Southwest Suburban Teen's Killer Gets 160 Years

Caption: Kelli O’Laughlin, 14, in a school photo before her murder in October 2011, and police booking photo for John Wilson Jr. The 41-year-old Chicago man was sentenced to 160 years for the Indian Head Park teen’s murder.

Convicted killer John Wilson Jr. laughed, muttered out loud and twirled in his chair throughout his sentencing hearing for the murder of 14-year-old Kelli O’Laughlin.

Wilson was sentenced to 160 years in a Bridgeview courtroom -- the maximum sentence allowed under the law -- on Friday afternoon by Cook County Associate Judge John Hynes.

“Every so often a crime comes a crime comes across that shocks the community, this is one of those crimes,” Judge Hynes said. “This is the ultimate example of man’s inhumanity to man.”

The 41-year-old Chicago man was convicted last month for the Oct. 27, 2011 murder of the Indian Head Park teen, who prosecutors say interrupted Wilson as he was ransacking her family’s house when O’Laughlin returned home after school.

The teen was stabbed eight times in the neck, chest and spine and left lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood to be found by her mother.

Before the sentencing hearing got started, Wilson, wearing a green jumpsuit with a yellow stripe, was brought into the courtroom in leg irons. Wilson had submitted two post-trial motions on his own behalf requesting a new trial and asking for new legal counsel.

When the judge asked if he had submitted the written motions, Wilson ignored him.

“Sir, I don’t know who you are or why I am here,” Wilson finally responded. “The voices told me not to talk to you.”

Wilson also heckled Kelli’s mother, Brenda O’Laughlin, during her victim impact statement. In the days following the girl’s murder, he had sent taunting texts to Brenda using her daughter’s stolen cell phone.

“Are you serious,” he asked her.

Lead prosecutor Guy Lisuzzo asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence under the law -- 130 years for first degree murder, and 30 years each for residential burglary and home invasion -- to be served consecutively.

“[Wilson’s] cold-hearted, depraved actions took the life of a 14-year-old girl who was never able to get her life started,” the prosecutor said. “That takes a depraved, horrific mind. He deserves the maximum sentence this court can give.”

Wilson’s attorney, John Paul Carroll asked for the minimum -- 20 years plus 6 years’ each for the other offenses -- stating the Wilson could be “rehabilitated with proper treatment.”

Asked if justice was served after court was adjourned, Brenda O’Laughlin said it had not.

“There will never be justice,” the girl’s mother said, “but we’re satisfied with the sentence.”

Patch will have more later so check back for updates.