Indictment could be break in local teen's 2002 disappearance

A McHenry County grand jury Thursday indicted an unnamed defendant in a death linked to the unsolved 2002 disappearance of Johnsburg teenager Brian Carrick.

In what could be a new break in the 6-year-old investigation, the indictment involved a charge of concealing a homicidal death.

A judge impounded the indictment after the grand jury issued it Thursday, keeping the name of the suspect and details of the charge under seal.

However, court records list the date of the offense as Dec. 20, 2002, the same day Carrick, 17, vanished after working a shift as a stock boy at Val's Foods in Johnsburg. The investigating agency linked to the new indictment, records state, is the Johnsburg Police Department.

Johnsburg Police Chief Kenneth Rydberg and McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi both declined to answer questions Friday about the new charge.

The charge of concealing a homicidal death is a Class 3 felony normally punishable by a maximum two to five years in prison. Along with the indictment, a $40,000 warrant was issued Thursday for the suspect's arrest.

Authorities believe Carrick fell victim to foul play after he finished a night shift at the Johnsburg grocery store. Police found drops of the teen's blood in the store shortly after his disappearance, but no other trace of him was left behind.

Last year, authorities charged Carrick's former supervisor at Val's, Mario Casciaro, with nine counts of perjury alleging he lied to a grand jury about his knowledge of the teen's disappearance.

According to the charges, Casciaro gave false testimony when he told the grand jury he never told another man he knows what happened to Carrick, who may have killed him and where his body could be found.

Prosecutors, however, claim to have recorded conversations between the man, a police informant, and Casciaro proving otherwise.

Casciaro, 24, of McHenry, has pleaded not guilty to the allegations.