‘Cursed’ cash to be split
$150,000 to be split between the son of the man who found it and the daughter of the woman who dumped it.
The $150,000 cash cache Wayne Sabaj discovered in his garden will be split between his son and the daughter of his elderly neighbor, who dumped the money because she believed it was cursed.
“They both get a chunk,” said attorney J. Kevin McBride, who represented Dolores Johnson — the longtime neighbor who in 2011 literally threw her life savings over her backyard fence into Sabaj’s garden.
The confidential settlement approved Thursday by a McHenry County judge ends a bizarre mystery that saw the unemployed carpenter turn in the windfall to police, but then die before his legal claim to the cash could be settled.
Sabaj, 51, died earlier this month of natural causes in his home near McHenry, authorities said.
Johnson, his longtime neighbor, died last December at age 87 — leaving the cash in limbo.
Sabaj’s son essentially will receive “a finder’s fee,” said his attorney Robert Burke, adding that Kevin Sabaj is “content” with his share of the cash.
Johnson had saved the money for years in her home because she “didn’t like banks,” McBride said.
But she later tossed the money over her fence to get rid of it.
“She threw it out because she claimed the money was cursed,” said McBride.