jessekarjalainen/iStock(CHICAGO) — Thomas Kokoraleis — a suspected member of Chicago’s “Ripper Crew” who went to prison for a woman’s 1982 murder — is now a free man.
Kokoraleis, 58, was released from Illinois Department of Corrections custody Friday morning, Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lindsey Hess told ABC News in an email.
“Kokoraleis completed his maximum sentence required by law and is no longer under IDOC supervision,” Hess said, adding, “Kokoraleis will have to register on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry.”
Kokoraleis was sentenced to life in prison for the 1982 murder of 21-year-old Lorraine “Lorry” Ann Borowski. Borowski was abducted in broad daylight while walking from her apartment to work, according to The Chicago Tribune.
However, his conviction was “overturned based on the court improperly refusing to admit confessions of the co-defendants,” a spokesman for the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office told ABC News.
Kokoraleis then in 1987 agreed to a 70-year plea deal.
“At the time, the law required the person incarcerated to get day for day credit for time served. That’s no longer the case, but at the time it was,” the spokesman said, so Kokoraleis served 35 years.
Kokoraleis was also given mandatory supervised release which he served in the Department of Corrections because it appeared he had nowhere to live, the spokesman said, so he served another 1.5 years.
The Borowski family and attorney Gloria Allred are expected to address his release at a Friday afternoon news conference.
“We fought as hard as we could,” Borowski’s brother, Mark Borowski told the Tribune. “I cannot even imagine someone like this could get out.”
“I thought he was going to be in prison until I died,” the victim’s mother, Lorraine Borowski, told the Tribune.
One alleged Ripper Crew member has been executed and the other two remain in prison, according to the Tribune.
Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.