Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 4-3

3 CHICAGO TRIBUNE METRO SECTION4 By James Kimberly Tribune staff reporter A high-ranking and award- winning DuPage County prosecutor who litigated some of the most infamous cases died in a violent, head-on collision near Winfield on Friday. Jane Radostits, 46, of Homer Glen, died after her vehicle collided head-on with a car on Winfield Road near Swan Lake Drive. Four cars were involved in the crash, and at least one other driver was injured. DuPage County police declined to release any information on the crash Saturday. Radostits, who is married and has a daughter, 20, and a son, 17, was the deputy chief of the special prosecutions division in the DuPage County office.

She oversaw the prosecution of many types of cases, including major crimes, public corruption, domestic violence and child abuse. was a hero to many, many DuPage County Atty. Joseph Birkett said Saturday. generation of crime victims and their families, especially Radostits began her career as a Cook County prosecutor in 1986 and came to DuPage County in 1997. Among the defendants she prosecuted in Du- Page County were Marilyn Lemak, the Naperville mother convicted of murdering her three young children, and Skyler Chambers and Turner Reeves III, who were convicted of the rape and murder of Bartlett High School student Nassim Davoodi, 14.

Last year, Radostits was named prosecutor of the year by the Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association. The Radostits family is devastated, said her brother-in-law Tom Cohan of Libertyville. was full of life. She was always the life of the Cohan said. was one of the most vibrant people you will ever meet, very personable, warm.

She would go out of her way to do anything for anybody and frequently Radostits grew up in Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago and John Marshall Law School. She enjoyed being a prosecutor, Cohan said. think she felt she was doing a service for her community and felt it was the right thing to Cohan said. frequently would talk about the ef- fect the crimes had on the victims and how they needed to be stood up Radostits was active in Republican Party politics and aspired to be a judge. Last fall, she was one of two finalists for an associate judgeship and it was widely believed she soon would be appointed to the bench.

She had a second home in DuPage County and the family planned to move there. were preparing for her inevitable ascension to the bench, but there is no replacing Birkett said. Services will be held from 3 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in Robert J. Sheehy and SonFuneral Home, 9000 W.

151st Orland Park. Prosecutor killed in car wreck Jane Radostits, 46, was killed Friday in a head-on collision near Winfield that involved three other vehicles, authorities say. Attorney worked in DuPage for 10 years By Mary Owen Tribune staff reporter A substitute teacher who showed an R-rated movie to 8th graders about two gay cowboys told students, happens in Ms. class stays in Ms. according to a lawsuit filed Friday.

A 12-year-old girl and her family filed the suit against the Chicago Board of Education after the teacher showed to students at Ashburn Community Elementary Schoola year ago. The student, Jessica Turner, said she suffered psychological distress after watching the movie, according to the suit. The movie, which stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two cowboys who fall in love, includes love scenes between the two men and between the men and their wives. is very important to me that my children not be exposed to said grandfather and guardian, Kenneth Richardson, by phone Saturday. teacher knew she was not supposed to do this.

like I told the principal, she should have better control over her The lawsuit, which seeks $500,000 in damages, was filed in Cook County Circuit Court. The suit also names Ashburn Principal Jewel Diazand the substitute teacher, known only in the complaint as Ms. Buford. Chicago Public Schools Spokesman Mike Vaughnde- clined to comment Saturday because he had not seen the lawsuit. Diaz could not be reached for comment.

According to the lawsuit, Buford was a substitute teacher in 8th-grade class on May 26, 2006. She told the class, happens in Ms. class stays in Ms. and asked a student to shut the classroom door. Buford showed the video without permission from parents and guardians, the lawsuit states.

Richardson said his granddaughter was traumatized after watching the movie and told him, made me watch this bad Richardson said he went to the school to speak to Buford, but she refused to do so without her union representative. He said Diaz appeared when she learned that the teacher had showed the movie. The grandfather deferred to his attorney when asked about the specifics of the treatment and that the lawsuit states Turner underwent as a result of watching the movie. This the first time Richardson has taken issue with material used in his classes. He said that in fall 2005, he complained to Diaz about reading material that included curse words.

was the last Richardson said of the back screening. feel the lawsuit was necessary because of the warning I had already given them on the literature they were giving out to children to read. I told them it was against our Teacher sued for showing movie Gay-themed film caused 8th grader stress, family says By Kristen Kridel Tribune staff reporter Messages telling the West Side girl who disappeared last week to rest in peace were posted Saturday to a tree at the demolition site where a body was found a day earlier. love up there so in good said a pink poster crammed with notes. You will always be in my Police said they believe the body is that of Tashema Nero, 14, of the 1000 block of North St.

Louis Avenue. Police said they have notified her family, but officials at the Cook County medical office, which performed an autopsy, said the body had not been identified as of Saturday evening. Tattoos on the body matched said Monique Bond, director of news affairs for the Chicago Police Department. The medical office would not release the cause of death. Bond said tests need to be and the case still is a death investigation.

aunt and guardian, Gloria Nero Smith, said she is stressed not going work out. Smith said. Neighbors who watched Nero grow up said she always smiled when she passed them on the street, usually wearing a Walkman. Linda Harmon, a neighbor, said her granddaughter has been friends with the Cameron Elementary School student for years. was never disrespectful, just the sweetest little Harmon said.

Nero was last seen Wednesday morning, police said. Relatives reported her missing that night. saw her that morning and she was all dressed up right Harmon said. make it Coleman McDonagh co- owner of McDonagh Demolition, discovered the body while removing the basement of a fire- damaged house in the 800 block of North Homan Avenue, about four blocks from home. He saw a leg dangling from his excavator bucket.

body was all wrapped up in some kind of debris, maybe a rug or he said. The demolition site was littered with garbage and bricks Saturday afternoon. Neighbors stopped by the tree, which was decorated with ribbons, teddy bears and roses. Most said they know Nero, but wanted to pay their respects to her family. They each took a few minutes to read messages left by loved ones.

will be missed by said a poster signed in black marker by the Young family. walk, attitude, smile and presence will never be forgotten. May God be good to youand your death could never be justified, neighbors said. never did nothing to no said Marvell Langston, 12. Police believe body is Neighbors post notes to girl on tree at site Nero By James Kimberly Tribune staff reporter A massive ground search by more than 300 people failed to turn up any trace of a missing Plainfield woman, but it did turn up the remains of another person.

Plainfield Police Cmdr. Mike Altenhoff said the body of a 72- year-old man was discovered Saturday at 8500 Grove Rd. in unincorporated Kendall County. The death appeared to be a suicide, according to the Kendall County office. Kendall County authorities would not identify the man because his family had not been notified of his death.

Altenhoff said the investiga- tion into the disappearance of Lisa Stebic, 37, a mother of two, continues even though the field search of 4 square miles surrounding her Plainfield home has been completed. Seventy-five professionals and 285 volunteers on Saturday searched fields and wooded areas around home in the 13200 block of Red Star Drive. On Friday, divers searched retention ponds near the home. Stebic was last seen the evening of April 30. Her husband, Craig, told police he did not see her leave the house that day.

The couple livetogether but are divorcing. The Stebic family has offered a $20,000 reward. Tribune photo by Milbert O. Brown Volunteers Micah Adams (left) of Chicago and Debbie Ruttenberg of Hampshire search in a field for Lisa Stebic, 37, a mother of two from Plainfield who was last seen the evening of April 30. body found during search for missing woman By Dan P.

Blake, Mary Owen and Dave Wischnowsky Tribune staff reporters A massive extra-alarm fire erupted in a warehouse building on Northwest Side on Saturday afternoon, emitting black smoke visible for miles and halting several Metra trains in the area. The fire broke out about 5:25 in the 4100 block of North Knox Avenue, said Chicago Police Officer Tom Polick. By about 8 p.m., the fire was contained, but the roof of the building had collapsed. Four people were in the build- ing when the fire broke out, but all got out safely and no injuries were reported, said Chicago Fire Department Commissioner Raymond Orozco. The one-story factory building, owned by Chicago Imports, supplied materials to and had products stacked roughly 18 to 20 feet high, Orozco said.

Aerosol products in the building prompted a series of explosions, but the smoke from the fire was not toxic, Orozco said. Metra trains on the Milwaukee District North Line running from Chicago to Fox Lake were stopped on the line as firefighters ran hoses over the tracks, said Metra spokesman Tom Miller. Earlier, smoke from the fire could be seen as far away as Evanston to the north, Downers Grove to the west and neighborhoods across the city. The Fire Department response rose to a four-alarm, with more than 250 firefighters on the scene, Orozco said. just smoke said Ross Hudson, an employee at Taxicar Taxi on Knox Avenue about 10 blocks south of the site.

can see the smoke for miles. super The cause of the blaze was unclear Saturday evening. The building, in an industrial area, is several blocks from the Kennedy Expressway, but Illinois State Police said no expressway lanes were closed due to the fire. The fire did not affect CTA service other than causing a rerouting of the No. 18 Montrose bus, CTA spokeswoman Sheila Gregory said.

Tribune photo by E. Jason Wambsgans Bicyclists cross the Metra tracks over Irving Park Road near a warehouse fire Saturday in the 4100 block of North Knox Avenue. Massive, smoky fire engulfs warehouse Sources: ESRI, TeleAtlasChicago Tribune 90 90 94 94 90 Site of fire: 4150 N. Knox Ave. 1 2 MILE Chicago MAP AREA By Matthew Walberg Tribune staff reporter Chicago police on Saturday were questioning a teen who was seen on a CTA bus security camera when a 16-year-old boy was shot to death.

Police are considering the boy a of in connection with the murder of Blair Holt, a Julian High School student who was killed Thursday when a teenage gunman got onto an eastbound 103rd Street bus at Halsted Street and opened fire with a handgun. The boy being questioned was by police at a South Side sometime around noon on Saturday, said police spokeswoman Monique Bond. She declined to reveal how police found the boy. Bond said detectives were able to pull video from the Chicago Transit Authority curity cameras and that the vid- eo clearly showed the gunman. She would not say whether the person being questioned was the gunman seen on the video.

are several angles of surveillance tape that been able to She said the gunman was wearing a multicolored hooded sweat shirt or jacket with a camouflage or floral pattern. of the images were unbelievably clear, including facial Bond said. were able to quickly make an by showing employees of the school pictures and parts of the Bond said the gunman in the video is believed to be a student recently expelled from Julian. Also shot were four other students, a boy and three girls, who were treated at local hospitals. One had been discharged.

Police had said their injuries were not life-threatening. Cops question boy in fatal CTA bus shooting Product: CTMETRO PubDate: 05-13-2007 Zone: ALL Edition: BDOG Page: METSUNP3-3 User: sjnovak Time: Color:.