Cass St. Body Shop Murders Trial Gets Underway

JOLIET, IL - For the second time this year, Joliet double murder defendant William "Billy" Krasawski is standing trial for the March 9, 2016 murders. The killings occurred inside the garage of a long-time east side business. Late Tuesday morning, Assistant Will County State's Attorney Daniel Egan told the newly paneled Will County jury that his side's trial evidence would leave jurors convinced that Krasawski used a hammer and a pipe wrench to kill Mike Oram, 48, and Oram's girlfriend, Jamie Wills, 43.

The jury has been asked to find the defendant guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. If convicted, Krasawski would face a life prison sentence. He has remained in the county jail since March 2016.

During opening statements, Egan reinforced his belief that Krasawski hit Oram "over and over and over until his skull was fractured." And after he killed Oram, the son of the body shop's owner, Krasawski then killed Wills in the same gruesome fashion, the jury heard.

Both murder victims were bludgeoned to death, Egan noted.

Egan said the trial evidence will show that Krasawski:

• Was high on crack cocaine at the time of the slayings
• Was the last person present with Oram and Wills
• The only one of the three to leave the body shop garage alive the night of March 8-9, 2016
• The defendant's clothes, three articles in total, all contained blood, blood from Wills.

Within 12 hours of the Joliet double murders, Krasawski got out of Will County, Egan told the jury. The defendant visited Robbins and Chicago Heights where he sold off his phone and his car, which was his getaway car from the double murder scene, the jury was told.

Krasawski also called his mother and his sister after ending up in Chicago Heights where he went to hide in a hotel, Egan pointed out.

As far as the events that transpired inside the Joliet body shop, Egan told the jury, "he will not talk about it over the phone" with his sister, but asked for a new set of clothes.

The Joliet Police Department quickly surmised that Krasawski was the likely culprit.

Officers took him into custody in Chicago Heights. Afterward, Krasawski gave Joliet Police investigators a "four-hour nonsensical statement," Egan maintained.

"He blamed a mysterious black guy. It defies logic."

In addition, Krasawski "had blood on his pants, sweatshirt and hat. All (three) articles of clothing had blood of Jamie Wills on them. Every single one of them," Egan informed the jury.

"He silenced Jamie Wills and Mike Oram that night, but the blood of Jamie Wills is what identified him as the killer. He tried to outrun the DNA ... but he could not. The evidence is straight forward and overwhelming."

Krasawski is represented by Will County public defenders Alexander Beck and Amy Christiansen.

During her opening statements, Christiansen approached the jury box and clapped her hands. She applauded Egan for giving the courtroom a great story, a story worthy of a one-hour crime show drama, minus thirteen minutes for the commercials.

She insisted her client is not the killer. Christiansen suggested the prosecution does not know who was the last person or persons with Oram and Wills during their final moments alive in that body shop garage.

"We don't know who the last ones were," she told the jury.

The pipe wrench and the hammer were both found at the double murder scene, she explained.

"Yet the murder weapons had none of Billy's fingerprints ... Not a lick," Christiansen argued. "Nothing connects those murder weapons" to her client.

"You're not going to be able to find Billy guilty," she told jurors.

Back in January, Will County Judge Dave Carlson declared a mistrial after Joliet Police Detective Tom Ponce told the jury that Krasawski was being detained after the murders on a parole violation in Chicago Heights. The witnesses were not supposed to testify about the defendant having a criminal history under any circumstances.

At this week's trial, the State's Attorney's Office is represented by Egan as well as fellow criminal prosecutors Michael Fitzgerald and Jeff Tuminello.

RELATED: Joliet Detective Causes Mistrial In Body Shop Murders

Mugshot of Billy Krasawski via Will County Sheriff's Department