Villa Park woman's lover/killer gets 50 years
Nicole Abusharif may not take her next free steps until she is 78.
The 28-year-old Abusharif, convicted in May of killing her longtime partner Rebecca Klein in Villa Park, was sentenced Tuesday to 50 years in prison. Her actions, from which she stood to gain both monetarily and personally, were "beyond comprehensible," DuPage Circuit Judge John Kinsella said while handing down the sentence.
Dressed in blue jail khakis, Abusharif cried and blotted her face with tissues as prosecutors described the March 15, 2007, slaying of the 32-year-old Klein. She declined to address the court when given the opportunity and did not outwardly react when the sentence was read.
Klein's friends and family cried quietly during the nearly two-hour hearing.
Kinsella said Abusharif's lack of a previous criminal record kept him from handing down the maximum 60-year sentence sought by prosecutors and Klein's family. But Kinsella told Abusharif he "believes without a reasonable doubt" that her "hand was on that plastic bag as Becky Klein fought for her last breath."
Klein's family hoped for the maximum 60-year sentence, but after the sentencing, her sister, Melanie Baldridge, called Kinsella's ruling "very fair."
"No punishment will ever, ever be enough but I understand (Kinsella's) ruling. You could send her to the moon and that wouldn't be enough, but this was fair," she said. "She'll be 78 before she sees the light of day, if she makes it that long, and, hopefully, unable to murder anyone else."
Abusharif's defense attorneys both lobbied Kinsella for the minimum 20-year-sentence, saying their client maintains her innocence.
"Nicole is still a young girl and she had a long, loving relationship with Becky," said attorney Bob Parchem. "Nicole still maintains her innocence and denies any responsibility, so I think 20 years is a good, long time to think."
Before sentencing, prosecutors Joseph Ruggiero and Tim Diamond painted Abusharif as a habitual liar by describing her "fantasy world" in which she made up several lies, including one about being a heroic New York firefighter during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. She even doctored newspaper articles as proof.
They also laid out a scheme in which they accused Abusharif of purchasing $100 batches of powerful pain medications online and reselling them to friends and associates for as much as $300.
"In this world, you have givers and takers, and Becky Klein was the queen of the mountain representing good, wholesome people. That much is clear in her work with handicapped and others she took care of," Ruggiero said. "Nicole is the polar opposite, a complete taker and user. She is the bottom of the barrel as far as takers and users are concerned. They say opposites attract and that appears to be the case in the relationship between Becky and Nicole."
Police investigating her disappearance discovered Klein's body on May 17, 2007, in the trunk of Abusharif's 1966 Ford Mustang in the couple's Villa Park garage.
A plastic garbage bag was taped around Klein's head. Her hands and feet were bound with duct tape. During her trial, forensic experts testified they found Abusharif's finger and palm prints on the duct tape and all over the garbage bag, and her DNA on a gag and blindfold.
Abusharif, prosecutors said, killed Klein to pursue a romantic relationship with another woman whom Abusharif met a year earlier online, and also to collect $400,000 in insurance money.