Jury hears testimony in Glendale Heights murder trial

Minutes before an unconscious man was discovered lying on a sidewalk near his Glendale Heights home, less than a mile away, police pulled over a carload of teens for a traffic violation.

A back seat passenger, Isaias Beltran, was ticketed for underage drinking. But within 48 hours, he would be charged with fatally shooting a married father of two in a botched robbery days before Christmas.

A DuPage County jury began hearing testimony Thursday in the murder trial. Beltran, now 20, of Glendale Heights, has pleaded innocent.

Corey Dale Krueger was found unconscious with a head wound about 3 a.m. Dec. 19 on a sidewalk on the 1200 block of Pleasant Avenue. The 35-year-old man had been out walking his dog while warming up his van before beginning a morning shift as a sanitation worker in Joliet.

Officers made the grisly discovery after a neighbor complained of a barking dog. The dog remained at Krueger's side, its leash still in his hand.

Prosecutor Mary K. Cronin described the crime as a random robbery; Beltran and Krueger did not know each other.

Authorities lack physical evidence directly linking Beltran to the crime. But in a Jan. 14 pretrial hearing the defendant's friend identified him as the shooter.

George Zuno, 18, testified at the earlier hearing that he and Beltran were smoking cigarettes outside another friend's apartment when he saw Beltran cross the street and shoot a man while attempting to rob him.

Zuno, who moved out of state, is expected to testify Monday when the trial resumes. Authorities never charged him with any wrongdoing.

Defense attorney Patrick A. O'Byrne argues authorities are prosecuting an innocent man. He said the case rests on Zuno, on probation at the time for a gang-related crime, who is not credible.

Another friend, Darryl Andrade, 19, who lives near the victim, testified Thursday that Isaias Beltran woke him about 2 a.m. that day and asked for a ride to Maywood. Andrade said Beltran never mentioned a shooting to him.

Andrade identified Zuno and Beltran's younger brother, Israel, as two passengers who fled when police stopped his car. The defendant, seated in the back, did not flee. Andrade told jurors he saw either the defendant or Zuno give what appeared to be clothing to Israel Beltran before the teen fled.

Israel Beltran, 19, is serving a 4.3 year-prison term after pleading guilty July 22 to unlawful use or possession of a weapon by a felon. Prosecutors said he dumped a plastic bag containing what they believe to be the murder weapon - a .22-caliber revolver wrapped in a cloth glove - in a backyard after he fled the traffic stop.

Forensic experts were unable to rule with certainty that the gun is the exact one that fired the bullet that killed Krueger, but the slain man's key chain also was in the plastic bag.

If Beltran is convicted of first-degree murder, he faces 20 to 60 years in prison.