Man gets 90 years in prison for Channahon slaying
By Brian Stanley bstanley@stmedianetwork.com February 27, 2013 2:09PM
Matthew T. Edwards
Updated: April 1, 2013 11:50AM
The man who shot a Channahon couple during a 2009 home invasion might get out of prison if he lives to be 100.
Matthew T. Edwards, 20, was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years in prison for the murder of Joshua Terdic and 40 years for the attempted murder of Lauren Vasilakis. The sentences will be served consecutively. With credit for time spent in jail, Edwards will first be eligible for parole in 81 years.
Early on July 7, 2009, Edwards and Jason Orasco broke into Terdic and Vasilakis’ Blackberry Lane apartment to rob the couple. After tying them up, Orasco, a longtime friend of the couple, told an unmasked Edwards they couldn’t be left alive or “they’ll snitch.”
“I’m going to shoot you both. I’m going to walk out of here and laugh about it and I’ll never think about you again,” Edwards told them, according to trial testimony.
Edwards straddled Terdic and Orasco on the bed and shot them both in the head. Vasilakis, then 19, survived and was able to free herself and call police while Terdic later died from his injuries.
Orasco and Mary Vetor, who provided the gun and transportation for the intruders, previously have been convicted of murder and are serving sentences of 75 and 61 years, respectively. Ashley Hill, who accompanied the group and waited with Vetor in a nearby vehicle, agreed to testify against the others in exchange for pleading guilty to home invasion and receiving an 11-year sentence.
Edwards appeared relaxed while waiting for Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak to begin Wednesday’s proceedings, laughing as one nearby court deputy joked with another about an off-duty injury. He did not make a statement before being sentenced.
But Vasilakis did and said the man who shot her epitomized “the face of evil.”
“When I looked into his eyes (that morning) I didn’t see any hint of compassion or empathy. I saw black holes that led to something dark inside of him,” she said. “You said you’d never think of me again? I promise you’re going to remember me for the rest of your life.”
After Edwards was taken from the courtroom, Vasilakis and Terdic’s family expressed relief the trials of “The Channahon Four” have concluded.
“Whatever the judge said ... 90 years, life, the electric chair. Nothing’s going to bring my brother back,” Terdic’s brother Joseph Hughes said.
