Victim's family sues murder suspect's estate
An Algonquin eye doctor was recorded while jailed in Cook County on first-degree murder charges instructing family members to liquidate more than $1 million in assets "in case there's any weird lawsuits" stemming from the case, according to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against his estate last week.
Dominika Daniel, one of Malgorzata "Margaret" Daniel's daughters, is suing the estate of Anthony Prate over her mother's Nov. 23, 2019 killing in Schaumburg.
Prate faced first-degree murder charges alleging he stabbed Daniel to death in her home, but he died Dec. 17, 2021, from COVID-19 complications while awaiting trial.
The lawsuit, which seeks a minimum $50,000 in damages, names Prate's son, Nicholas Prate, 23, his daughter, Ava Prate, 20, and a sister, Donna Meyer of Kankakee, as additional defendants.
Daniel worked as a nurse anesthetist at Ascension St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates. Authorities said she met Prate, an eye doctor and part owner of Eye Works in Barrington, on a dating website just months before the slaying.
The lawsuit against Prate's estate cites dozens of recorded phone conversations Prate had in jail from Nov. 26, 2019, until he posted bond on Jan. 5, 2020.
In those calls, Prate is heard telling family members to "liquidate" bank accounts and mutual funds and to take his name off his Algonquin house and vehicle, according to transcripts.
The lawsuit also cites recordings in which Nicholas Prate and Meyer indicate that, at Anthony Prate's direction, they began making "multiple transfers" from Prate's bank accounts to "accounts held solely in the name of Nicholas and solely in the name of Donna."
In other conversations, Prate also said the media was "sensationalizing" details of Daniel's death and the story was being "exaggerated" so "they taint your jury pool."
He described being in jail as "just like vacation, but not as nice" and said "it is an incredible sociological experience," according to the lawsuit.
Attempts to reach the Prate family attorney were not successful.
Daniel's death reignited suspicion around the 2011 death of Prate's wife, Bridget Prate, after a crash on Pyott Road in Lake in the Hills. Police investigated for more than a year, but charges were never filed.