Serial killer sentenced to 3 life terms: Prosecutor says parents share blame for creating 'monster'

CROWN POINT, IND. -- As she wept outside a Lake County courtroomFriday, Lynn Smith said good mothers warn their children to stay awayfrom bad men.

Smith did that, but she still thinks about what more she couldhave done to save her boy. She just can't fully understand the evilman who enticed 16-year-old James Raganyi to a Hammond apartment,strangled him and entombed his corpse in concrete in September 2003.

David Edward Maust said it this way through his lawyer as LakeCounty (Ind.) Judge Clarence D. Murray sentenced the serial killer tothree life terms Friday for the slayings of Raganyi and two others:

"I was the most evil person who ever lived on the Earth. To savetaxpayers money, I should have been destroyed years ago."

Relatives of Maust's victims now mostly hope he slowly rots behindbars.

"Some would argue that's the worst death penalty of all," thejudge told Maust before he was led away.

ADMITTED KILLING 5 PEOPLE

Maust's pale face, with its deep-set dark eyes and thin lips,revealed nothing. From time to time, he leaned over to whisper to oneof his attorneys. Maust was otherwise silent throughout thesentencing hearing.

Maust -- who has admitted killing five people since 1971 and wasonce referred to as a "Gacey type" by authorities in an apparentreference to serial killer John Wayne Gacy -- pleaded guilty lastmonth to the 2003 slayings of Nick James, 19; Michael Dennis, 13; andRaganyi.

All three were found buried in the basement of Maust's Hammondapartment. In exchange for his guilty pleas, Maust was spared thedeath penalty.

In court Friday, Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said Maustclearly knew what he was doing when he lured the victims to hisapartment. But Carter also said Maust's parents and some of hissiblings should share the blame for creating a "monster."

'I just could not stop'

"They all created, in part, what we have today," Carter toldMurray.

At a young age, Maust was tossed into a "snake pit" of a mentalinstitution in Chicago, Thomas Vanes, Maust's attorney, said incourt. "It was a catch basin for throw-away children," Vanes said.

Maust hasn't spoken to his father in 40 years, or his mother in 20years, Vanes said later.

As Maust wrote in a prison diary in 1983, from an early age he wasconsumed with self-loathing and an insatiable urge to hurt people,including choking a boy in a children's home in the late '60s.

"I knew what I was doing, but I just could not stop," Maust wrote.

Maust's mother, Eva Reyes, has said she believes her "little evilchild" developed a lust for assaulting and stabbing boys because, asa child, he was molested by a close relative. She has also said shebelieves Maust suffered permanent head injuries from the forceps usedto deliver him.

Vanes told Murray that Maust doesn't want to use his childhood asan excuse for killing.

"As a child, I was not planning on growing up to hurt people and Inever wanted to be labeled a serial killer," Maust said in a recentjailhouse statement read by Vanes.

". . . I'm the only one to blame and the only one responsible."

Vanes said Maust chose not to speak at his sentencing because hefelt the focus should be on the victims' families.

PLEADED TO BE LOCKED UP FOR LIFE

Maust enlisted in the Army and killed a teenager in 1971 whileserving overseas.

He was sentenced to three years in prison for involuntarymanslaughter. He was later convicted of the 1981 murder of Chicagoteen Donald Jones.

When it came time for his release from prison in 1999, he askedthe state to classify him as a sexually violent prisoner who shouldspend the rest of his life behind bars.

His request was denied.

In court, an irate Carter said Illinois "totally ignored" Maustand his plea to be locked up.

Smith, Raganyi's mother, also spoke in court, conspicuouslyavoiding Maust's stare.

"He should have never been let out in the first place to hurtanybody," she said.

Outside the courtroom, Smith said she couldn't look at Maustbecause, "He gives me the willies."

"I hope those boys haunt him for the rest of his life," she said.

sesposito@suntimes.comMaust in his own words

The following are jailhouse writings of convicted serial killerDavid Maust, according to his attorney:- "They were good, nonviolent,innocent young people who did not deserve to die. None of them didnothing wrong. They had nothing I wanted except for them to be myfriend, and they took nothing from me. But I still killed them for noreason, and I'm sorry."- "I cannot blame the places where I wasraised, my fall as a 4-year-old, my environment, my genes or myparents. God wants me to accept responsibility for my choices andactions."- "I know how to accept my punishment and how to punishmyself."- "As a child, I was not planning on growing up to hurtpeople, and I never wanted to be labeled a serial killer. As everyonealready knows, I did all the murders by myself."

Serial killer sentenced to 3 life terms: Prosecutor says parents share blame for creating 'monster'

CROWN POINT, IND. -- As she wept outside a Lake County courtroomFriday, Lynn Smith said good mothers warn their children to stay awayfrom bad men.

Smith did that, but she still thinks about what more she couldhave done to save her boy. She just can't fully understand the evilman who enticed 16-year-old James Raganyi to a Hammond apartment,strangled him and entombed his corpse in concrete in September 2003.

David Edward Maust said it this way through his lawyer as LakeCounty (Ind.) Judge Clarence D. Murray sentenced the serial killer tothree life terms Friday for the slayings of Raganyi and two others:

"I was the most evil person who ever lived on the Earth. To savetaxpayers money, I should have been destroyed years ago."

Relatives of Maust's victims now mostly hope he slowly rots behindbars.

"Some would argue that's the worst death penalty of all," thejudge told Maust before he was led away.

ADMITTED KILLING 5 PEOPLE

Maust's pale face, with its deep-set dark eyes and thin lips,revealed nothing. From time to time, he leaned over to whisper to oneof his attorneys. Maust was otherwise silent throughout thesentencing hearing.

Maust -- who has admitted killing five people since 1971 and wasonce referred to as a "Gacey type" by authorities in an apparentreference to serial killer John Wayne Gacy -- pleaded guilty lastmonth to the 2003 slayings of Nick James, 19; Michael Dennis, 13; andRaganyi.

All three were found buried in the basement of Maust's Hammondapartment. In exchange for his guilty pleas, Maust was spared thedeath penalty.

In court Friday, Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said Maustclearly knew what he was doing when he lured the victims to hisapartment. But Carter also said Maust's parents and some of hissiblings should share the blame for creating a "monster."

'I just could not stop'

"They all created, in part, what we have today," Carter toldMurray.

At a young age, Maust was tossed into a "snake pit" of a mentalinstitution in Chicago, Thomas Vanes, Maust's attorney, said incourt. "It was a catch basin for throw-away children," Vanes said.

Maust hasn't spoken to his father in 40 years, or his mother in 20years, Vanes said later.

As Maust wrote in a prison diary in 1983, from an early age he wasconsumed with self-loathing and an insatiable urge to hurt people,including choking a boy in a children's home in the late '60s.

"I knew what I was doing, but I just could not stop," Maust wrote.

Maust's mother, Eva Reyes, has said she believes her "little evilchild" developed a lust for assaulting and stabbing boys because, asa child, he was molested by a close relative. She has also said shebelieves Maust suffered permanent head injuries from the forceps usedto deliver him.

Vanes told Murray that Maust doesn't want to use his childhood asan excuse for killing.

"As a child, I was not planning on growing up to hurt people and Inever wanted to be labeled a serial killer," Maust said in a recentjailhouse statement read by Vanes.

". . . I'm the only one to blame and the only one responsible."

Vanes said Maust chose not to speak at his sentencing because hefelt the focus should be on the victims' families.

PLEADED TO BE LOCKED UP FOR LIFE

Maust enlisted in the Army and killed a teenager in 1971 whileserving overseas.

He was sentenced to three years in prison for involuntarymanslaughter. He was later convicted of the 1981 murder of Chicagoteen Donald Jones.

When it came time for his release from prison in 1999, he askedthe state to classify him as a sexually violent prisoner who shouldspend the rest of his life behind bars.

His request was denied.

In court, an irate Carter said Illinois "totally ignored" Maustand his plea to be locked up.

Smith, Raganyi's mother, also spoke in court, conspicuouslyavoiding Maust's stare.

"He should have never been let out in the first place to hurtanybody," she said.

Outside the courtroom, Smith said she couldn't look at Maustbecause, "He gives me the willies."

"I hope those boys haunt him for the rest of his life," she said.

sesposito@suntimes.comMaust in his own words

The following are jailhouse writings of convicted serial killerDavid Maust, according to his attorney:- "They were good, nonviolent,innocent young people who did not deserve to die. None of them didnothing wrong. They had nothing I wanted except for them to be myfriend, and they took nothing from me. But I still killed them for noreason, and I'm sorry."- "I cannot blame the places where I wasraised, my fall as a 4-year-old, my environment, my genes or myparents. God wants me to accept responsibility for my choices andactions."- "I know how to accept my punishment and how to punishmyself."- "As a child, I was not planning on growing up to hurtpeople, and I never wanted to be labeled a serial killer. As everyonealready knows, I did all the murders by myself."