Brian Dugan: A killer, a rapist, a prima donna

It wasn't exactly a religious awakening.

Brian Dugan converted to Orthodox Judaism last year after going on a hunger strike to protest food in the DuPage County jail. Afterward, jail officials testified Tuesday, Dugan demanded kosher meals, unless he could get a "thick, juicy cheeseburger."

They portrayed him as a temperamental prima donna who complains about everything from whether there's enough protein in his diet to the thickness of his blanket to the quality of available paper.

The jury that holds the convicted triple murderer's fate also heard how Dugan kept several books in his cell on serial killers, human anatomy, psychology guides and subscriptions to the Victoria's Secret catalog and Maxim magazine.

Dugan may face execution for the Feb. 25, 1983, abduction, rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville. He has been in prison serving life sentences since 1985 for two other sex slayings - those of 27-year-old Geneva nurse Donna Schnorr in July 1984, and Melissa "Missy" Ackerman, 7, who was snatched while she rode her bike June 2, 1985, in LaSalle County.

Prosecutors argue Dugan, 53, is a remorseless psychopath who still has murderous fantasies. The seven-woman, five-man jury found Dugan eligible last week for a possible death sentence. Members will decide whether to impose it after hearing several more weeks of often graphic testimony about his horrific litany of crimes.

Jurors were told about the Jan. 18, 1977, abduction and sexual assault of an Elmhurst first-grade teacher. She escaped, naked from the waist down, and ran to a nearby home. Her knife-yielding assailant fled in her car, which he abandoned after crashing it into a telephone pole. He was not apprehended.

She died Dec. 4, 2006, at age 55 of colon cancer. Her husband, Timothy Newmann, was supposed to testify Tuesday about how his wife recognized Dugan as her assailant as the couple watched TV coverage of his 1985 capture for later crimes.

Newmann never made it to the stand, however, after defense attorneys objected. Instead, in an agreed stipulation between both sides, prosecutors told jurors about the couple's conversation.

Outside court, Timothy Newmann told the Daily Herald his wife of 22 years was certain it was Brian Dugan, who has admitted to that rape and others.

"She was staring at the (TV) screen," he said. "I saw in my peripheral vision that she was just frozen. I said, 'That's him, isn't it?' She said, 'Yes.'"

Newmann said his wife, a 35-year Elmhurst Unit District 205 teacher, did not let the violence dominate her life. She did not contact police again in 1985 because Dugan was in prison and the statute of limitations long ago expired.

"Let me tell you something about my wife," Newmann said, outside court. "She was a very, very special lady. She loved children and children loved her. Every day with her was such a joy. She was so bubbly and beautiful. It doesn't surprise me she would spring back from this terrible ordeal with this monster."

Also Tuesday, former prison nurse Belinda Wilson portrayed Dugan as a troublemaker who lacked remorse while she treated him for knife wounds after a fellow inmate stabbed him nine times July 30, 1987.

"He would lay back in his cell at night and brag very loudly," she testified.

It takes one juror to spare Dugan's life.

His defense team argues Dugan, who despite his jailhouse grievances hasn't caused serious security issues, merits consideration for accepting responsibility that he alone killed Jeanine in a July 28 guilty plea.

He first offered to admit his guilt in 1985, but only if his life was spared. Prosecutors refused. They also didn't believe Dugan. By that time, two other condemned men were on death row for the child's murder. Attorneys for Dugan argue he cooperated long ago to help the wrongly accused men, both exonerated in 1995.

The sentencing hearing continues today.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Video</h2> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at http://corp.brightcove.com/legal/terms_publisher.cfm. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience43606475001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="300" /> <param name="height" value="255" /> <param name="playerID" value="18011347001" /> <param name="publisherID" value="1659832549"/> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="43606475001" /> </object> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> </ul> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=325418">Images of Brian Dugan's victims </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=325419">Images of Brian Dugan </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=325420">Images of Nicarico's wrongly accused </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=325421">Images from Brian Dugan's trial </a></li> </ul> <h2>Related links</h2> <ul class="moreWeb"> <li><a href="/story/?id=308729">Dugan's criminal background</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=308727">Timeline of Nicarico murder investigation, trials</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=326654">Brian Dugan's victims</a></li> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=326645">Cruz: Dugan confessed to save himself <span class="date">[10/02/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=325829">Jury picked to decide Dugan's sentencing <span class="date">[10/02/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=317249">Dugan says he tried to confess in '85 to Nicarico slaying <span class="date">[08/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=310026">The statement Brian Dugan wanted to read in court <span class="date">[07/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=310014">Nicarico neighbor recalls the search for Jeanine, painful aftermath?<span class="date">[07/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=310033">State moratorium on executions - 10 years and counting<span class="date">[07/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=310040">A timeline of the Nicarico-Dugan cases<span class="date">[07/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=308853">After a lifetime of violence, will jury show Dugan mercy?<span class="date">[07/23/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=308535">Guilty plea expected in Nicarico murder <span class="date">[07/22/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=203555">Did one Chicago-area killer create another? <span class="date">[06/05/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=308721">Inside the FBI files of Brian Dugan <span class="date">[01/07/07]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=308724">Grand jury indicts Dugan in Nicarico murder <span class="date">[11/30/05]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>