Main, left to right: Nicholas Caban and Jacob Firestone (Lake County Sheriff's Office). Inset: Matthew Ascaridis (GoFundMe).
Two Illinois men face years behind bars for killing a 45-year-old father, viciously beating the victim outside his home and leaving him to die.
A Lake County jury on Saturday found Nicholas Caban, 23, and Jacob Firestone, 22, guilty on all counts in the 2022 slaying of Matthew Ascaridis, including on charges of second-degree murder.
The verdict came after a six-day trial in which prosecutors called more than a dozen witnesses, including law enforcement officers, medical personnel, and expert witnesses.
Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart said the evidence showed Ascaridis "was killed due to excessive violence from these two offenders," adding that prosecutors are "thankful that the jury closely followed the forensic and circumstantial evidence in order to see the truth and to convict both offenders on all counts."
According to a news release from the prosecutor's office, the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force responded to multiple noise complaints at Fort Sheridan Beach in Highland Park, where authorities found Ascaridis dead around 5:12 a.m. on Sept. 17, 2022. They said the victim had signs of suffering severe trauma.
An autopsy conducted by the Lake County Coroner's Office determined the victim suffered "catastrophic injuries" to his spinal cord — the kind more commonly seen in car crashes.
The coroner told jurors that Ascaridis was struck multiple times in the head with so much force that he was left with a lacerated spinal cord, according to testimony cited by the Lake & McHenry County Scanner.
The violence stemmed from a confrontation hours earlier, after Ascaridis left his nearby home to investigate loud noises late the night before. The victim's wife testified that the couple had been packing for a trip around 11 p.m. when they began hearing "loud noises" near the house. Ascaridis called police twice but was told a response could be delayed. He ultimately went to the beach around 1 a.m. to check things out himself.
Evidence presented at trial showed Ascaridis encountered Caban and Firestone on the beach, leading to what authorities described as a "violent confrontation," The Record North Shore reported.
Despite the severity of the attack, prosecutors said the defendants did not immediately seek help. Instead, they waited hours before calling 911, leaving Ascaridis "alone on the beach, unable to move, gasping for air" before he died, according to the release.
When police responded to a 911 call at Caban's home around 5:23 a.m., they found Firestone lying injured in the yard and Caban nearby. Both appeared injured but conscious, authorities said. The men initially claimed that Ascaridis had attacked them and was injured in a fall, but prosecutors argued those accounts were contradicted by medical evidence and DNA recovered from the scene.
Testimony also showed the confrontation began after Ascaridis approached the men about the noise, which included music and activity on the beach, according to Lake & McHenry Scanner.
Caban and Firestone, who were 20 and 18 at the time of the killing, each face between four and 20 years in prison, to be served at 50%. They are currently scheduled to appear in court for their sentencing hearing June 18.
A GoFundMe page for Ascaridis described him as an "incredible husband" to his wife and a "devoted father" to his two children who "always greeted friends and family with his warmth and a smile."
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