Man Accused Of 1992 Niles YMCA Murder Ordered Held Without Bail

NILES, IL — The man accused of murdering a woman at the Niles YMCA nearly 30 years ago was ordered held without bond Tuesday.

Richard Sisto, 72, was charged with first-degree murder last month after DNA evidence linked him to the strangulation of Helen Cardwell.

Cardwell, a 35-year-old tenant at the Leaning Tower YMCA, 6300 W. Touhy Ave., was found dead by her sister, brother-in-law and a YMCA employee on the evening of Nov. 8, 1992, according to prosecutors.

Evidence from the scene indicated that Cardwell had been bound, gagged, bruised and sexually assaulted prior to her death, Assistant State's Attorney Katie Siefert said at a bond hearing in Skokie.

"The victim was found on top of her bed, unclothed with the exception of socks and a bra partially draped on her arm," Siefert said. "She was on her back with her hands bound behind her with a shirt, and a sweater was tried around her chin and mouth area and a pair of underwear was in her mouth."

DNA collected from a vaginal swab of Cardwell's body, from the knots of the shirt that bound her hands together, and from a shoelace left at the scene all matched Sisto's genetic profile, Siefert said.

Niles police detectives and investigators from the Cook County State's Attorney's Office interviewed Sisto in September, at which point he denied ever having any contact with Cardwell or the YMCA, according to the prosecutor.

Sisto has already been sentenced to a lifetime of parole following a conviction in Texas for the offense of aggravated rape in 1976. That parole was transferred to Illinois in 1992, according to Siefert. The prosecutor said an unrelated parole violation led to a warrant for his arrest being issued in 2006, but he remained at large until his arrest in August.

Siefert said the rape for which Sisto was convicted also included a victim who was gagged. Sisto, who had helped the victim's ex-husband move furniture, was eventually identified, charged and convicted.

Assistant Public Defender Caroline Glennon said that the existing bond — Sisto would have needed to post $100,000 to secure his pretrial release — was sufficient. She argued that Sisto had significant medical issues — a heart condition and a foley catheter — and is not a threat to society.

Glennon questioned the statistical analysis presented by the state's attorney's office and said it was unsurprising that her elderly client would not remember someone he may have met nearly 30 years earlier.

"Even if everything the state proffers with regard to the statistics there is accurate, it still doesn't indicate an intentional homicide," Glennon said. "It might've supported a sexual encounter, if that."

Cook County Associate Judge John Calabrese agreed with prosecutors' claim that the proof was evidence and the presumption great that Sisto was guilty.

"I believe that the release of the defendant would pose a very real and present threat to the physical safety of any persons," Calabrese said.

Calabrese granted the state's motion and ordered Sisto held without bail. Sisto is due back in court Dec. 8.

Earlier: Man Charged In Woman's 1992 Cold Case Murder At Niles YMCA