Teen pleads guilty in connection to Hanover Park murder

A Hanover Park teen has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for his role in the November 2008 murder of a Hanover Park discount store employee.

Seneca Berry, 16, pleaded guilty to armed robbery on Friday in front of DuPage County Circuit Court Judge John Kinsella. State law requires Berry to serve 85 percent of his sentence before he's eligible for parole.

Berry was one of three men prosecutors say took part in an attempted robbery of a dollar discount store last year. Around 1:45 p.m. Nov. 20, Hanover Park police found 56-year-old Vatsala Thakkar bleeding in a strip mall parking lot on the 5600 block of Arlington Drive East. She had been stabbed in the back multiple times.

DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett said the trio fled with $135 after robbing and stabbing Thakkar, a married mother of two who held a medical degree from her native India.

Jerry Lockhart, 40, and Dewaun Tate, 18, both of Hanover Park, were also charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery. Lockhart faces additional obstruction of justice charges. They're being held at DuPage County Jail on $2 million bonds.