THE ISSUE: The never-ending, twisted Brian Dugan case

OUR VIEW: Dugan left his mark on La Salle County and nagging questions for us all to ponder



Brian Dugan is a name that should be known to La Salle County. He's a killer, and is now headed for Death Row.

For years the headlines have focused on his 1983 rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville.

On June 2, 1985, before he was tied to the Nicarico attack, he left a scar on the town of Somonauk — in our backyard.

He grabbed 7-year-old Melissa Ackerman off a street in that small town and drove away with her. An intensive search failed to find the young girl. Then her nude body was found about two weeks later in our county, under some rocks, submerged in water. She had been raped and drowned.

Melissa's murder was a shocking reminder to this area and the small towns that dot this county. Never assume the streets are safe. Watch your children. Lock your doors.

Melissa was not alone that day. She was riding bikes with her 8-year-old friend Opal Horton. They had been playing on the school playground nearby. Horton was close, extremely close to also being a Dugan victim. But she escaped, and the 32-year-old mother of two teenage boys became another voice in Dugan's sentencing hearing this week.

"Just being so young and still a child, I thought growing up that he was a monster," she told a reporter for the Daily Herald. "Like he was bigger than life, but he's nothing. He is nothing."

Horton told a Chicago Tribune reporter her emotionally-charged testimony changed her.

"I do feel empowered," she said. "Seeing him face to face, letting him know that there were survivors and he can't control everything — yes, I do feel empowered."

Those watching this case like to feel there is some kind of closure now, after countless years. (And the court action is not over. A jury condemned the 53-year-old Dugan to death but automatic appeals will delay his end at least eight years, not to mention the current moratorium on the death penalty instituted by former Gov. George Ryan.)

There's a lot more to the Dugan case than Melissa Ackerman and Jeanine Nicarico. A lot more, including two innocent men condemned to death for the Nicarico murder. They were later freed and seven law enforcement officers were indicted — and then acquitted.

Such turmoil caused by a man lacking humanity, a psychopath, plus a justice system that stumbled over itself.

For those directly impacted by Dugan and a system that failed, there will never be real closure. Also putting Brian Dugan in the ground or even behind bars forever, will not erase the nagging questions that remain for all of us:

Why does it take so long to determine guilt and deliver justice?

And do we really have a system that can be trusted to punish the truly guilty and protect the innocent?