Glendale Heights gang member gets 75 years for murder
A Glendale Heights gang member was sentenced Friday to 75 years in prison for gunning down an innocent man out walking his dog before work.
DuPage Circuit Judge George Bakalis said Isaias Beltran showed "a total disregard for human life" when he murdered a 35-year-old married father of two during an armed robbery.
A handcuffed Beltran, 20, did not outwardly react after learning his fate.
Corey Dale Krueger was found unconscious with a head wound about 3 a.m. Dec. 19 on a sidewalk near his home on the 1200 block of Pleasant Avenue in Glendale Heights. His dog remained at his side.
Krueger had been warming up his van before beginning a morning shift as a sanitation worker in Joliet. He did not try to resist his young assailant, who without provocation shot Krueger in the face before fleeing empty-handed.
Prosecutors Mary K. Cronin, Steven Knight and Thomas O'Connor described it as a senseless, random act of violence. They urged the judge to deny Beltran any glimmer of hope he'd ever be free again.
The minimum possible prison term was 45 years.
"I personally think he's just a heartless, soulless individual that doesn't deserve to walk the streets," said the slain man's widow, Kristin Krueger, who is left to raise her 4-year-old son alone. "I'm relieved he won't be able to hurt anyone else but it'll never fill the void that he's left us with."
Beltran was arrested with three other teens during an unrelated traffic stop near the murder scene minutes before Krueger's body was found. Authorities lacked a confession or physical evidence, such as fingerprints or DNA directly linking Beltran to the crime.
But two of his friends provided incriminating testimony against Beltran during his August trial. One of them said he witnessed Beltran shoot Krueger. The third teen was Beltran's younger brother. Israel Beltran, 19, pleaded guilty to dumping a plastic bag containing what authorities believe to be the murder weapon - a .22-caliber revolver wrapped in a cloth glove - in a backyard after he fled the traffic stop.
Defense attorney Patrick A. O'Byrne argued authorities prosecuted the wrong man. He pointed to one of the other young men, who similar to Beltran had a criminal past, as the actual killer.
After nearly seven hours of deliberations over two days, on Aug. 26, a DuPage County jury of eight men and four women convicted Isaias Beltran of first-degree murder and armed robbery.
Beltran did not testify during his trial. He declined a chance Friday to make a public statement.
"We cannot offer forgiveness to an individual that has not expressed any sorrow about his actions," said Jesse Krueger of his son's killer. "Not once has he communicated any sorrow or grief about his role in Corey's death."