Guilty verdict in 2005 killing of Palatine teacher

Cook County Judge John Scotillo said Monday he can't see any obvious reason why Diana Thames would have stabbed her best friend to death.

But that doesn't matter.

In the end, Scotillo said, all the evidence says she did it.

Scotillo convicted Thames of first-degree murder in the grisly Aug. 12, 2005, slaying of her longtime friend Cindy Wolosick -- a verdict that triggered cries of relief from Wolosick's family and friends, who spilled out of the stuffy Rolling Meadows courtroom after the verdict and hugged.

"Thank God," said Wolosick's mother, Louise, tears staining her eyes. "I've never been so happy in my life. Our prayers were answered."

Thames, 50, of Bloomington, pressed her fingers to her right temple, closed her eyes and bowed her head as the verdict was handed down.

Her lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, promised an appeal -- saying the truth could lie in further testing of crime scene evidence -- and Thames' daughter, Kathleen Rader of New Jersey, said she is confident her mother is innocent.

"None of us thinks our mom ever did this, and we believe a higher court will set her free," she said.

Her mother, who faces 20 to 60 years in prison, "is strong," she said. "We'll get through it."

Wolosick, 46, was a speech pathologist at Lake Louise School in Palatine at the time of her murder. She also co-owned a home rehab and resale business with Thames.

Prosecutors contend it was an argument over business finances that led Thames to plunge a kitchen knife into her friend's neck, head and chest more than 25 times inside a Palatine condo -- once with such force that the knife tip broke off in her skull.

Scotillo said Monday it was "total speculation" that the two had argued, or talked, about finances that night.

But it isn't the prosecutors' burden to demonstrate a motive -- only to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Thames really was the killer.

Scotillo pointed to several bits of evidence that he said accomplished that goal, including a piece of Thames' fingernail found at the scene bearing Wolosick's DNA, a drop of Thames' blood on the condo washing machine, and blood on a pair of Thames' underwear that tests suggested could hold Wolosick's DNA.

A 50-page transcript from part of Thames' interview with police after the crime also helped convict her.

Thames, who had spent the night in Wolosick's condo after returning with her from a Mexico vacation, told police she heard the door buzzer in the middle of the night, heard a man's voice and awoke later to the sounds of the front door closing and a motorcycle leaving to find her friend, bloody but still alive, lying in her bedroom.

But Scotillo on Monday said witnesses' testimony on the time of death -- in the early morning hours -- didn't jibe with her story. He also questioned how Thames had heard the door buzzer and the man's voice but never heard her friend being killed.

And one thing she said she did hear -- Wolosick calling her name as she lay dying in bed -- also doesn't make sense, Scotillo said, since expert witnesses testified that Wolosick's wounds would have made it impossible for her to talk afterward.

"The defendant saying, 'She was calling my name: Diana, Diana, Diana' … that does not add up," he said.

During the trial, Zellner had criticized police for not doing ample testing to determine if, in fact, a man had been in the condo that night, and accused investigators of focusing only on Thames.

Specifically, Zellner questioned why a business investor who'd left Wolosick an irked message about a late payment hadn't been fingerprinted or had a DNA test.

Scotillo said inferring that man had a role in the death was unfair and lacked sense.

"On top of all that, (the investor) was Cindy Wolosick's friend," Scotillo said. "As it turns out, a much better friend than Diana Thames."

Scotillo said he agrees police zeroed in on Thames from the beginning, but "I think that's only natural," he said, adding he doesn't believe investigators ignored other key evidence or leads.

Thames at one point had confessed to the crime in a taped interview with police, but those statements were barred from the courtroom after Zellner argued her client was denied an attorney and intimidated into confessing.

Zellner on Monday said she will appeal the conviction, saying the verdict is "extremely vulnerable" given what she believes was a lack of basic evidence testing.

Among other things, she said, the butcher knife and Wolosick's fingernails should have been tested for male DNA. She also said the swabs taken from Wolosick's body should have been tested for evidence of a sexual assault.

"I certainly respect the judge," Zellner said afterward. "I can respectfully disagree with him. (Decisions) get reversed all the time."

But Wolosick's niece, Katie Wolosick of Atlanta, said Thames "knows what she did," calling the murder the "worst kind of evil."

"I'm just so happy it's over with," she said. "I don't know if you can call it relief, but it's closure, and it's justice."

Thames' bond has been revoked. She's scheduled to be sentenced in early March.