DNA testing for knife that killed Naperville teacher
The knife that prosecutors say killed schoolteacher Shaun Wild and injured two other men inside a Naperville nightclub can be tested for DNA, a judge ruled Monday.
DuPage County prosecutors said two bloodstains were found on the 5-inch blade seized by police after the Feb. 4 stabbings at Frankie’s Blue Room. DNA testing likely will destroy the stains and prevent further analysis, they said.
Defense attorney Brian Telander, who represents murder suspect Daniel Olaska of Naperville, did not object to the request, saying it isn’t relevant to the issues in the case.
“This isn’t a whodunit,” Telander said. “It’s a whydunit.”
Prosecutors say security footage from several angles showed Olaska, 28, fatally stab Wild, 24, during a confrontation that allegedly began when another man, North Central College student and football player Willie Hayes, teased Olaska about drinking beer from a wineglass.
Prosecutors said Olaska stabbed Hayes in the chest, then stabbed Wild in the heart as the teacher tried to intervene. Olaska also is accused of stabbing bouncer Rafael Castaneda, who was injured holding the suspect until police arrived.
Authorities said the folding knife used in the stabbings was a heavy-duty model similar to knives carried by police and military personnel. Olaska told investigators he had carried a knife for years but never used it, police have said.
Olaska has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, attempted murder, armed violence and unlawful use of a weapon. He is next scheduled to appear in court Aug. 13 before Judge Kathryn Creswell, who approved the DNA testing.