Witness testifies beating was failed mob rite

Seven years ago, Jason S. Reardon said, he watched in horror as his friend killed a man with a tire iron in a DuPage County forest preserve.

The attack was so brutal, Reardon said, he looked away when his friend continued pummeling the man after he fell to the ground.

His graphic testimony came Thursday during Luigi P. Adamo's second trial in the murder of John E. Conrad, 31, of Schaumburg.

Adamo, 26, formerly of Wayne, is accused of killing Conrad in late October 2000 and robbing him of about $8, later bragging that he killed a homeless man.

His first trial ended May 30 in a hung jury after the panel failed to agree despite 27 hours of deliberations.

Prosecutors said they have witnesses, physical evidence and the defendant's own words to prove their case.

The defense team argues the authorities lack a confession or murder weapon and that Reardon, who originally faced murder charges, too, can't be trusted.

Reardon, 24, is serving a 19-year prison sentence for armed robbery for the crime. As part of the plea deal, he testified against Adamo in the first trial and returned Thursday to the witness stand.

Reardon, formerly of West Chicago, said it was the last week in October 2000 when Conrad approached them outside a Carol Stream restaurant and asked for a ride. Another friend, Eric Ewing, who drove, was with them.

The trio dropped Conrad off at an Addison apartment to buy drugs. Reardon told jurors they went back, though, at Adamo's urging.

Reardon said Ewing left after dropping them off at Pratt's Wayne Woods, off Munger Road near Bartlett. He said Adamo told Conrad they could buy drugs there but after walking deeper into the woods instead beat Conrad with a tire iron.

Reardon said he was supposed to beat Conrad as a mob initiation but, after he couldn't, Adamo grabbed the tire iron from him and killed Conrad. The next day, he said, Adamo teased him while they hung out at his home.

"He was making fun of me," Reardon testified. "He said I'll never be like him and that I'd never make it in the mob because I hesitated and didn't do what he said."

A couple found the grisly remains on Oct. 28, 2000, while walking through the woods. The murder remained unsolved for nearly three years.

Initially, police didn't have suspects or much physical evidence. Their job also was difficult because Conrad, who suffered from alcoholism, was a transient who frequented homeless shelters.

But, when sober, he always had a home with his parents, Jack and June Conrad, in Schaumburg.

In July 2003, police got a big break. Reardon's ex-girlfriend, Sarah Haggard, told them she was there during the conversation in Adamo's basement when she said he spoke of the slaying.

Haggard, 24, testified Wednesday that she kept the secret for years until she could no longer be silent. Reardon at her urging went to police and offered to cooperate against Adamo.

The jury listened Thursday to two secretly recorded conversations between the young men in which Adamo never confesses, but he makes incriminating statements, such as that if police had evidence, they both would be under arrest.

Prosecutors said Adamo's fingerprints were found on the spare tire in Ewing's trunk and the tire iron was missing, which is consistent with trial testimony.

The defense team, though, painted Haggard, Reardon, and Ewing, a convicted drug dealer, as liars and noted their inconsistencies. They criticized the police probe and questioned why all the evidence wasn't tested.

The defense points to another man -- who police ruled out as a suspect -- as the actual killer. He was a friend of Conrad's who was convicted of using the slain man's Public Aid card to buy groceries within one mile of where the body was found.

The trial continues today.