Ripper Crew Killer Not Sexually Violent: State's Attorney

ELMHURST, IL — DuPage County State's Attorney's Office said Friday that a man who was convicted of brutally murdering an Elmhurst woman in 1982 is not sexually violent under Illinois law. Thomas Kokoraleis, 57, was a member of the Ripper Crew, which killed and raped several women during the 1980s.

Kokoraleis was supposed to be released from prison Sept. 29 after serving half of his 70-year sentence, but it was delayed because he didn't have an approved place to live. If Kokoraleis had been deemed "sexually violent," he would not have been able to be released from prison.

“My office, along with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, has worked closely with experts to determine whether it is legally possible for the State to prove to a court that Kokoraleis meets the requirements to be found a sexually violent person in order to be civilly committed after he has served his criminal sentence," DuPage county State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a release.

Berlin said the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that a person suffers from a mental disorder, and that mental disorder makes him dangerous such that it is substantially probable the person will commit acts of sexual violence.

"After evaluations by highly experienced psychiatrists and psychologists found Kokoraleis does not meet the necessary criteria, we are unable to ethically bring a petition to find that he is sexually violent under Illinois law," Berlin said.

Kokoraleis was convicted of the 1982 murder of Lorraine Borowski of Elmhurst based on an accountability theory. According to the State's Attorney's Office, this means he was held accountable for the acts committed by other individuals that resulted in Borwoski's death. Kokoraleis' brother Andrew and another member of the Ripper crew, Edward Spreitzer were convicted for the murder and rape of Borowski.

Andrew Kokoraleis, was convicted of the murders of Borowski and Rose Davis and was sentenced to death. He was executed in 1999. According to the State's Attorney's Office, Spreitzer was convicted of the murders of Linda Sutton, Shui Mak, Rose Davis, Sandra Delaware and Raphael Tiradao — and is serving a natural life prison sentence with no possibility of parole. He was originally given a death sentence that was commuted when Governor George Ryan commuted all death sentences in Illinois. The last member of the killing group, Robin Gecht, was convicted of the attempted murder, rape, aggravated kidnapping and deviate sexual assault of a woman and is not eligible for parole until 2042.

The State's Attorney's Office said Kokoraleis admitted to participating in Borowski’s abduction. While he denied he was involved in her rape and murder, Kokoraleis admitted he was present while Andrew Kokoraleis and Spreitzer raped and murdered Borowski. He was sentenced to 70 years in prison. Based on Illinois sentencing laws in effect when he was sentenced in 1986, Kokoraleis served 50 percent of his sentence and was scheduled to enter mandatory supervised release in September 2017.

The State's Attorney's Office said because the criteria for requiring an individual to register as a sex offender is different than the SVP Act requirements, Kokoraleis will be required to register as a sex offender when he is ultimately released from IDOC custody.

Photo via Illinois Department of Corrections.