No change in 'Ripper Crew' member's scheduled release

ELMHURST – "Chicago Ripper Crew" member Thomas Kokoraleis is still scheduled to be released from prison Sept. 29.

"As for Mr. Kokoraleis, there is nothing new to report," DuPage County State's Attorney's Office spokesman Paul Darrah said in an email Sept. 18.

Under a 1998 law called the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act, the Illinois Attorney General's Office and DuPage County State's Attorney's Office have the opportunity to file a petition alleging Kokoraleis is a sexually violent person before or within 30 days of his release.

If there are no changes to the current schedule, Kokoraleis will be on parole until 2020.

Kokoraleis was convicted of the May 15, 1982, murder of Lorraine "Lorry" Ann Borowski, 21, of Elmhurst, after her abduction near a former location of RE/MAX at Route 83 and St. Charles Road in Elmhurst where she worked. Her remains were discovered Oct. 10, 1982, at the Clarendon Hills Cemetery in Darien, according to court documents. Her left breast was absent, and there was evidence that indicated trauma from an ice pick, documents state.

Kokoraleis was ultimately convicted of murder in Borowski's death and not rape, but the Ripper Crew was known for the abduction, rape, mutilation and murder of several women in cannibalistic rituals in the early 1980s in the Chicago area.

The "Ripper Crew" was made up of Kokoraleis, his brother Andrew Kokoraleis, Eddie Spreitzer and Robin Gecht. Andrew Kokoraleis was executed in March 1999. Spreitzer received a death sentence, which was commuted to life in prison by former Gov. George Ryan. Spreitzer is at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, and he is ineligible for discharge. Gecht is serving time at Menard Correctional Center in Menard, with a projected parole date of Oct. 13, 2042.

Borowski's brother, Matt Borowski, started a change.org petition to Gov. Bruce Rauner and Illinois Attorney General's Office Bureau Chief Joelle Marasco to ask that Kokoraleis not be released on parole. There were nearly 22,100 signatures on the petition as of Sept. 21.

Gloria Allred, a renowned civil rights attorney, recently joined the effort of the Borowski family to keep their loved one's murderer in custody after his projected parole date.