Paul Runge’s bench trial in connection with a botched prisoner escape–in which he was charged before being accused in the serial killings of seven Chicago-area women–is expected to begin Wednesday in Will County Circuit Court.
A female prison guard charged with aiding in the escape attempt also is expected to go on trial Wednesday.
Runge’s case is being heard as a stipulated bench trial before Judge Gerald Kinney. In a stipulated trial, no live testimony is presented and the defense and prosecution agree on the documented evidence the judge will consider.
Runge, who is awaiting trial in connection with the slayings he is accused of committing in Cook and DuPage Counties, faces Will County charges of escape, aggravated battery, robbery and possession of contraband in a penal institution for the October 2000 incident.
Runge and prisoner Gregory Conley were being transported from the Downstate Sheridan Correctional Center to a court date in Cook County when they are alleged to have overpowered their guards as their van passed through Will County.
Doris Harper, a Sheridan guard who later said she had fallen in love with Runge, was trailing the van in a getaway car, according to the charges. She is alleged to have picked up the two and fled. But they soon were stopped and arrested by Naperville police. Conley already has pleaded guilty in the case.
The alleged escape attempt came months before Runge was charged in the serial murders. He is accused of a killing spree that began with the strangulation and dismemberment of Stacey Frobel, 25, of Streamwood in January 1995. Runge also is charged with killing two Hanover Park women, Dzeneta Pasanbegovic, 22, and her sister, Ameal, 20, six months later. He is accused of killing three more women and a girl, all from Chicago, in early 1997: Dorota Dziubak, 30; Yolanda Gutierrez, 35, and her 10-year-old daughter, Jessica Muniz; and Kazimiera Paruch, 43.
