commentary by Patrick H. Moore
It’s only natural for homeowners to fear being burglarized; most folks work hard to provide their children with a happy and secure home, and in addition to the loss of property, a burglary has the unwanted side effect of making a family feel vulnerable.
Even worse than being burglarized is a home invasion/robbery. All bets are off when this occurs in today’s violent world; death or injury can easily result at the hands of ruthless burglars/violent criminals.
The ultimate nightmare would be a home invasion/robbery in which a parent or child, or both, winds up dead. This is precisely what occurred in a suburban Chicago home on October 27, 2011 when a simple burglary apparently turned into a home invasion/robbery when 14-year-old Kelli O’Laughlin had the bad luck to come home during the robbery which, tragically, led to her alleged death by stabbing at the hands of parolee, John Wilson, Jr.
The particular crime had an added layer of cruelty which, if the prosecution’s theory is correct, is unlike anything we’ve come across here on All Things Crime Blog.
David Lohr of Huffington Post writes:
Prosecutors allege Wilson broke into the O’Laughlin’s Chicago home on October 26, 2011, with the intent of burglarizing it. However, during the course of that criminal act, Kelli O’Laughlin unwittingly walked in on him.
“[Wilson] could’ve just run out and left the house,” Prosecutor Guy Lisuzzo told jurors Wednesday, according to Myfoxchicago.com. “[But] he didn’t. He confronts and stabs her repeatedly.”
On Wednesday, during the first day of trial testimony, Kelli’s mother Brenda O’Laughlin described finding her daughter’s body still warm when she came home and found her dying. She said she touched her daughter and spoke to her in a gentle voice while waiting for the paramedics to arrive:
“I was trying to comfort her.”
The paramedics could do nothing and Kelli was pronounced dead at a local hospital a short time later.
But as bad as this was, according to the prosecutors, Wilson devised a novel way to psychologically torture Kelli’s mother Brenda. In addition to killing her teen child, he allegedly stole her cell phone and proceeded to text Brenda on several occasions beginning the next day.
The first text read, “Hello Brenda,” and a second informed Brenda that Wilson, assuming he was the one texting,” “love(d) her pic”.
With the third text, Wilson raises the stakes:
“She wanted me to tell you something before I killed her.” This was followed by, “Think I’m in love with you Bren.”
Brenda O’Laughlin testified that she did not respond to the first few text messages because she was waiting for instructions from law enforcement.
Apparently frustrated, Wilson then texted an ultimatum:
“You got 2 min to text me before I break this phone.”
At that point, Brenda replied:
“Who are you and what do you want?” to which Wilson quickly replied, “You will know soon when I come see you.”
The messages stopped shortly thereafter.
Brenda O’Laughlin testified that when she first returned home, and saw an 8-inch-carving-knife taken from her own kitchen lying next to her daughter’s bleeding body on the family room rug, she initially thought her daughter may have taken her own life. Further evidence, however, strongly suggests that such was not the case.
After stating that there was a killer in the courtroom and that his name was John Wilson, Jr., Assistant State’s Attorney Lisuzzo said Wilson used a landscaping rock wrapped in a knit cap to break into the family’s home and, revealingly, that Wilson’s DNA was found on the cap.
The prosecution believes that after killing Kelli, Wilson returned home by paying for a taxi ride with coins stolen from the family’s home.
The 38-yer-old parolee was arrested a few days later on November 2, 2011 and charged with first-degree murder and residential burglary.
* * * * *
Although the prosecution seems quite confident in its theory, Wilson’s defense team isn’t buying it. In fact, defense attorney John Paul Carroll “called the case against his client a great story but cautioned jurors not to believe everything they hear”, suggesting in his opening statement that Kelli’s death may actually have been a suicide disguised to look like a home invasion and that (now this is rather unbelievable but Carroll actually said it) the alleged victim, Kelli O’Laughlin “may have staged the ransacked house to avoid the stigma” of suicide.
Wow! Is this hitting below the belt or is it possible that, unlikely as it seems, Kelli, in a suicidal rage, ransacked her own house before stabbing herself multiple times, or, alternatively, could Brenda, in a bizarre attempt to make it look like a home invasion/robbery, have ransacked her own house after returning home and finding 
her daughter on the brink if death?
After all, Brenda did say that she initially thought Kelli may have stabbed herself…
On balance, though, the defense team’s strategy seems far-fetched, desperate, and some no doubt will think, in very bad taste. But this is not the first time we’ve seen defense attorneys come up with seemingly outlandish defenses. After all, it’s part of what they’re paid to do.