Sept. 24--Almost 13 years after a teenage Brian Carrick disappeared, the only person ever to be convicted in his presumed death walked out of prison Wednesday.
Mario Casciaro was found guilty in 2013 of first-degree murder by intimidation in the Johnsburg teen's disappearance, though the boy's body was never found. But last week, an appeals court overturned that conviction and signed an order for Casciaro to walk free from Menard Correctional Center near St. Louis.
Casciaro emerged from the prison around midday Wednesday to a busload of family members and friends and a row of TV cameras. Supporters donned T-shirts reading "Free at last" on the front and "Game over: no appeal" on the back and cheered and gave hugs as Casciaro joined the crowd.
Speaking briefly to the media, Casciaro, 32, said his release proves that justice can be served. He said he was looking forward to his first meal outside prison and, in response to a comment from a supporter about his youthful appearance, said he had shaved for the occasion, for the first time in two years.
McHenry County prosecutors tried Casciaro twice before convincing a jury that he was responsible for Carrick's presumed murder. Authorities alleged that Casciaro, then 19, ordered another man, Shane Lamb, to confront Carrick about a pot-dealing debt he owed Casciaro.
Lamb testified that he punched 17-year-old Carrick in the walk-in cooler of Val's Foods, where all three worked, and that Carrick fell to the ground bleeding.
But the appeals court ruled that Lamb's testimony was unreliable. Lamb is now in prison on an unrelated weapons offense. The court's strongly worded ruling called the state's evidence against Casciaro "so unreasonable, improbable and unsatisfactory that a reasonable doubt exists."
The case has received national attention and was divisive in the small community near the Wisconsin line, where Carrick came from a large, well-known family.
Authorities have said they will appeal the case to a higher court.
Casciaro's attorney, Kathleen Zellner, said she was confident the state Supreme Court would either decline to hear the case or concur with the 2nd District Appellate Court that tossed out Casciaro's conviction.
Freelance reporter Sid Hastings contributed.
