Condolences to Assistant State's Attorney Michael Mermel on the death of his wife, Gail.