Prosecutors say man killed his ailing dad after offering teen $50 to do it

• Reprints

George M. Panos

Updated: October 25, 2011 9:46PM

Tired of caring for his ailing father, George M. Panos offered a teenage acquaintance $50 to smother the 78-year-old man for him, DuPage County prosecutors said.

When the teen refused, Panos did the job himself, suffocating his father with a pillow later that night as the older man slept in the Glendale Heights home they shared, prosecutor Bernie Murray told jurors Tuesday as Panos’ murder trial opened.

Questioned by police within hours of the Jan. 25, 2009, death, Panos coldly described his deceased father as “the dead guy” and “the pain in the ass,” Murray said.

“He was relieved of the burden of caring for his father,” Murray said of the 47-year-old Panos, who faces up to 60 years in prison if he’s convicted of first-degree murder.

Panos also hoped to cash in a $10,000 life insurance policy after George J. Panos died, Murray said.

“He wanted to use it to fix up and sell the house, and move on with his life,” Murray said.

A 19-year-old friend who was also living in the house testified Panos earlier that night had “cracked jokes” about suffocating his father, then asked if he would do it.

“He said, ‘I’ll give you $50 bucks to put a pillow on the old man’s face,’” said Andrew Schifflegern, who was a friend of Panos’ nephew.

Schifflegern said Panos had been drinking “pretty heavily” that evening before talking about smothering his father.

Defense attorneys contend Panos didn’t kill his father, whom he was caring for as the older man struggled with emphysema, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and dementia.

His father wasn’t even murdered, but died from the diseases that had left him housebound and nearly bedridden, Assistant Public Defender Kristin Nevdal said.

“There was not a single piece of medical evidence to show suffocation or that it was a homicide,” Nevdal said.

Panos himself called 911 when he awoke during the night and discovered his father wasn’t breathing, she said.

She contended Panos was drunk and “talking nonsense” when he talked about smothering his father and when he was interviewed by police, she argued.

Investigators coerced him into admitting he had suffocated his father, she said.