Shooting victim describes deadly Channahon home invasion

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Jason Orasco

Updated: March 17, 2012 10:26AM

JOLIET — A woman said she recognized the distinctive cough of one of the men who shot her and her boyfriend in the head at their Channahon apartment three years ago.

Prosecutors say Lauren Vasilakis, then 19, and Joshua Terdic, 21, were sleeping in their bed early July 7, 2009, when Jason S. Orasco, 27, and Matthew Edwards came in to rob their residence on Blackberry Lane.

Vasilakis survived the gunshot wound and notified police, but Terdic died 10 days later.

Edwards, who was 17 at the time of the attack, is said to be the actual triggerman, but Orasco began trial Wednesday on charges of murder, attempted murder, home invasion and aggravated battery for his alleged accountability in planning and participating in the crime.

Vasilakis was the first witness to testify. She said she was awoken when Orasco pulled her naked from the bed, put his arm around her throat and backed up with her against a wall.

“He said ‘This is Lauren’ … and after speaking, he coughed, not like you do when you have a cold, but like a tick. I knew instantly who it was — Jason Orasco,” Vasilakis said.

Vasilakis testified she had once been close friends with Orasco’s sister and had known him for 10 years.

“I remembered (the cough) because it was real annoying,” she said.

Orasco was reportedly wearing a black ski mask and said little inside the couple’s bedroom. When Terdic refused to lie still, Orasco hit his knee with a wood baseball bat the men had brought with them.

Vasilakis said Edwards, who was not masked, gave Orasco the gun when he went to look for money and marijuana in other rooms and again when he came back to tie up the couple.

Edwards reportedly straddled Terdic and shot him in the head before doing the same to Vasilakis. She “played dead” until the intruders left, struggled out of her bonds and ran to a neighbor’s apartment to call 911.

Several Channahon police officers also testified Wednesday, including Officers Matt Brooks and Mike Lazzari, who ticketed Mary Vetor, 26, and Ashley Hill, 19, for smoking pot in a pickup truck parked outside the apartments at the time.

While searching the vehicle, Lazarri found Orasco’s wallet.

Vetor and Hill left, and picked up the two men at a nearby cabin a few hours after the home invasion. The four went back to Vetor’s house in Joliet Township where they were arrested later that afternoon after Vasilakis identified Orasco and police linked him to Vetor’s truck.

At the end of Wednesday’s proceedings, the jury watched a video of Will County detectives Denise Powers and Daniel Troike interviewing Orasco.

Orasco admitted to going into the apartment, hitting Terdic with the bat and holding the gun on the couple while they were being tied up, but said Edwards and Vetor planned the robbery and he “went along for fear of (his) life.”

“(Before shooting them) Matt asked me what we should do. I said, ‘They can’t stay alive. They’ll snitch.’ But I wasn’t saying it to mean it,” Orasco told the detectives.

Orasco refers to Terdic as his best friend three times during the interview. When Powers announces the interview is done, Orasco distinctly coughs two times.

Edwards is awaiting trial on the same charges.

Vetor was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to 61 years in prison last year.

After agreeing to testify against the other suspects, Ashley Hill pleaded guilty to home invasion only and received an 11-year sentence.

Hill will be the first witness to testify Thursday. Attorneys for both sides expect the case will go to the jury Friday.