Coincidences Surrounding Brown’s Chicken Massacre Basis for Book on Forgiveness

PALATINE, IL - One of the worst and most shocking crimes in the history of suburban Chicago is referred to as the Brown’s Chicken massacre, where seven people were found brutally killed in a freezer at a Brown’s Chicken on Northwest Highway in Palatine on Jan. 8, 1993, now 24 years ago.

While nothing will end the heartbreak for the families of the seven employees killed on that cold night in Palatine, a lesson of forgiveness has been found.

Peter J. Gallanis was a student at Northern Illinois University when the crime was committed in 1993. He first heard of the tragic news while walking through the living room of his dorm room and would soon be wrapped up in the case.

A series of coincidences surrounding Gallanis and a family member of one of the victims sparked a chain of events that resulted in the family member’s spiritual journey from hatred to forgiveness being highlighted in a book by Gallanis.

Related: A Look Back at The Brown's Chicken Massacre, 24 Years Later

The coincidences involving Gallanis and Mary Jane Castro, sister of Michael Castro, are numerous. Some are small, others aren’t.

When Gallanis was watching the initial news report on the case, he watched Castro interviewed about the senseless tragedy.

“Her answers were quick and articulate,” Gallanis remembers. “The more I watched, the more fascinated I became.”

Later that year, when Gallanis went out with his girlfriend for a movie at one of his now wife’s friend’s homes, he was astonished to see the friend that came down the stairs. It was Mary Jane Castro. Castro was a one-time close friend of Gallanis’ wife and was a bridesmaid at their wedding.

Also, the massacre occurred on Jan. 8, the date of Gallanis’ oldest sister’s birthday. Gallanis’ mother-in-law passed away from breast cancer on another Jan. 8.

One of the two men convicted of the murders, Juan Luna, was originally interview by police on Feb. 17, Gallanis’ birthday. Mary Jane Castro’s birthday is Feb. 18.

Gallanis decided to write a novel based on just those coincidences, but something even more powerful came about in the process.

The author remembered Castro's father mentioning after the arrests of Luna and Degorski that he would volunteer to flip the switch and executive them. But at the same time, Mary Jane attended an anti-death penalty demonstration and made a statement along the lines of not wanting the killers to die.

“She came to the realization, one that most survivors have, that after the bad guy does they think they would feel better,” Gallanis said. “But it’s not bringing their loved ones back. The closure comes from within. We have power to say ‘enough is enough’ and I’m going to live like my loved one would want me to.”

The book is based off the Brown’s Chicken massacre and Castro’s journey to forgiveness, but specific entities have changed. Instead of a Brown’s Chicken, the murder took place in the story at a family owned restaurant in Palatine with the same address. It follows the protagonist, a newspaper reporter for the fictional Palatine Star, working on his first big story on the case and falling in love with the character based on Castro.

“It was an ethical dilemma,” Gallanis said. “It was love at first sight, but since reporters do not get involved in personal relationships with sources the only way for him to get the girl was to solve the case.”

Certain aspects of the real case like the DNA that was obtained from a partially eaten piece of chicken that linked Luna to the crime and what Gallanis calls the “horrific aspect” of a woman, Degorski’s girlfriend, knowing about the killings for 10 years before saying a word to authorities were borrowed.

“For me, the idea that forgiveness equals closure is the cornerstone of the novel,” Gallanis said. “That’s something we’d expect the pope to do, but not an everyday citizen.”

The coincidences between him, Castro and the murder case Gallanis believes is the “simple will of God that I share this story of a girl who went through a spiritual journey that went from ‘I’ll pull the switch’ to ‘I’ll forgive you.’”

Some of the other coincidences include the middle names of both Gallanis and Castro (John and Jane), that Luna was working for the same Crystal Lake company at the time of his arrest that Gallanis has often done business with as a resident of the area and that both the arrests of Luna and Degorski and Gallanis’ book deal occurred in early May.

“They (the coincidences) go on and on and on,” Gallanis said. “I’ve spoke with police officers, detectives and judges and they’ve all told me they’ve never heard of a more bizarre set of circumstances in their careers.”

The book, titled “The Reporter Part I: Rise and Fall” was the first to be released in a series, Gallanis said, but is the second in the sequence of the series. The prequel to the series, titled “The Writer,” is expected to be released sometime in 2017. It will “answer some of the questions” readers of the first novel may have.