University Park man found guilty in ’17 murder of Hinsdale woman
Family members of Andrea Urban hugged and stifled sobs Friday in a DuPage County courtroom when a jury found a University Park man guilty of murdering the woman at her Hinsdale home in 2017.
After deliberating about four hours, the jury returned its verdict against Dominic Sanders, 32, for first-degree murder.
He also was found guilty of home invasion and residential burglary. The verdicts came after a trial that began Jan.
15.
In addition, the jury made a finding that the murder of the 51-year-old mother of two was exceptionally brutal and heinous and indicative of wanton cruelty, which makes Sanders eligible for a life sentence.
Sanders did not visibly react as the verdicts were read, and briefly glanced back at the courtroom gallery before he was led back to jail.
Following the verdict, State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said his office would seek the maximum penalty when Sanders is sentenced. Urban’s son, Sasha Kuznetsov, 20, gave a brief statement following the verdict.
“Basically, we just want to say we are very grateful for the wonderful work police officers and prosecutors did on this case to finally achieve this verdict,” he said as his sister, Daria, 14, and other family members looked on.
Kuznetsov was one of the first trial witnesses, describing coming home from high school on May 4, 2017, and finding his mother’s body on the kitchen floor. She had been beaten so badly that Kuznetsov said he did not initially recognize her.
Berlin said he was grateful for the verdict and credited the police investigation that led to Sanders’ arrest.
It was so strong, Berlin said, that his office never made a plea offer and was committed to obtaining the maximum sentence against Sanders.
During closing arguments, First Assistant State’s Attorney Bernie Murray urged the jury to focus on the three major legs of the prosecution case: videos that placed Sanders in the area on the day of the murder, Sanders’ admission that he stole and then sold a wedding ring set from the Urban residence, and blood collected from Sanders’ shoe that testing showed was an all but certain match for Urban.
“The shoe with Andrea Urban’s blood on it puts an end to all the defendant’s lies,” Murray told jurors.
In her closing, Assistant Public Defender Teresa Rioux said the scientific evidence was less compelling than prosecutors said, and that their timeline of the crime was not ironclad. “The state is trying really hard to make their evidence fit their story,” she told jurors.
Sanders was arrested about three weeks after the homicide after police pieced together security camera footage from around Urban’s home in the 700 block of Town Place and noticed a man in a utility vest. Eventually police made a connection between the man and a silver Dodge Challenger seen parked in downtown Hinsdale, and they later linked it to Sanders via the license plate. From there, police searched a pawnshop database and found records and video of Sanders selling two rings for $440 about 12:30 p.m. the same day Urban’s body was found. The victim’s children identified them as a family heirloom wedding ring set that was routinely kept in a master bedroom armoire.
Judge Brian Telander set a March 16 date for sentencing.