One of Chicago's most notorious convicted murderers, a member of the Satanic group the Ripper Crew, is now living in Peoria.
Thomas Kokoraleis, 64, informed the Peoria Police Department in May that he would be living in Peoria at the Peoria Pathway Ministries, formerly Peoria Rescue Ministries, at 601 Adams Street in Downtown Peoria.
Kokoraleis is not on parole, which means he is not subject to 24-hour monitoring by an ankle monitor, but Peoria Police Chief Eric Echevarria told the Journal Star he is required to check in with the police department quarterly.
Echevarria said Kokoraleis last checked in at the Peoria Police Department on Aug. 1. He originally arrived in Peoria from Aurora and checked in with the Peoria Police Department on May 2.
"I can tell you that when he came here, I did speak with the previous agency that he came from and they never, in the time he was there, had any issues with him," Echevarria said.
Kokoraleis is a registered sex offender with the Peoria Police Department, Peoria County Sheriff's Department and Illinois State Police.
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What crimes did Thomas Kokoraleis commit?
Kokoraleis spent 35 years in prison for his role in the crimes committed by the Ripper Crew in the early 1980s. The group kidnapped, raped and mutilated up to 20 women, prosecutors said, according to USA Today.
Kokoraleis was convicted of killing Linda Sutton and 21-year-old Lorry Borowski, a real estate worker who was raped and mutilated in Chicago in 1982.
Despite confessing to police that he had played a role in the two slayings, Kokoraleis later recanted his confession, claiming he was coerced by police and ultimately admitted to being present for the murders.
Police said that Kokoraleis, along with his older brother Andrew Kokoraleis and Edward Spreitzer and Robin Gecht, raped, murdered, mutilated and, in some cases, ate their victims as part of gruesome satanic rituals in the Chicagoland area in the early 1980s.
Prosecutors said that the Ripper Crew would stalk their victims in the Chicagoland area and torture them by cutting off one or both of their breasts, before sexually abusing and murdering them with knives and axes, according to USA Today.
Kokoraleis also told investigators that the attic of the group's ringleader, Robin Gecht, was the site of satanic rituals that included cannibalism.
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Ripper Crew sentences
Thomas Kokoraleis was sentenced to life in prison for his part in the Borowski killing but had his original conviction thrown out due to a legal error. He then pleaded guilty to Borowski's killing and was re-sentenced to 70 years in prison.
However, Kokoraleis only served 35 years of his 70-year sentence due to good behavior while in prison. Guidelines in Illinois at the time of his sentencing rewarded inmates, even violent felons, for good behavior and that led to his prison time being cut in half, according to USA Today.
Andrew Kokoraleis was sentenced to death for his part in the crimes and was executed by lethal injection in 1999. He was the last person executed in Illinois before the state's death penalty moratorium.
Spreitzer was sentenced to death as well but had his sentence commuted by former Illinois Gov. George Ryan along with other Illinois death row inmates. He instead is serving life in prison.
Gecht is serving a 120-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of raping and mutilating a prostitute who lived to tell the tale and directed investigators to Gecht. He was the only member of the Ripper Crew not to confess to the murders.
Thomas Kokoraleis was released from the Illinois River Correctional Centerin Canton in 2019 and lived at Wayside Cross Ministries in Aurora for two years, much to the outrage of Aurora residents, including Mayor Richard Irvin.
In a teary interview with the Chicago Tribune in 2019, Kokoraleis told the newspaper that he was a man trying to change his life and "wanted to be left alone."
“I want to be a better Christian. And I will do my best to become a productive member of society,” Kokoraleis told the Tribune in 2019. “I will not be a threat to Aurora and their citizens. I swear to that. I am willing to work hard to change my ways.”
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