The Chicago Rippers: A Legacy of Horror and Controversy
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It was May 15th, 1982. Lorraine Borowski was up, dressed, and ready for work. The 21-year-old was a receptionist at a real estate office in the Chicago suburbs. She had a loving boyfriend, her own apartment, and a brand new college degree. Her office wasn't far from where she lived. Lorraine could easily walk there, and did so on most days.

Whenever she turned the key in her office door, she took one step closer to becoming a real estate professional. That morning in mid-May was the last time she'd ever unlock it. Somebody snatched her out of her golden high heels. They were the only things left behind. Along with her cosmetics and office keys, nobody ever saw Lorraine Borowski alive again.

she fell victim to the Chicago Rippers, a four-man band of ruthless rapists and killers who terrorized women between 1981 and 1982. Chicago and the surrounding suburbs were their hunting grounds. They'd stalk women of all races and ages, kidnap them, rape them, and then mutilate their bodies in satanic rituals. Their leader, 28-year-old Robin Gecht, was cunning, coercive, and cruel.

According to the former DuPage County Sheriff, Gecht made Charles Manson look like a boy scout. Police believe the gang was responsible for up to 20 female murders. The only man to die by their hand was a 28-year-old drug dealer killed during a drive-by shooting. Now, 40 plus years after their reign of terror, one of the gang members is a free man. Good behavior and legal loopholes put him back on the streets of Illinois.

His release was met with anger and protest. To many, it felt like letting the devil loose on the city. He claims he didn't do anything. He was a confused kid looking out for his younger brother. Did he spend nearly 40 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit? Or is he a delusional murderer and rapist who can't come to grips with his heinous crimes? Part 1: Come, Ye Faithful

Robin Gect was the only adult in the room. Below him were three unintelligent men who'd do anything to please their leader. At 21, Eddie Spritzer was second in command. Below him were the Cocoraylis brothers, Thomas and Andrew, who were teenagers when they first met Robin.

Not much is known about their individual backgrounds. Robin allegedly comes from a long line of men who've always loved big-breasted women. In a post-conviction interview, he claimed his ex-wife was a 39D. Eddie Spreitzer was immature, impulsive, and simplistic, according to his future defense attorney. The Kokorelis brothers were raised Greek Orthodox in Chicago. They weren't the brightest bulbs on the tree and were easily swayed by Robin Gecht.

The gang's first known victim was 26-year-old Linda Sutton, a single mother of two who went missing near Wrigley Field. She left her nine and one-year-old sons at home on May 23rd, 1981, and never came back.

About a week later, a maid at the Brer Rabbit Motel near Villa Park noticed a foul stench outside the building. At the time, the field behind the Brer Rabbit was full of trash, and the building itself was known for its shady characters. If you needed sex or a quick hit, the Brer Rabbit was the place to be. But this wasn't just garbage. The smell got worse by the day until the maid couldn't take it anymore.

She complained to the manager, who went to see if he could fix it. That's when he found Linda's body, left to rot in a sea of unwanted garbage. Her remains had rotted down to the bone, with only a few pieces of flesh remaining. The maggots had done what they do best. It was easy to tell that the woman had been murdered.

Her wrists were handcuffed, her mouth was still gagged, her slacks and panties were pulled down to her thighs, and there was a small wad of cash still in her sock. Whoever killed Linda only planned on raping and killing her. They didn't plan on robbing her. Based on the state of decay, police assumed she'd been dead for weeks. The coroner proved them wrong. Linda's killer had amputated her breasts while she was still alive.

The gaping wounds allowed parasites to invade her body, which devoured her in record time. The woman had been kidnapped, mutilated, and murdered within the past 72 hours. Two weeks later, her dental records helped identify her as Linda Sutton. She was the first woman killed by the Ripper Gang, and she would not be the last. Part 2: The Ripping Spree The Ripper Gang waited a full year before striking again.

That's when they grabbed Lorraine Borowski while on her way to work. According to her neighbors, Lorraine left for work around 8:15 that morning. The office was only three blocks from her home, so it never took long to walk there. Her employer, Don Stibbe, arrived between 8:45 and 9:00 AM to find Lorraine's high heels and personal belongings left by the front door.

The only person to see anything suspicious was Fred Moberly, who owned a store in the same shopping plaza as Lorraine's office. He arrived to open his store around 7:50 that morning, roughly 20 to 30 minutes before Lorraine was seen walking to work. He recalled seeing a strange red van in the parking lot. He likely thought it was a work van and didn't think much of it. He had no idea the Chicago Rippers were waiting to pounce when Lorraine turned her back.

Her skeletal remains turned up five months later in a cemetery outside the city. A neighbor identified the blouse and slacks as the same clothes Lorraine wore the morning she vanished. Her shirt was pulled over her shoulders and her bra was yanked down. Her mother identified the body based on jewelry that was found nearby. Dental records officially confirmed it was her. She'd been stabbed to death and her left nipple had been removed.

She had a fractured nasal bone, suggesting blunt force trauma to the face. Lorraine's body wasn't the only one in the Chicago morgue in October 1982. Between her death and discovery, the Chicago Rippers attacked five more women, killing three of them. The first was 30-year-old Shuei Mok of Lombard, Illinois, a small village within the Chicago metro.

Xue worked with her brother at a family-owned restaurant. They left work together in the brother's car around 1:00 a.m. on May 29, 1982. That's when an argument ensued, and Xue made her brother stop in Hanover Park so she could get out. She stormed off into the night and never came home. Four months later, her skeletal remains were found in a wooded area near a new housing development in Cook County.

Her clothes were torn and there were signs of sexual assault. Her skull had multiple fractures, leading investigators to believe she died from blunt force trauma. In June of 1982, 23-year-old Angel York miraculously survived a Ripper attack.

She told police that two men in a red van were going around abducting women. They took her and forced her to cut her breast with a large kitchen knife. She claims the act drove one of her attackers into a euphoric frenzy. He grabbed the knife and cut her deeper. Then, he masturbated into the wound before sealing it with duct tape. When they were done, they dumped Angel back on the streets. It's unclear why the Rippers didn't kill her.

It felt like the Rippers were always several steps ahead of the police. On August 28, 1982, the raped, stabbed, and mutilated body of 18-year-old Sandra Delaware turned up under a bridge near the Chicago River. Like Linda Sutton, her left breast had been amputated, her hands were bound behind her with shoelaces, and her bra was knotted around her throat. She was a young, vulnerable prostitute on the streets of Chicago.

Police believe she was killed only six hours before they found her. A week later, the body of 30-year-old Rose Beck Davis was found in Chicago's affluent Gold Coast neighborhood. There was a stocking tied around her neck, and her breasts were slashed and mutilated. Police removed a four-inch piece of wood from her lacerated vagina. Some reports claim she was beaten with an axe and fatally stabbed, though police believe she was strangled to death.

The only time the Rippers broke their twisted pattern was when Robin Gecht opened fire on two men during a drive-by shooting. According to Eddie Spreitzer, he and Robin were driving around Chicago on October 6th when they spotted 28-year-old local drug dealer Rafael Tirado and 18-year-old Alberto Rosario at a phone booth.

Eddie was driving when Robin told him to slow down. That's when Robin leaned out the window and shot at both men, wounding Alberto and killing Rafael. The gang met their final victim later that day. Robin lured an 18-year-old prostitute named Beverly Washington into the van by offering her more money than she asked. The gang attacked her, raped her, and left her mutilated body for dead by the railroad tracks.

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While recovering in the hospital, Beverly Washington told police that the Ripper van had feathers and a roach clip hanging from the rearview mirror. The clue proved critical as police quickly spotted the van on October 20th, 1982. Eddie Spritzer was driving and told police that his boss, Robin Gecht, owned the van.

Officers coaxed Eddie into leading them to Robin's house. The ringleader walked out and perfectly matched the man Beverly Washington had described. He was still wearing the same shirt and shoes. Beverly quickly picked Robin out of a police lineup. However, when detectives went to arrest him, they discovered that Robin had lawyered up. It's unclear how Robin had the money to afford a private attorney.

As they investigated Robin's past, they learned that he was a former employee of John Wayne Gacy, who had been arrested in Chicago in 1979. Did the killer clown rub off on him, or was Robin always this twisted? Robin posted bond, but was re-arrested on November 5th. That led police back to Eddie and Andrew Cocorales, who spilled their guts about the Ripper murders. Eddie and Andrew claimed to have killed 17 women.

A few days later, Thomas Kokorelis was arrested and sang a similar tune. He also filled police in on some of the darker details. In a recorded interview, Thomas claimed the Rippers would take women back to Robin Goeckt's house, where he had a special room called the Satanic Chapel. The chapel was in Robin's attic. He had painted the walls with six black and red crosses and had a long red cloth over a makeshift altar.

There, they'd bind, rape, and torture their victims in some kind of sick ritual. Then, they'd cut off the victim's breast with a knife or a wire garrote. Next, they'd each eat part of the severed breast, like Holy Communion. Robin masturbated into each breast to finish the ritual. Then, he placed them in a box filled with his other trophies. According to Thomas, there must have been at least 15 breasts in the box.

When police asked Thomas why he participated in these rituals, he said, "You just have to do it." He allegedly believed that Robin had supernatural powers and feared what their leader might do if he didn't cooperate. Others who knew Robin echoed this idea. He had an aura about him, a way of conning people and making them do his bidding. One acquaintance warned police never to look in Robin's eyes.

According to some accounts, Robin got his start by molesting his sister. As a teenager, he became fascinated with Satanism and secret rituals. Those fascinations carried into his adult life, cursing the Chicago suburbs and every woman who walked through them. Part 4: The Confessions Andrew Kokorelis was open with police regarding the Chicago Ripper murders.

He told officers that he'd witnessed two murders himself and participated in close to a dozen satanic rituals. His confession revealed what happened to Linda Sutton, Shui Mak, and Lorraine Borowski, and he didn't spare any details. On May 23rd, 1981, the gang drove through what Andrew described as a "black neighborhood" in Chicago. That's when Robin spotted Linda and forced her into the van.

Robin then took her into some bushes behind the Brer Rabbit Motel and raped her. He beat her with his fists and sliced up her chest with a hatchet. Andrew claims he watched in shock as Robin pummeled Linda with the axe. Then, he returned to the van covered in blood, like nothing ever happened. On the night that Shwaymok disappeared, Andrew told police that he and Eddie were driving around when they spotted the 30-year-old on the street.

Eddie stopped and asked Shuei if she needed a ride, and she accepted. They drove for about 10 or 15 minutes until they found a field near a new housing development. Eddie then forced Shuei out of the van and struck her multiple times. He dragged her weak body away, lifted her sweater, and stabbed her three times with a kitchen knife. The sight made Andrew sick, and he allegedly returned to the van. The duo drove off a short while later.

The only murder Andrew confessed to participating in was that of Lorraine Borowski. He told police that he and Eddie were driving the van when they spotted Lorraine walking to work. They grabbed her and drove to a nearby cemetery, where Andrew and Eddie stabbed and beat Lorraine until she was dead. Thomas Kokorelis was a 22-year-old high school dropout when police arrested him.

He was a painter by trade who admitted to abusing cocaine and marijuana. Until then, Thomas had never been in trouble with the police. A forensic psychiatrist described him as having a "borderline range of intellect" with an IQ of 75, only a hair above being mentally impaired. He told a different story regarding the Lorraine Borowski murder. He claims that he, Andrew, and Eddie grabbed her and forced her into their vehicle.

From there, they checked into a motel about 10 minutes away. Eddie brought Lorraine into the room, stripped her, gagged her, and bound her to the bed. Tommy claimed he only watched as Eddie and Andrew raped her. Afterward, Andrew took out a length of piano wire and tied it around Lorraine's left breast. He pulled and squeezed until it came off. Then, Eddie drove an axe into Lorraine's chest, killing her.

They dressed her and dropped her body in the cemetery, where her skeleton was found many months later. Eddie Spritzer gave a different version of events, in which he was asleep in the back of the van when Robin abducted Lorraine Borowski. He awoke in a cemetery and saw Robin stabbing a white woman. He returned to the van covered in blood and holding a severed breast.

Tommy, Andrew, and Eddie all confessed to their involvement in the Ripper killings, though they blamed different people. Eddie blamed Robin, and the brothers blamed Eddie while looking out for each other. The only person to keep their mouths shut through the whole thing was Robin Gecht. The strategy worked in his favor. Police couldn't tie Robin to any of the murders. Instead, he was charged and found guilty of several crimes related to Beverly Washington.

Those charges included attempted murder, rape, deviant sexual assault, and aggravated kidnapping. He was sentenced to 120 years in prison. As of 2024, 71-year-old Robin Gecht resides at Danville Correctional Center. He'll be eligible for parole in 2042 when he's 88 years old.

In 1984, Eddie Spritzer pleaded guilty to murdering Shwaymock, Rose Davis, Sandra Delaware, and Rafael Tirado. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Two years later, Eddie was found guilty of the rape and murder of Linda Sutton. He was sentenced to death, but former Illinois Governor George Ryan commuted his sentence to life in prison before leaving office.

In 2011, Governor Pat Quinn officially abolished the death penalty in Illinois, commuting all those on death row to life in prison. The last person executed in Illinois was Andrew Cocorales. In 1985, he was found guilty of the aggravated kidnapping, rape, and murder of Rose Davis.

He was initially sentenced to life in prison, but that was upgraded to death in 1987 after a jury found him guilty in the Lorraine Borowski case. He was executed by lethal injection on March 17th, 1999. His last words were: "To the Borowski family, I am truly sorry for your loss."

He then recited several Bible verses, ending on "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Tommy Cocorailis was also found guilty of raping and murdering Lorraine Borowski. He avoided the death penalty thanks to his detailed confession. On appeal, his legal team overturned the rape conviction, earning Tommy a new trial. He took a plea deal in which he admitted to murdering Lorraine but not raping her.

As part of that deal, any charges related to the murder of Linda Sutton were dropped. Part 5: The Ripper Legacy Tommy was ultimately sentenced to 70 years in prison. He came up for parole in 2017 but was denied when he couldn't find somewhere to live. Understandably, Chicago didn't want a living Ripper anywhere near its streets. In 2019, he found approved boarding at Wayside Cross Ministries in Aurora, Illinois.

Tommy has maintained his innocence as a free man. He claims the police planted evidence and coaxed him into a confession. "Everybody thinks I'm a monster," he said during his first on-camera interview. He claims he didn't kill anybody or participate in any satanic rituals. When asked if the accusation of cannibalism were true, Tommy said no. He claims he only confessed because he was high on drugs.

He said the cops kept feeding him information. That's why he was able to recount facts that only the killer would know. He told CBS reporters that he was nowhere near the Lorraine Borowski murder when it happened. Instead, he was with his father, visiting his mother's grave. Lorraine's brother, Mark Borowski, sees through the lies. "He's a monster," he told CBS. "I don't believe him for a minute.

Despite being 14 at the time, Mark remembers the last conversation he had with his sister. Had it gone differently, she may still be alive today. He asked if he could walk her to work that morning to make sure she was okay. Lorraine declined the offer, insisting that everything is fine. As of 2024, 64-year-old Tommy is a free man living in Peoria, Illinois.

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