"Friend" guilty of Carol Stream girls murder

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http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=113232

 

Man guilty of murder

Jury doesn"t buy story of being too shocked to stop rape, slaying

 

By Christy Gutowski

Daily Herald Legal Affairs Writer

Posted Tuesday, November 01, 2005

 

Turner Reeves III said he was too paralyzed with terror to help a struggling 14-year-old girl fighting for her life as his friend raped, strangled and suffocated her.

 

His explanation Monday for why he did nothing to save Nassim Davoodi in the final horrific moments of the Carol Stream girl’s life failed to convince a jury he was innocent.

 

The panel deliberated for 4 1/2 hours before finding the Hanover Park man guilty of the aggravated kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of the Bartlett High School freshman after she accepted his offer of a ride home.

 

Another defendant, Skyler Chambers, 23, of Hayward, Calif., was convicted of the same charges in April. His sentencing hearing begins Nov. 17 in Rolling Meadows. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against both men.

 

The slain girl’s family said the two have earned it.

 

 

“They took the life of an innocent child,” Jamal Davoodi said Monday of his daughter’s killers. “There’s no words to call them. Even animals are better.”

 

Reeves, 25, showed no outward reaction at 8:30 p.m. Monday when the clerk read the guilty verdicts. He never looked out into the crowded gallery where his family and that of Nassim’s sat on opposite sides of the courtroom.

 

His mother wiped tears from her eyes, trembling at the reality her son will most likely never be a free man again. The slain girl’s parents also wept with relief and sorrow for their reality — that the gregarious, raven-haired girl who loved to sing was gone forever.

 

They thanked the prosecutors and Carol Stream police officers, including lead detective Kelly Lally, who worked to bring Nassim home and, later, to find her killers.

 

Nassim vanished May 31, 2002, after classes let out. Her friend later told police she last saw Nassim near their bus stop accepting a ride home with the two men and a 16-year-old classmate, who is Reeves’ cousin.

 

They were supposed to go to the mall or a park. Instead, Reeves drove to his parents’ house, where he parked his Toyota Camry in the garage. Authorities said the men strangled and suffocated Nassim with pillows after they took turns raping her. Evidence also indicates the girl put up a desperate 10-minute struggle.

 

Reeves testified Monday that it was Chambers who attacked Nassim while he, too panicked to act, sat in disbelief. He did admit holding down Nassim’s arm while Chambers suffocated her, but said it was only to keep her from scratching so his friend would calm down.

 

“Really, I didn’t know what to do,” Reeves told the jury. “It wasn’t something I expected. It was shocking to see what was going on. I was terrified.”

 

He denied taking part in either the sexual assault or the murder, but forensic experts said they linked him to the rape through DNA after finding both men’s semen in Nassim’s body.

 

The defense team, Michael Clancy and Leland Shalgos, questioned the reliability of the DNA evidence. They also noted it was Chambers, not Reeves, who had scratch marks.

 

The case was prosecuted by Jane Radostits, a deputy chief of the DuPage County state’s attorneys criminal bureau, and Cook County prosecutors Tom Byrne and Steve Rosenblum. They argued the evidence was overwhelming.

 

Rosenblum told jurors it was Nassim, not Reeves, who was terrified that day.

 

“He has no idea what panic is,” the prosecutor said. “Panic is a child alone in the back seat of a car in a dark garage with two grown men violating her while she’s trying to get one last gasp of breath.”

 

Both men admitted burying Nassim in a shallow grave near Long Grove. The jury also found Reeves guilty of concealment of a homicide.

 

Police worked around the clock to find Nassim after her parents reported her missing by 9 p.m. May 31, 2002. Family and friends posted fliers during their frantic five-day search.

 

Detectives interviewed the 16-year-old classmate, Chambers and Reeves that weekend but initially let them go. They didn’t deny talking to Nassim, but they said she left them to go with two men in a white Buick. Police kept Reeves’ home under surveillance.

 

Authorities got a break in the case days later on June 3, 2002, when the classmate told police he hadn’t been truthful. He testified he lied at Reeves’ behest.

 

Back in custody, both men pinned the crime on each other during videotaped interrogations. Fourth-eight hours later, Reeves led them to Nassim, buried in a fetal position in a tiny grave.

 

She is now buried at a Wheaton cemetery. At her funeral, her parents remembered how their youngest child loved to sing.

 

“I’m just glad it’s over,” her mother, Juanita Davoodi, said. “I was very, very nervous, but finally I have justice for Nassim. She can rest in peace now.”

 

Both defendants opted to have Cook County Judge Joseph Urso decide their punishment rather than leaving it in a jury’s hands. A sentencing date has not been scheduled for Reeves.