Original article no longer available
By Dan Petrella, Suburban Life Publications, dpetrella@mysuburbanlife.com
Thu Jan 15, 2009, 11:42 AM CST
Westmont, IL – A Westmont man is being held without bail after being charged in the November stabbing death of his father at their home.
Rostyslav Demtsyo, 28, was arrested this week after being released from the hospital, where he had been since the day of the murder.
Next court date Tuesday
Demtsyo appeared in a wheelchair in DuPage County Circuit Court on Thursday, where prosecutors asked Judge Blanche Hill Fawell to revoke his bail and order a psychological evaluation. Fawell declined to rule on the requests because the case is assigned to another judge, who was not on the bench Thursday, but she ordered him held without bail until a Tuesday hearing.
Westmont police were called to a home on the 200 block of North Wilmette Avenue at about 9:15 p.m. Nov. 19 for a fight on the driveway.
When the first officer arrived a few minutes later, Demtsyo had already left, police said.
His 53-year-old father, Oleg, was found laying in the driveway with multiple stab wounds. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.
Another Westmont officer spotted Demtsyo’s silver Dodge Stratus driving south on Cass Avenue near 55th Street.
Demtsyo then led police on a high-speed chase that ended in a three-car collision at 73rd Street and Cass Avenue in Darien. Four people were injured, including Demtsyo.
His mother, Irina, said in an interview that her son had been taking antidepressants and regularly seeing a doctor for depression since about 2002.
In the weeks leading up to the stabbing, Demtyso had seemed tired at work, she said, but he did not have a history of violent outbursts.
On the night of the stabbing, she said she had gone upstairs to change clothes when she heard her husband scream, “He’s killing me. He’s stabbing me,” from outside of the house. She said she opened her window that looks out over the driveway and saw her son drive away.
Staff writer Annie Reed contributed to this report.
Original article no longer available
Rostyslav Demtsyo killed his dad, fleeing police — (The Daily Herald)
A man is accused of fatally stabbing his father, then sparking a crash with other motorists two months ago while fleeing police in Westmont.
Prosecutors this week charged Rostyslav Demtsyo, 28, with first-degree murder upon his release from the hospital. He appeared Wednesday in bond court, but a judge held the hearing over until Thursday morning.
At 9:15 p.m. Nov. 19 police rushed to a fight between Demtsyo and his 53-year-old father, Oleg, outside their home on the 200 block of North Wilmette Street.
The first police officer arrived within minutes, but authorities said the son was gone. The elder Demtsyo lay in his driveway with more than 30 stab wounds. He was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.
Police caught up with Rostyslav Demtsyo’s silver 2006 Dodge Stratus after spotting him traveling south of Cass Avenue near 55th Street. Then Demtsyo struck a southbound SUV on Cass Avenue at 73rd Street. The SUV hit a northbound motorist. The Stratus then crashed into a tree.
Rescuers rushed at least four people from the three cars, including Demtsyo, to area hospitals. One of the motorists recently filed a lawsuit seeking damages against Demtsyo, according to court records.
Initially, Demtsyo’s injuries were considered severe. An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday after his medical condition improved and his release appeared near.
It was his mother who called 911 Nov. 19 after witnessing the violent dispute between her son and husband in the family driveway.
Authorities said she told them her son, who has a history of mental illness and had run out of his medication, attacked her husband after growing increasingly paranoid and delusional.
Afterward, he demanded she give him his car keys. Authorities said he threatened his mother, but did not physically harm her.
DuPage Associate Judge Bruce Kelsey appointed a public defender to represent Demtsyo. He is being held without bond in jail pending a Thursday court hearing.
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Man not guilty by reason of insanity in killing of dad — (Chicago Tribune)
Art Barnum, Tribune Reporter, abarnum@tribune.com
A30-year-old Westmont man on Wednesday was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the stabbing death of his father.
The ruling could result in Rostyslav Demtsyo spending up to 60 years in a state mental institution.
Demtsyo was charged with first-degree murder after his father, Oleg, was stabbed more than 30 times on the front lawn of the family home in the 200 block of North Wilmette Avenue on Nov. 19, 2008.
DuPage County Judge Kathryn Creswell accepted a court-ordered mental health report offered by Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Cronin and Assistant Public Defender Michael Mara, indicating Demtsyo was extremely paranoid and suffered from major depression.
The report said Demtsyo’s mental illness existed at least since the 1990s, when he was a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and had trouble coping with college life.
The report said that in the period leading up to the attack, he unrealistically believed he was being watched by a crime organization and was going to be blamed for actions for which he wasn’t responsible.
The mental health report said that when he attacked his father, Demtsyo thought his father was setting him up for something.
After the stabbing, he took a family car, eventually crashing it and injuring himself and five other motorists and pedestrians, authorities said. His injuries hospitalized him for two months, much of that time spent in a drug-induced coma.
A report on Demtsyo’s mental health will be issued to the court periodically, but the defendant cannot be released without a judge’s approval. The longest he could remain in custody is 60 years, equivalent to the maximum sentence for first-degree murder.