Naperville Bar Stabbing Triggered By Rejection On Dance Floor, Prosecutor Says

Caption: Daniel Olaska, 30, of Naperville, is charged in the murder of elementary school teacher Shaun Wild in February 2012.

DuPage County prosecutors contend that a rejection from a woman on the dance floor at a downtown Naperville bar triggered a man to go on a “rampage” and stab a young teacher to death who had tried to intervene in a bar fight.

Prosecutor Bernie Murray said in his opening statement on Tuesday that Daniel Olaksa, 27 years old at the time of stabbing, got into a fight with North Central College football player Willie Hayes in a downtown Naperville bar in the early morning hours of Feb. 4, 2012.

After Olaska allegedly pounced on Hayes and stabbed him in the chest, he “taunted Willie with the bloody knife.”.

As Olaska weeded his way through the crowded bar, he was pursued by 24-year-old Shaun Wild, a first-year teacher at Spring Brook Elementary School in Naperville, who tried to prevent Olaska from escaping, Murray alleged.

“[Olaska] pounced on Shaun, stabbing him deeply in the arm, then plunged the knife through Shaun’s heart front to back and smashed a glass on him.” Murray said. “Shaun tried to get up but crumpled to his knees.”

Bouncer Raphael Castenada, unaware of what happened, went to Olaska when a patron yelled that he had a knife. Olaska stabbed Castenada in the arm, the prosecutor said.

“It looked like a hand fight,” Murray said. “They both went for the knife and Raphael threw the knife away on the stage.”

As patrons took off their clothes to try to stop Wild’s bleeding, Olaska ran down the stairs of the Naperville bar, the prosecutor alleged.

“The defendant tried running away but police caught him at the last set of stairs a few feet away from freedom,” Murray said.

Defense attorney Ernie DiBenedetto told jurors that Olaska acted in self defense, and that “big 6-foot, 235-pound Willie Hayes” had been summoned by another man to remove Olaska from the booth at Frankie’s Blue Room.

“Mr. Olaska was surrounded in the booth,” DiBenedetto said. “It took one stab for him to get away. Did he taunt him with the knife? No, he folded it. He didn’t come to hurt anybody, he came to have fun.”

Sarah Schwenn, 26, was the first witness to take the stand Tuesday. She described how she and a friend, Keli Jepson, arrived at Frankie’s Blue Room around 10:40 p.m. Feb. 3, 2012.

While Jepson was in the restroom, Schwenn started talking to Olaska at the bar, who was there with a friend.

After Jepson returned, Schwenn asked Olaska if he wanted to dance. The two went to the dance floor.

“He was handsy,” Schwenn said. “He was running his hands up and down my hips, touching me more than I preferred.”

Schwenn testified that Olaska followed her and Jepson outside when they went out to smoke. Olaska was on his cell phone, telling the person on the other end that he was going to stay at the bar and would find a ride home.

While dancing with another man she met that night, John Reynolds, Olaska appeared on the dance floor and handed her a beer. Reynolds turned around and left.

After a minute or two, Schwenn stopped dancing.

“I thanked him for the beer and I said it was nice meeting and talking to him, but I wanted to be with my friends,” she said.

Later Olaska would encounter Jepson in a booth. She scooted over for him as he took off his coat and sat down on the outside of the seat.

“He asked, ‘what’s my place in this,’” Jepson testified. “I asked him if he liked Sarah and he said yes. I told him she wasn’t interested. We were just out to meet people and have fun, not going out looking for relationships.”

Seeing Jepson sitting alone with Olaska in the booth, Schwenn and another man the women met that evening, Manny Veladez, “went to rescue her,” Schwenn had testified earlier.

“Sarah said, ‘come dance with us,’” Jepson said.

But Olaska wouldn’t move and let Jepson out of the booth. Veladez held out his arm and Jepson climbed over Olaska.

The women left moments before the bar fight broke out. Leaving a parking garage in downtown Naperville, the women saw Frankie’s Blue Room surrounded by police cars and ambulances.

“We parked the car and went to see what was going on,” Jepson said. “We saw two police officers taking Dan out in handcuffs, who had blood on his shirt.”

Schwenn became “very emotional” and the women went to a restaurant up the street. Jepson went back “to see if Manny was okay,” who had emerged from the bar with blood on his shirt.

John Reynolds, the man Olaska allegedly cut in while Reynolds was dancing with Schwenn, described his encounter with Olaska.

“He came up behind me when I standing at bar,” Reynolds testified, who had arrived in a limo with a group of other people for a birthday party. “I apologized to him for dancing with her if they were together.”

“He pulled a knife out of his pocket and held it against his chest,” Reynolds contined on the stand. “He said, ‘I have it covered,’ or ‘I’ll take care of it.’”

Defense attorney Jeff Kendall played security video frame by frame, challenging Reynolds’ memory.

Olaska had his arm around a girl in the video.

“Do you see a knife in his right hand,” Kendall said, as the video played frame by frame. “He’s still talking to other people. He never had a knife. There’s no knife depicted in that picture.”

Asked why he didn’t tell a bouncer or call police when he saw the knife, Reynolds said he was too shocked, but had told another woman in his party.

“I wish I had now,” Reynolds said.

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Jury Selection Begins Monday In Accused Teacher Killer’s Trial

Accused Murderer to Claim Self-Defense in Naperville Bar Stabbing