Laskowski sentenced to 40 years for murder

Eric Laskowski was sentenced Tuesday afternoon to 40 years in prison for the 2005 murder of 23-year-old Frank Riccardi Jr.

Laskowski pleaded guilty last year to one charge of first-degree murder, which is punishable by 20 to 60 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Police believe that Laskowski met Riccardi near a rural Kirkland field between midnight and 2 a.m. Oct. 7, 2005, to sell marijuana. Riccardi was robbed of $1,900 and was killed at or just after 2 a.m., police have said. The murder weapon, which investigators believed to be an aluminum baseball bat, never has been found.

Laskowski, now 24 and from Kirkland, was taken into custody on the same day Riccardi's battered body was found in the field. His initial $3 million bail was revoked.