Court awards $10 million to family of McHenry County murder victim
The family of an 83-year-old McHenry County woman murdered in her home on Mother's Day 2006 won a $10 million judgment today from the estate of the man police say killed her.
McHenry County Judge Michael Feetterer awarded the damages after representatives of murder suspect Jose Manuel Albada-Grijaldo repeatedly failed to appear in court to challenge a lawsuit claiming he killed Verna Corcoran during a home invasion and robbery.
Albada-Grijaldo, 21, was shot and killed by a Marengo police officer after he was stopped driving Corcoran's car hours after the slaying. His estate now is suing Officer Eric Bockelmann and Marengo in federal court, claiming wrongful death and excessive force.
Corcoran's son, Brian Corcoran, declined to comment today, but the family's attorney said today's judgment should ensure that if Albada-Grijaldo's estate gets money from its lawsuit, the Corcoran family will have a claim on it.
"The idea of this case was to preserve the rights of the Corcoran family to recover damages if there is an award in the other lawsuit," Corcoran attorney Kevin Justen said. "The whole point is that nobody should profit from (Albada-Grijaldo's) actions."
Attorneys representing Albada-Grijaldo's estate in the federal lawsuit were not immediately available for comment today.
Corcoran was strangled to death May 14, 2006, when, police said, she interrupted Albada-Grijaldo as he was burglarizing her home.
Police said Albada-Grijaldo randomly targeted Corcoran's home while riding his bicycle through her Indian Trails neighborhood, a quiet retirement community on the Marengo's west side, and spotting her open garage door.
Later that day, a Marengo patrol officer saw Albada-Grijaldo driving Corcoran's car just a few blocks from the murder scene. The officer attempted a traffic stop, starting a 15-mile chase that ended when the Albada-Grijaldo lost control of the car at a rail crossing on Brier Hill Road, just south of Route 20.
Albada-Grijaldo, police said, got out of the car and confronted the officer, who shot him four times.
An Illinois State Police report cleared the officer of wrongdoing, but the Albada-Grijaldo lawsuit claims he was unarmed and not threatening the officer when shots were fired.
Justen said there was no specific reasoning behind the $10 million award granted today and his clients do not expect to recover anything close to that from the Albada-Grijaldo estate.
"It's just a round number," he said. "It's a substantial figure, but nothing to exchange a life for."