Carjacker Gets 45 Years After Running Over 88-Year-Old Man
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A carjacker who ran over a senior citizen after stealing his car outside a Southwest Side Walgreens was sentenced Tuesday to 45 years in prison.
"We're happy this has come to an end. It's been very difficult," Jacint Calderazzo's grandson Ryan Dykes, 33, said after Kenneth Starr was sentenced on first-degree murder and aggravated vehicular carjacking charges.
Starr, 36, was convicted in a bench trial before Judge James Obbish in April.
Dykes' mother, Carmine Calderazzo had made a quick pit stop at a Walgreens store to buy some chewing gum for her 88-year-old father on Sept. 7, 2008 when she found him sprawled on the pharmacy's parking lot at 5018 S. Cicero.
The father and daughter were on their way to Midway Airport where the octogenarian was to pick up his fiancée.
Prosecutors said the Valparaiso, Ind., man, had apparently been moving a box of magazines from the back seat of the car to make room for his fiancee when Starr pushed him, jumped into the Buick, backed the car and slammed Calderazzo into a mini-van.
Calderazzo and his fiancée reunited two years prior when she called to let him know about the death of a mutual friend in their native Pennsylvania. It was to be their second chance at love. He had proposed the prior Thanksgiving and 79-year-old Lillian Beattie had accepted.
Carmine Calderazzo still feels guilt over the incident, her son said. She did not come to court Tuesday, which may have been for the best, said Dykes, who shared a love of golf and flying with his grandfather.
Starr was arrested two days after the incident during a traffic stop. He had several of Calderazzo's credit cards in his possession, the state's attorney's office said.
Starr, who apologized for his actions Tuesday, has prior convictions for battery, narcotics and home invasion.
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