By CRYSTAL LINDELL - clindell@nwherald.com
WOODSTOCK – Opening arguments are expected to be delivered today for the trial of a Wonder Lake man charged with allegedly raping and beating his girlfriend to death last year.
Thomas A. Brown, 41, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault for an attack on Vitriza M. Wedward, 33, of West Allis, Wis., a Milwaukee suburb.
According to prosecutors, before he allegedly killed her, Brown allegedly slammed Wedward into a wall, and raped her when she was unable to give consent.
The two had met through an online dating service and had been seeing each other since March.
Prosecutors and McHenry County Assistant Public Defender Rick Behof had agreed on 12 jurors by the end of the day Monday and must select alternate jurors before delivering their opening remarks in the trial that Judge Sharon Prather will preside over. The trial is expected to conclude this week.
At the time of the death, police said they believed an alcohol-fueled argument began at the home about midnight June 9, 2009, and they found evidence of an altercation when they arrived at about 6 a.m. Wedward was taken to the hospital and later pronounced dead.
Brown has been arrested in the past in connection with domestic battery, although Wedward was not the victim in those charges.
Wedward left behind an estranged husband and a 5-year-old son. Kenneth Wedward previously said he met Vitriza in the Philippines, moved her to Wisconsin, and married her about six years before her death. Vitriza Wedward had moved out of the home about a month before her death.
Brown could be sentenced to natural life or between six and 100 years in prison if convicted of one or more counts.
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