Prosecutors: Mom taunted with texts from slain daughter's cell phone
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- The day after she found her daughter Kelli O'Laughlin stabbed to death in their Illinois home, Brenda O'Laughlin started getting taunting texts from the 14-year-old girl's stolen cell phone.
"Hello Brenda"
"Love your pic"
"She wanted me to tell you something before I killed her."
"Think I'm in love with you Bren"
At first she did not respond while her husband called investigators, O'Laughlin told jurors at the murder trial of John Wilson, Jr. But then she got another one.
"You got 2 min to text me before I break this phone."
She replied, "Who are you and what do you want?"
The answer, "You will know soon when I come see you."
Several days later, police arrested Wilson in the October 2011 murder of Kelli. The Lyons Township High School freshman was stabbed repeatedly after walking in during a robbery, police said.
Prosecutors said Wednesday that cell phone records show Wilson and Kelli's phones were with the same person as they traveled around the city. They also say DNA evidence from a knit cap left links Wilson to the crime scene.
"(Wilson) could've just run out and left the house. He didn't. He confronts and stabs (Kelli) repeatedly," Prosecutor Guy Lisuzzo told jurors.
Wednesday was the first day of testimony in the murder case. During opening statements, Wilson's defense attorney said his client was innocent and suggested Kelli stabbed herself or was stabbed by someone else.
"It wasn't him," defense attorney Michelle Gonzalez said. "There's a lot of evidence that shows it could have been anyone. And the police just focused in on him."
Another witness testified that she saw and spoke with Wilson near the O'Laughlin's home on the day Kelli was murdered.
The trial at the Bridgeview Courthouse is expected to last about two weeks.
