Paul Modrowski, convicted in the 1993 killing and dismemberment of Dean Fawcett, is back in the public eye after users spotted him on an upscale dating app this week. His brief appearance triggered a social media firestorm from people outraged that a man tied to a notorious suburban murder was apparently trying to meet strangers online. The sighting has ripped open old wounds in Barrington, where Fawcett’s family still lives, and the case has never really faded from memory.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Modrowski was convicted in 1995 of the death of 22-year-old Fawcett, whose dismembered body was found on Jan. 18, 1993, near railroad tracks in Barrington. Cook County Judge Marc Martin vacated Modrowski’s original life sentence and resentenced him to 60 years on June 28, 2024. With day-for-day credit, he was released days later in July 2024 and is now on mandatory supervised release. The judge found that Modrowski had been portrayed at trial as emotionless and that his autism likely affected how his demeanor was perceived at sentencing, the Tribune reported.
Dating App Rules, Real-World Loopholes
The League’s public terms say anyone who has been “convicted of… any crime involving violence” is not allowed to use the service. At the same time, the company openly discloses that it does not routinely check users’ criminal histories. Per The League, “The League does not conduct criminal background or identity verification checks on its users,” although it reserves the right to run screenings in some situations. That gap between the rules on paper and the lack of automatic screening helps explain how someone with a violent conviction could surface on the app, even if only briefly.
What users saw, according to the Chicago Tribune, was a short profile bio that read “astrophysics by day & good vibes by night,” along with an age that did not match public records. Members of a private Facebook group spotted the listing, flagged it, and reported it to the company. The profile was removed after those reports, the Tribune found, but not before screenshots and posts about it racked up millions of views online. Modrowski later posted a statement on his blog and told reporters he did not intend to deceive people about his identity, while continuing to maintain his innocence.
What The Law Requires After Release
Illinois law requires certain offenders to register and re-register in person. People convicted of first-degree murder can face lifetime annual registration, and other homicide-related convictions carry different registration terms, according to the state. The Murderer And Violent Offender Against Youth (MVOAY) FAQ from Illinois State Police explains how often registrants must appear in person, how long they stay on the list and how they are monitored. The public registry also lists which local law enforcement agencies oversee each offender’s registration, a system designed to keep both authorities and communities informed about compliance…