Sentenced to life for gruesome Barrington killing, he’s now free at 49. Here’s why

Less than three decades after he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for a grisly suburban murder, Paul Modrowski quietly left the Stateville Correctional Center a free man last week.

The release of the 49-year-old convicted of murdering a man found decapitated in Barrington in 1993 sparked disparate reactions among those who had been following his case — dismay from the police who arrested him and the family of the man who was killed; celebration from supporters who’ve long argued that the criminal justice system treated Modrowski unfairly.

But his case, and the reasons for his early release, also raise complicated questions about equal justice, rehabilitation, disability bias and survivors’ rights.

“When you’re told it’s life without parole, that means he’s supposedly not going to be getting out,” Mary Kay Fawcett, the mother of murder victim Dean Fawcett, told us this week. “But it happened, and it happened so fast.”

“Paul Modrowski did not kill anyone,” his attorney, Thomas C. Brandstrader, wrote to us in an email. “Paul Modrowski was not there when the murder was (committed). Paul has used his unjust incarceration to better himself and has earned a college degree.”

How we got here

Hikers walking along railroad tracks in Barrington made a horrifying discovery Jan. 18, 1993 — the body of a man whose head, left arm and right hand were removed. Those body parts were never recovered.

With the help of DNA testing, investigators determined the body to be that of Dean Fawcett, a 22-year-old LaGrange Park man who’d last been seen by his family around Christmas 1992.

After months of investigation, police arrested a pair of Fawcett’s friends — Modrowski, then 18 and living in Mokena, and Robert Faraci, 26, of Schiller Park. They alleged the trio had a falling out over a check fraud scheme, leading to the murder.

Because Fawcett’s body was found just 10 days after the Palatine Brown’s Chicken massacre that claimed seven lives, investigators believed the two events may have been connected and for a time considered Modrowski a prime suspect.

After his arrest, Faraci blamed Modrowski and later was acquitted when the two were tried together, but with separate juries.

Modrowski was found guilty of first-degree murder under an accountability theory — prosecutors alleged he provided Faraci with a car and a gun to carry out the slaying, claims Modrowski continues to deny.

While in prison, Modrowski caught the national spotlight, first for a blog he wrote called “On the Inside” detailing the reality of life behind bars. Without access to the internet at the time, Modrowski wrote the blog via letters to his mother, who then posted them online.

His story later was featured on the Investigation Discovery television show “Dead of Winter” and on a podcast entitled “On the Inside.”

Meanwhile, Modrowski also was one of just 20 inmates — from among more than 400 applicants — accepted into Northwestern University’s Prison Education Program. He earned a degree with a straight-A average, according to court documents, and three of his professors would go on to testify on his behalf.

Back in court

With his appeals exhausted, Modrowski and his attorneys in 2022 began a last-ditch effort to win his freedom. In a motion for post-conviction relief, they argued that his life term was so excessive, given the facts under which he was convicted and sentenced, it violates the Illinois Constitution.

On June 28, Cook County Judge Marc Martin agreed and reduced Modrowski’s sentence to 60 years. With day-for-day credit for the time he’d already spent behind bars, Modrowski had completed his sentence and was released four days later.

“This court finds that the life-without-parole sentence here distorts the case's factual realities, and does not accurately represent the petitioner's personal culpability, such that it shocks the community's moral sense,” Martin said, according to a transcript of the June 28 proceedings.

Martin noted that such rulings are rare, but that Modrowski’s case is an “outlier.”

“This court has yet to encounter, and the state has not cited, a sentence in which a life-without-parole sentence was imposed in circumstances comparable to this case,” he added.

In explaining his decision, Martin touched upon factors ranging from prosecutors’ failure to show Modrowski was present for Fawcett’s murder, his record as a model inmate and his work to obtain a degree from prison.

“In 31-plus years of incarceration, not once has the petitioner been charged with a crime. In 31-plus years of incarceration, not once has the petitioner even been cited for, or accused of, an act of violence or aggression,” Martin noted.

Martin also said the judge who sentenced Modrowski failed to consider his potential for rehabilitation or weigh the fact he’d been diagnosed with autism since childhood. Rather, Martin said, Modrowski’s autism was used against him at trial and sentencing.

“This court, with the lens of modern knowledge, cannot help but detect unconscious bias against the petitioner's disability. It is now accepted that lack of eye contact is a common trait of autistic individuals,” Martin said. “In this case, however, the prosecutor histrionically urged the trial judge to condemn Mr. Modrowski to death by looking into his eyes. … Petitioner was ‘emotionless’ and ‘cold’ in ‘everything he does,’ according to the prosecutor.”

Martin noted, however, that while Modrowski’s sentence was reduced, his conviction still stands.

‘Hard to comprehend’

While supporters are praising the ruling, word of Modrowski’s release came as devastating news to Fawcett’s mother. She said she was unaware of the court proceedings earlier this year and only learned of Modrowski’s release after the fact, when someone from the Cook County state’s attorney’s office called to inform her.

“It’s hard to comprehend,” Mary Kay Fawcett said. “I think (his life sentence) is how I’ve gotten through all these years.”

For now, she’s relying on support from others and her faith.

“And I always say Dean is in a better place,” she said. “That’s how I have to look at it.”

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