Friday, March 29, 2019

SATANIC CULT KILLER, THOMAS KOKORALEIS PAROLED


            Whenever, the death penalty gets abolished in any state, Pro Criminal rights activist will target life without parole next. Whenever the Anti-Death Penalty activists claim that life without parole means the killer will die behind bars, they actually lied. I cannot think of an Anti Death Penalty personnel that is protesting his release…. Suspicious though!

            One great example, is Thomas Kokoraleis, one of the members of the Ripper Crew. After a series of trials, Thomas Kokoraleis was convicted of murder but only sentenced to life imprisonment as his reward for his initial confession. Since then his life sentence has been commuted and he was scheduled to be released on September 29, 2017, but his parole was denied by Illinois officials. He was released on parole the morning of March 29, 2019.

This undated photo provided by the Illinois Department of Corrections shows Thomas Kokoraleis. Illinois authorities refused Friday, Sept. 29, 2017, to release Kokoraleis, a parole-eligible convicted murderer who is suspected of being part of the notorious "Ripper Crew" that brutally killed as many as 20 women in the 1980s, determining that he lacks an approved place to live. Kokoraleis was scheduled to be released on parole after serving 35 years in prison for the 1982 slaying of a suburban Chicago woman. (Photo: AP)


Chicago-area satanic 'Ripper Crew' murderer Thomas Kokoraleis paroled after 37 years in prison
Doug Stanglin and Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY Published 10:20 a.m. ET March 29, 2019 | Updated 10:21 a.m. ET March 29, 2019

CHICAGO — A member of the infamous satanic gang known as the Ripper Crew that kidnapped, raped, mutilated and murdered as many as 20 women in the Chicago area in the early 1980s was released from an Illinois prison on Friday.

Thomas Kokoraleis, 58, spent 35 years in prison for his part in the slaying of 21-year-old Lorry Ann Borowski, a real estate office receptionist who was snatched by the sadistic gang outside her workplace in 1982 before being raped, mutilated and murdered.

An alert from Illinois’ victim notification system announced his discharge Friday from the Illinois Department of Corrections. He was being held at the Illinois River Correctional Center in Canton, about 30 miles west of Peoria.

Kokoraleis will have to register with police as a convict wherever he lives within three days. His information will be also publicly disclosed on Illinois’ sex offender registry.

Attorney Gloria Allred and the family of a woman murdered by Kokoraleis planned to hold a news conference later Friday to speak out about his release.

Kokoraleis’ discharge, initially scheduled two years ago, was delayed because he hadn't found a place to live while on parole — a condition of his release.

Prosecutors said that Kokoraleis and his three accomplices stalked the women they picked for their macabre ritual killings in Chicago and nearby suburbs — torturing their victims and cutting off their breasts before ultimately murdering them using knives and axes.

Kokoraleis was initially sentenced to life in prison but the original conviction was overturned due to legal error. He later pleaded guilty to Borowski’s murder and was re-sentenced to 70 years in prison. Guidelines in Illinois at the time of his sentencing rewarded inmates, even violent felons, for good behavior and that led to his prison time being cut in half.

Authorities said that Kokoraleis, along with his older brother Andrew, Edward Spreitzer, and the ringleader of the group Robin Gecht targeted women in the Chicagoland area between May 1981 and September 1982.

The men abducted, sexually abused and mutilated the women and used parts of their bodies in satanic rituals, prosecutors alleged during the trial. Several of the victims were found with one or both breasts severed, prosecutors said.

The four were charged with abducting Borowski outside the real estate office in west suburban Elmhurst where she worked. Her remains were found five months later in a cemetery just a few miles away from where she had been abducted.

Prosecutors say Kokoraleis told investigators that the attic of Gecht's home was the scene of gruesome rituals that included cannibalism. The men were all employed by Gecht, who was an electrical contractor and handyman.

During Kokoraleis' trial, jurors heard an audio recording of him confessing to his role in the Borowski slaying and that of another victim, Linda Sutton. Prosecutors later dropped the charges against Kokoraleis for Sutton’s murder as part of the plea deal that led to the 70-year sentence.

He later said that he made up certain aspects of his confession — which he said was coerced by police — and only admitted to being present during the attacks.

Andrew Kokoraleis was executed by lethal injection in 1999, the last Death Row inmate in Illinois to be executed before the state’s death penalty was abolished in 2011.

Spreitzer was originally sentenced to death, before former Gov. George Ryan in 2003 commuted his — and other Illinois Death Row inmate sentences — to life terms. Ryan was governor at the time of the elder Kokoraleis’s execution and later said he regretted not stopping it.

Gecht was the only one in the gang who did not confess to the killings. He was convicted for the rape and mutilation of a teenage prostitute who survived the assault and provided investigators with descriptions that helped lead investigators to the men.

He was sentenced to 120 years in prison and is eligible for parole in 2042.

Madhani reports from Chicago; Stanglin from Mclean, Virginia.
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Mugshots; left to right: Gecht, Spreitzer, Andrew, and Thomas


Ripper Crew victim’s family speaks out days before 21-year-old’s killer released
POSTED 9:05 PM, MARCH 25, 2019, BY JULIE UNRUH AND MELISSA ESPANA, UPDATED AT 10:26PM, MARCH 25, 2019

ELMHURST, Ill. — A member of a satanic cult, whose members were accused of rape, torture and murder, will be released Friday after serving half of his prison sentence. The mother of a 21-year-old victim said she thought he would be in prison until she died, but after less than 40 years, her daughter's killer will be released.

The Elmhurst Police Department announced on Facebook earlier this month that Thomas Kokoraleis, 59, will be released from the Illinois River Correctional Center on Friday, after serving half of his 70-year prison sentence for the abduction, rape and murder of 21-year-old Lorraine “Lorry” Ann Borowski.

Lorraine Borowski, 83, Lorry Borowski’s mother, said she lived in fear for decades after her daughter was kidnapped in Elmhurst nearly 40 years ago. Lorry Borowski was kidnapped outside the real estate office where she worked. She was then tortured, raped and murdered in May 1982.

Police believe Kokoraleis and his brothers, plus two other men, were responsible for the murder of up to 20 women during the 1980s.

“They thought they were all insane and I said, 'How could four guys be insane at the same time and they hung around together?' That don’t mean they are insane. They’re just evil. Evil,” Lorraine Borowski said.

Kokoraleis, who was a teen at the time of the murder, was charged with Lorry Borowski’s death. Initially he received a life sentence for her rape and murder, but an appellate court later reversed the rape conviction and re-sentenced him to 70 years behind bars. After he confessed to the murder, the law at the time stated he would have to serve only half of that time.

Lorraine Borowski said she's still upset, but she forgave him, because she had to. While she preaches forgiveness toward her daughter's killer, her sons Mark and Ray Borowski struggle to do the same. Their sister would have been 59 this year.

"It's disturbing, because it's not just us. There are other families that this affects. Not just us," Mark Borowski said. "It gets easier. You just work through it day by day. Just go on with your life, that's all."

"He took something that was very close to me," Ray Borowski said, "I live it everyday of my life. I'll never forget it. It is just like yesterday to me. I was the first one there on the scene.”

The family has previously fought against Kokoraleis' release. Even pressure from nationally known victim's rights attorney Gloria Allred was not enough to stop his release.

Kokoraleis' brother, Andrew Kokoraleis, received the death penalty and was executed by lethal injection in 1999 before it was abolished in Illinois. Two other men connected to the murders are still behind bars, with one eligible for parole in 2042.

Due to Illinois sentencing laws at the time, Kokoraleis was eligible for day-to-day credit for good behavior.

The Kokoraleis brothers and the two other men were part of the satanic cult group known as the “Ripper Crew.” According to the Chicago Tribune, the group was known to stalk the streets of Chicago, and the suburbs, in a red van looking for women to kidnap, beat, rape, torture and kill. The Tribune said the group members would cut off their victims’ breasts as part of a cannibalistic ritual.

There was never any evidence that Kokoraleis suffered from mental health disorders, therefore he will be free to live or travel wherever he wishes. His only limitation is that he must register as a sex offender with the Illinois State Police.

When Kokoraleis gets released, he will already have completed his parole.

Ray Borowksi said he hopes that people around him will be aware that he's out there, and will keep an eye on him and hopefully keep him in check.
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Editorial: Member of savage Ripper Crew released: When a life sentence doesn't mean life
The members of the Ripper Crew, from left, Robin Gecht, Andrew Kokoraleis, Thomas Kokoraleis and Edward Spreitzer, killed as many as 17 women. (Chicago Police Department)

Editorial Board

Editorials reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board, as determined by the members of the board, the editorial page editor and the publisher.

When then-Gov. Bruce Rauner called for restoration of the death penalty for mass murderers and murderers of police last year, his proposal went nowhere. No one has been executed by the state since 1999, and capital punishment was abolished in 2011, largely because wrongful convictions had eroded public support for it.

In a 2010 survey, just 1 in 3 Illinoisans thought it should be kept. Nationally, 54 percent of Americans support the death penalty, a Pew Research Center poll found last year — a figure well below what it was two decades ago.

But the question assumes that there is a surefire alternative to putting certain criminals to death — namely, locking them up and throwing away the key. In that 2010 Illinois poll, 43 percent of those surveyed said the punishment for murder should be life imprisonment with no chance of parole plus payment of restitution to the victim’s family. Another 18 percent were content with just life in prison with no chance of parole.

The problem is that you can’t count on a life sentence to be a life sentence. The last person put to death in Illinois was Andrew Kokoraleis, a member of the “Ripper Crew,” which carried out the sadistic rape and killing of as many as 17 women, some of whom were mutilated alive. The exact number is not known because the killers couldn’t remember them all.

One of Andrew Kokoraleis’ confederates was his brother Thomas, who admitted being present at three slayings. He was convicted by a jury of the rape and murder of 21-year-old Lorry Ann Borowski of Elmhurst.

A judge chose to sentence him to life in prison. But his conviction was struck down over legal errors, and the case was resolved with the defendant pleading guilty and being sentenced to 70 years. Thanks to the rules in effect back then, which allowed him to cut his time in half through good behavior, Kokoraleis was released Friday at age 58. He is expected to live at a Christian-oriented facility in the Wheaton area.

Another member of the crew, Edward Spreitzer, who had his death sentence commuted by Gov. George Ryan in 2003 along with those of all the other inmates on death row, is not eligible for parole. But Robin Gecht could go free in 2042 at age 89.

We won’t relitigate Thomas Kokoraleis’ case or his guilt. But we feel no hesitation in saying that life behind bars should have been the certain sentence for what he did. There is something profoundly exasperating about seeing someone who took part in such wanton slaughter being allowed to walk free among civilized people.

If you wonder why a majority of Americans continue to support capital punishment, cases like that of the Ripper Crew explain why: The death penalty has many flaws, which is why this page opposes it. But it does bring finality.