Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Jan. 8, according to the Tribune’s archives.
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Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago )
- High temperature: 63 degrees (1965)
- Low temperature: Minus 11 degrees (1942)
- Precipitation: 1.18 inches (1935)
- Snowfall: 3.6 inches (1974)
1968: Gwendolyn Brooks was named the poet laureate of Illinois, succeeding Carl Sandburg who died July 22, 1967. She held the position until her death in 2000.
1993: Seven people — five employees and the couple that owned the restaurant — were killed inside Brown’s Chicken & Pasta at 168 W. Northwest Highway in Palatine.
Juan Luna and Jim Degorski escaped justice for nearly a decade until investigators caught a break. Degorski had told an ex-girlfriend of his role in the killings, and a friend who overheard her talking about it in 2002 went to police.
Another piece of evidence was crucial to the case. Investigators had saved a discarded meal from the scene, and as DNA analysis improved, they were able to match DNA left on a chicken bone with Juan Luna’s saliva. The two were arrested in May 2002. Luna was convicted of murder in 2007, and Degorski followed two years later. Jurors spared them the death penalty, but both are serving life sentences with no possibility of parole.