GUILTY PLEAS IN TWO 2006 MURDER CASES

Neil Lofquist and Bradley Justice each plead guilty

WHEATON – DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett announced today two men, accused of murder in separate cases, have each entered a plea of guilty to First Degree Murder.  Neil J. Lofquist, 44, (d.o.b. 3/30/1965), formerly of Clarendon Hills entered a plea of guilty but mentally ill this morning to one count of First Degree Murder in front of Judge Blanche Fawell for the murder of his eight-year-old daughter Lauren.  Bradley Justice, 31, (d.o.b. 10/31/1977), formerly of Sandwich, IL,  entered a blind plea of guilty this afternoon to one count of First Degree Murder in front of Judge Peter Dockery for the murder forty one year-old Karen Hassan of St. Charles.

On March 26, 2006, at approximately 10 p.m. Clarendon Hills Police responded to a 9-1-1 call for assistance to a young girl at the Lofquist’s home.  Upon their arrival at the residence, police discovered the deceased body of Lauren Lofquist.  Lauren had been strangled, drowned in a bathroom toilet and stabbed in the neck.  An investigation into Lauren’s death led to murder charges against her father Neil.  Upon accepting Lofquist’s plea, Judge Fawell sentenced Lofquist to one hundred years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.  In addition, Lofquist will be required to serve 100% of his sentence.

On November 2, 2006, at approximately 8:35 p.m. Karen Hassan, an employee of a St. Charles restaurant left to deliver a pizza in unincorporated West Chicago.  After she failed to return from the delivery, the restaurant’s manager became concerned and contacted Hassan’s family to see if they had heard from her.  Not having heard from Hassan, the family filed a missing person report with the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office.  At approximately 1 a.m. that night, responding to the missing person’s report, Sheriff’s Deputies searched the area of Hassan’s delivery and found her severely beaten body under a truck.  An investigation in Hassan’s death led detectives to Bradley Justice who was apprehended in a hotel in Tuscola, IL late the next evening.

   “These two brutal crimes are just gut-wrenching,” commented Birkett.  “In one case, a hard-working single mother is violently taken from her family for pizza delivery money.  In the Lofquist case, a beautiful eight year old girl is viciously murdered by her own father.  There is nothing we can do to reunite these victims with their loved ones.  The sentence Neil Lofquist received today however provides closure and ensures that he will never see another day of freedom as long as he lives.  I would like to thank the Clarendon Hills Police Department for their work on the Neil Lofquist case as well as DuPage County Sherriff John Zaruba and his staff for their work on the Bradley Justice case.”

Justice’s next court appearance is scheduled for April 21 at 1:30 p.m. for return of a pre-sentencing report.

###