16 | CHICAGO SUN-TIMES | MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2011

WHO KILLED DAVID KOSCHMAN? | A WATCHDOGS INVESTIGATION

KOSCHMAN WITNESS HAD PRIOR RUN-INS WITH POLICE

McCarthys lies may have delayed probe involving Daley nephew
BY TIM NOVAK AND CHRIS FUSCO
Staff Reporters

The man who lied to the police twice and, as a result, may have delayed the investigation into the violent death of David Koschman had six prior run-ins with the law in Chicago, Ohio and Wisconsin. Among Kevin D. McCarthys arrests was one that accused him of a drunken battery of a cabdriver exactly two years before he, his wife and two friends Craig Denham and Richard J. R.J. Vanecko, a nephew of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley got into a drunken confrontation with Koschman in the Rush Street area in the early-morning hours of April 25, 2004, that led to Koschmans death 11 days later from brain injuries. As Koschman lay unconscious in the street after being punched in the face, the police handcuffed McCarthy. Thats when he told them his first lie that he didnt know the two men who ran away after Koschman was punched. Hours later, he repeated the lie, when detectives came to his house, the Chicago Sun-Times has previously reported. McCarthy talked to the police three times within the month after Koschman was punched more than

Richard J. R.J. Vanecko

anybody else involved in the case. And he told them two very different stories about what had happened that night. Detectives accepted the second version, in which both McCarthy changed his original story and now agreed with his wife, Bridget Higgins McCarthy, that they did, in fact, know the men whod run off. They identified them as Vanecko and Denham. Both McCarthys said that they didnt see who hit Koschman, though. Theres nothing in any of the dozens of police reports in Koschmans case that indicates detectives ever questioned Kevin McCarthy about his conflicting stories or about his prior arrests, which included two busts in Chicago. McCarthy

was never convicted in any of those cases. He and his lawyer couldnt be reached for comment. Nobody has ever been charged in Koschmans death, which the Chicago Police Department finally concluded this year seven years after it happened resulted from a single punch thrown by Vanecko. I knew he was arrested before, Ronald E. Yawger, the since-retired police detective who investigated Koschmans homicide, says of McCarthy. But I didnt look into the circumstances. It had nothin to do with nothin. Yawger says he didnt know about McCarthys arrest for pushing a cabdriver, during a night out drinking, at 4:20 a.m. on April 25, 2002. The cabbie didnt show up in court, and the charges against McCarthy were dismissed. At the time of the confrontation that led to Koschmans death, McCarthy had an arrest record on file with the Chicago Police and with the FBI that included the battery charge involving the cabdriver and a 2000 case in which McCarthy was charged with illegal possession of an unloaded shotgun during a traffic stop, records show. As with the 2002 arrest, the gun charges against McCarthy were dropped. McCarthy, now 39, grew

up in Deerfield. His father once ran Zenith Electronics. McCarthy and Vanecko both graduated from Loyola Academy high school in Wilmette. McCarthy graduated in 1991, Vanecko the following year. Until the recent police disclosure of McCarthys arrest record, Vanecko, now 37, was the only other person involved in the 2004 confrontation known to have had a criminal past. When he was 17, Vanecko and his cousin, Patrick Daley, then 16, were involved in a brawl at a party on March 1, 1992, at the summer home in Grand Beach, Mich., of Daleys father, the longtime mayor, who left office earlier this year. Vanecko pointed a 20-gauge shotgun at a group of people as one of Patrick Daleys classmates struck another teen in the head with a baseball bat, according to a lawsuit that was settled in 1995 on undisclosed terms. Vanecko pleaded guilty to aiming a firearm without malice and possession of alcohol, and the mayors son pleaded guilty to furnishing alcohol to minors and disturbing the peace. Each was fined and put on probation. When the Sun-Times asked for records in the Koschman case earlier this year, police reinvestigated and concluded that the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Vanecko threw

Kevin D. McCarthy, in a 2002 Chicago Police photo

the only punch, hitting the 5-foot-5, 140-pound Koschman in the face. ran away, jumping into a cab and heading to a bar, according to police reports. The McCarthys told the police they kept walking, heading east on Division. Two of Koschmans friends flagged down a cop, who was told that Kevin McCarthy

McCarthys first story

As Koschman lay on Division west of Dearborn around 3:15 a.m. on April 25, 2004, Vanecko and Denham

MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2011 | CHICAGO SUN-TIMES | 17

MCCARTHYS ARRESTS
Heres a rundown of the arrest record of Kevin D. McCarthy, who lied to the police about his role in the confrontation on Division Street on April 25, 2004, that ended with 21-year-old David Koschman of Mount Prospect mortally injured: April 25, 2002: McCarthy, then 29, and another man, Scott Cooper, were arrested at 4:20 a.m. in the 1700 block of West Armitage, accused of refusing to pay their cab fare and then attacking the driver, who was punched in the eye by Cooper and pushed by McCarthy, according to Chicago Police Department reports. The police observed McCarthy staggering and shouting obscenities f--- you, yuppies in the middle of the street, disrupting the flow of traffic, according to the reports. McCarthy ran to the squad car, knocked on passenger window and started laughing. McCarthy was arrested and taken to the Shakespeare District police lockup, where police reports say he was urinating on floor, agitated & uncooperative, refuses to be printed. McCarthy was charged with battery, theft of services and disorderly conduct. But the cabdriver failed to show up in court three weeks later, and the Cook County states attorneys office dismissed all charges against McCarthy and Cooper. July 22, 2000: McCarthy, then 27, was cited for possession of marijuana while attending a Jimmy Buffett concert at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin according, to the Walworth County, Wis., sheriffs office. April 19, 2000: Police found an unregistered, unloaded shotgun on the front Kevin D. McCarthy, seat of McCarthys Nissan Pathfinder in a 2000 Chicago after an officer stopped him at 7:40 p.m. for allegedly making an improper Police photo left turn at Armitage and Damen. McCarthy, then 27, had no drivers license, proof of insurance or a firearm owners identification card. The states attorneys office declined to charge McCarthy with any felonies, according to Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for Cook County States Attorney Anita Alvarez. The reasons that were listed are that the defendant had no previous convictions; the defendant said he was using it for hunting purposes; it was in a case and it had a trigger lock. McCarthy was charged with a misdemeanor for failing to register the shotgun with the city of Chicago, but a judge dismissed the case and ordered the gun returned. Jan. 2, 2000: McCarthy, then 27, was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated, possession of marijuana and driving on a suspended license after a police officer saw him drive his car into a ditch at 2:40 a.m. on a rural highway in Crandon, Wis., according to a police report. The Forest County, Wis., courts have no records to show what happened to the case. January 1995: McCarthy, then 22, was arrested by police in Dayton, Ohio, on a traffic warrant that had been issued on Dec. 5, 1994, for failing to pay a $113 fine for a traffic ticket he got in June. Nov. 3, 1994: McCarthy, then 21, was charged with public indecency in Dayton. The charge later was amended to disorderly conduct, and McCarthy paid a $73 fine. See the arrest reports at SUNTIMES.COM/NEWS/WATCHDOGS

David Koschman left Bar Chicago, now called Detention, before being struck on April 25, 2004.
had been involved in the altercation and knew the men who ran. According to police reports, when asked, Kevin McCarthy stated he didnt know who the other subjects were and was later released by the police. him away, he turned around and saw the victim on the ground, OLeary wrote, recounting what McCarthy told her. OLearys report doesnt say whether she and her partner asked McCarthy if he knew the two men who ran away a relationship that patrol Officer Edwin Tremore noted in his original report hours earlier. Theres also no indication that detectives tried to interview McCarthys wife, who is the daughter of developer Jack Higgins, whose projects have included building the headquarters of the Chicago Police Department and the FBIs Chicago regional headquarters. Jack Higgins and his wife are friends with former Mayor Daley and have contributed to his political campaigns. William Dwyer, she became the first person to identify Vanecko and Denham as the two men whod run off after Koschman was punched. Bridget McCarthy told the police that she, her husband, Vanecko and Denham had been at an engagement party and decided to take a cab to Butch McGuires. She and Denham got out and began walking on Division while her husband and Vanecko paid the cab fare. As they passed Koschmans group, she said, Koschman reached up and flicked Denhams glasses, which led the two men to argue, push and shove each other. The groups were parting, she said, when Koschman ran back, and the pushing, shoving and namecalling resumed between Koschman and Denham. Bridget McCarthy said her group had begun walking away again when she turned around and saw Koschman on the ground and Vanecko and Denham gone.

| SUN-TIMES LIBRARY

McCarthys second story

Later that morning, detectives Rita OLeary and Robert Clemens went to the McCarthy home. Kevin McCarthy told them he and his wife had taken a cab to Division Street to meet his wifes friend, Megan McDonald, at Butch McGuires tavern. At the time, McDonald, now 35, worked for the Chicago Park District as the agencys lakefront director. She later served as Daleys specialevents director. McCarthy told detectives that, as he and his wife walked on the sidewalk, they observed two groups of men arguing and that the younger men Koschmans group appeared to be the aggressors. McCarthy said that one of the younger men pushed another man into his wife. He told them that he got pushed, too. As his wife was pulling

tives at Area 3. This time, he backed up his wifes account, adding that he and Vanecko were trying to calm things down by getting in between Craig and the group of kids and pushing Craig away, trying to get some separation between themselves and the group, according to police reports. Mr. McCarthy states that Richard had Craig calmed down, and, as far as he was concerned, the whole incident was over, the police wrote. The group began walking east on Division Street. After about 10 to 15 paces with Bridget, McCarthy turned and observed the kid who had been the aggressive one (Koschman) in this incident lying in the street.

McCarthy sticks to his story

Earlier this year, McCarthy instructed his wife not to say anything to detectives when two detectives visited the McCarthy home on Jan. 24 during their reinvestigation of the case. McCarthy told the detectives he would stand by the third story he told police on May 19, 2004, and the interview was concluded.

McCarthys wifes story

On May 13, 2004 18 days after the confrontation on Division Street and seven days after Koschman died detectives interviewed Bridget McCarthy at Area 3 police headquarters at Belmont and Western. Accompanied by her attorney,

McCarthys third story

Six days later, on May 19, 2004, Kevin McCarthy changed his story when he and Dwyer met with detec-