Wife on husband’s killer: ‘I hope he kills himself in jail’

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John Gilbert

Updated: March 5, 2012 8:02AM

The 32-year prison term imposed Friday on her husband’s killer isn’t harsh enough for Tracy Dragos, who said she wants John Gilbert to die behind bars for the 2009 murder.

“I hope he kills himself in jail. I hope he doesn’t make it,” said Dragos, who was 7-1/2 months pregnant with the couple’s third child when husband Jason was slain. “I hope he hangs himself.”

Gilbert faced up to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty but mentally ill to the Feb. 8, 2009, shooting.

Citing Gilbert’s guilty plea and his history of mental illness, DuPage County Judge George Bakalis opted for a lesser term that he said will keep the 48-year-old Gilbert behind bars until he will “no longer be a threat.”

“It may give him a few years of freedom before his death, which is more than he gave Mr. Dragos,” said Bakalis, adding the reasons for the killing remain unclear to him.

Gilbert coldly “executed” the 38-year-old Dragos after calling him to their deserted Burr Ridge office for a phony weekend business meeting, Bakalis said. But Gilbert, a former part-time police officer, never attempted to move his body, which was found in a closet at the SAIA Trucking office where both men worked.

“The defendant does irrational things without thinking clearly about how easy it is to see what he’d done,” Bakalis said.

Prosecutors argued Gilbert murdered his subordinate because he didn’t like Dragos and also wanted to use the slaying in a scheme to collect disability payments for himself.

After the killing, Gilbert posed as Dragos in an email sent to company officials, telling them he was resigning because he had been ordered to tail Gilbert and report on his activities, prosecutors said.

Gilbert claimed the email -- sent from Dragos’ company account -- caused him so much anxiety he checked himself into a hospital, then sought to go on paid disability leave because he was too stressed to work, Pawl said.

“The plan only works if he executes the victim,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Pawl, who with Joseph Ruggiero prosecuted Gilbert.

Defense attorney Jed Stone argued mental illness prompted the Chicago man to gun down Dragos.

“It was a crazy idea that came for no reason and made no sense. This was stupid and crazy,” Stone argued, scoffing at prosecutors’ claims that Gilbert carefully planned the killing and specifically targeted Dragos.

Tracy Dragos earlier described in court how she and her children -- Sydney, Luke and Sophie -- remain devastated by the loss of a man she described as “a wonderful family man.”

She asked that Gilbert remain behind bars for the rest of his life.

“I pray he will have no chance to inflict any harm on another family because he already has destroyed mine,” Dragos said.

Gilbert sat quietly as he was sentenced, though he cried earlier while apologizing for a killing he said he couldn’t explain and could barely remember because of the medications he was taking for psychological problems and the alcohol he was abusing.

“It saddens me to know the nightmare and horror I’ve caused for the family, which live with me every day and night. I regret and will regret this to the end,” said Gilbert, who also described himself as a “great father” to his two teenage sons and told Bakalis he was not a violent person.