Feb. 11--A Cook County judge agreed to a prosecutor's request to toss out the conviction of a man who has spent nearly 30 years in prison for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in south suburban Park Forest in 1984.
The development could mean that Christopher Abernathy, a teenager when the crime was committed, will walk free from Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet, where he has been serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Cook County State's Attorney's Anita Alvarez said in a news release that "newly developed evidence" prompted the decision.
Her Conviction Integrity Unit investigated his claim of innocence in the rape and stabbing of Kristina Hickey, a Rich East High School sophomore whose body was found in the bushes outside a Park Forest shopping center.
DNA evidence indicated the girl was sexually assaulted by a man who hasn't been identified, said his lawyer, Lauren Kaeseberg, a staff attorney at the Illinois Innocence Project, which is based at the University of Illinois-Springfield. The key witness against Abernathy recanted, Kaeseberg said.
"Our client has maintained he was innocent of this horrendous crime from the moment he was arrested in 1985. He has fought to clear his name for the last three decades and his family, who never stopped believing in him, is elated to bring him home today," Kaeseberg said. "He was only 17 years old at the time this crime occurred, and 18 years old when he was arrested. He has been through an unimaginable ordeal, but we are so thankful that justice has finally arrived for Mr. Abernathy."
Abernathy's mother, Ann Kolus, has always maintained his innocence and visited him weekly in prison. She has serious health issues and Wednesday's events fulfilled her wish to live to see her son cleared, Kaeseberg said. Kolus was in court Wednesday when Judge Frank Zelezinski agreed to vacate her son's conviction.
On the night of Oct. 3, 1984, Hickey walked to her high school wearing a pink and white dress to perform at a choir concert, according to court records. She was supposed to come home immediately after the concert but never did.
Her body was found in the bushes near a Marshall Field's store Oct. 5. Her clothes were torn and she had stab wounds to the chest and her throat had been slashed, court records show.
Abernathy, of Midlothian, was not charged for more than a year after the slaying. Witnesses at trial said Abernathy, who'd dated Hickey, made strange comments at her funeral. One of his friends eventually came forward and told police that Abernathy, who was 17 when the crime was committed, had confessed to him that he killed the girl, according to court records.
Abernathy later told authorities he approached her as she walked home, tried to have sex with her and accidentally killed her with a butterfly knife, according to court records.
At sentencing, Judge Ronald Crane castigated Abernathy, according to Tribune archives. The judge said he would usually be lenient for a first offense but that the crime was so heinous it merited a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
