Northwest Herald from Woodstock, Illinois • Page 1

GKlQm: Echoes Across the Prairie tells of boyhood journey. GG VEATIliK Marengo boys basketball coach Bill Berry has announced his retirement from high school sports. SPORTS, IB MILD HIGH OP 66 Details, 16A ii Girl attack suspect held on $6 million bond SATURDAY ORIEFIUG By MIKE ROBINSON The Associated Press CHICAGO A 25-year-old high-school dropout stood silently Friday as prosecutors accused him of putting the child known as Girl through sexual agony, stepping on her throat to stop her screams and spraying her mouth with roach killer. The detailed account of the attack on the helpless 9-year-old drew gasps from those in her body. Now in a rehabilitation hospital, the child is blind and unable to speak; how much improvement can be expected is unclear.

Family and friends are planning a small party in the hospital Monday, one day after her 10th birthday. Flanked in court by husky sheriffs deputies Friday, Sykes gave his name in a barely audible voice, hung his head and said nothing more. See GIRL page 2 the courtroom. Afterward, Circuit Judge William Maki set bond for Patrick Sykes, a convicted sex offender, at $6 million. Prosecutors said the high bond was guaranteed to keep the 6-foot Sykes behind bars throughout the court case stemming from the Jan.

9 attack on the 4-foot-8, 64-pound fourth-grader. Thomas E. Epach chief of criminal prosecutions in the Cook County state's attorney's office, said he has seen many crimes in IT years as a prosecutor. "This is one of the most heinous," he said. Girl whose mother has asked that her real name be withheld, was walking, home through the crime-ridden Cabrini-Green public housing project after a sleep-over visit at a friend's horde on the snowy morning.

The child was abducted, sexually molested, beaten, kicked, poisoned and dumped in a dark, foul-smelling Cabrini-Green stairwell. Gang initials and symbols were scrawled on 'It's been two weeks now. In two weeks, she would have called somebody: Laura VonHuben, missing girl's mother Teem emit school Before leavim Details emerge as search goes on for girl, 16 ALBERT BELLE sponTS White Sox lose to Tigers Albert Belle's home debut with the White Sox was anything but smashing as they lost, 8-7, to the Detroit Tigers in 10 innings Friday. PAGE IB INDEX Advice 4E Builders 1-6C Business 11-16B Classified 7-20C Comics 10B Echoes 12A Lottery 2A Movies 8B Obituaries 4A Opinion 14A Soaps 8B Sports 1-7B Weather 16A By CRAIG WOKER and KURT BEGALKA The Northwest Herald WOODSTOCK Before she hopped in an old car with her fiance and two friends for a joyride to Florida in late February, Wendy Von Huben had cut school for more It i ii 1 "I C1997 Northwest Newspapers, Inc. Vol.

12 Issue 95 -than-a week and may have been pregnant. As runaways, the foursome spent about a week going from city to city, sleeping in the car and staying at relatives' homes before Von Huben and her fiance, 19-year-old Jesse Lee Howell of Woodstock, went their own way. if )or HOWELL Howell's body was spotted lying next to some railroad tracks March 23. He died from a blow to the head. Von Huben is missing.

Von Huben, a Woodstock High School freshman, cut class from Feb. 17-21, her par-1 ents learned after they reported her missing Spring forward Remember to set your clock forward one hour Sunday morning. Feb. 23. After filing the police report, they grew suspicious, called the high school and learned of the truancy.

Where she spent time in the middle of the day is anybody's guess. What her parents do know is that she would leave for school in the morning and come home in the evening. On Feb. 22, Von Huben told her parents she was going to stay at a friend's house that night See TEEN, page 2 Chris Birks The Northwest Herald William and Laura Von Huben of Woodstock continue to wait for news of their daughter's whereabouts. Wendy Von Huben has been missing since Feb.

23. Her boyfriend, with whom she was traveling, was found murdered in Ocala, Fla. tt fire i land is MCCD tightens rules for animals herns 300 acres 4 ill I "The average person doesnt come into contact with threatened or endangered species. They come in contact with raccoons, squirrels, possum, deer, Monica Young Wildlife in Need Foundation "The first thing I thought was, 'Ulan, It's coming our Hie flames were Just Jumping and the winds were blowing back and forth. It's a scary thing the way these winds were." Mike Malisheski Newport Drive resident By JEANETTE LACH The Northwest Herald WONDER LAKE McHenry County residents will have to learn the difference between an ordinary, floundering song bird and an injured pied-billed grebe.

The McHenry County Conservation District has implemented more stringent guidelines on what animals will be accepted at the Wildlife Resource Center near Wonder Lake. Catering to all animals is too costly and MCCD's mission is to purchase and maintain open space, some board members say. Instead of all protected native species, the center now will accept only state and federally endangered or threatened species. The protected species designation refers to all wildlife protected from illegal killing under the state wildlife code. It includes animals By KEVIN LYONS the Northwest Herald 4 ISLAND LAKE A brush fire that raged across 300 acres of swampy marshland Friday appears to have suspicious origins, fire officials said Heavy black smoke could be seen from as far as Cary and Waukegan as firefighters from six local agencies responded to several 911 calls from neighbors in the Waterford Village subdivision at about 220 pjn.

Fueled by heavy winds, the (lames rolled north over a linear mile from Vista Drive in Fox River Shores to an area near Route 176 in Island Lake. "I was just out with my kids and I saw all the black smoke," Newport Drive resident Mike Malisheski said. "The flames seemed to be about 20 to 30 feet high." Malisheski was one of the resi- dents who called the fire department "The first thing; I thought was, 'Man, it's coming our he said. "The flames were just jumping and the winds were blowing back and forth. It's a scary thing the way these winds were." such as raccoons or deer that can be hunted or trapped during a des- ignated season.

"The squirrels in your yard are protected, but they certainly aren't endangered," said Glen endangered species program man-! ager for the Illinois Department of! Natural Resources. See ANIMALS, page Patrick Kunzer The Northwest Herald Wauconda Assistant Fire Chief John Fessler on Friday after noon walks out to examine the spreading of a brush fire behind See FIRE, page 2 Newport Drive In Island Lake..