Accused killer of Naperville teacher remains jailed

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Daniel Olaska

Updated: February 6, 2012 6:42PM

The man accused of fatally stabbing a second-grade teacher and wounding two other men over the weekend in a downtown Naperville bar remained Monday night in DuPage County Jail on $3 million bail.

Members of Naperville’s Grace Christian Fellowship Church reportedly are trying to raise the $300,000 bond needed to free the man, Daniel J. Olaska, who is a parishioner there.

DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Neal W. Cerne on Sunday set the bail for Olaska. He is charged with murder in the death of Spring Brook Elementary School teacher Shaun Wild.

DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert B. Berlin and Naperville Police Chief David E. Dial discussed details of the stabbing Sunday during a news conference. The crime occurred about 12:50 a.m. Saturday inside Frankies Blue Room, a nightclub at 16 W. Chicago Ave.

A friend of Wild’s, William Hayes III, reportedly taunted Olaska for drinking beer from a wine glass. Olaska allegedly stabbed Wild to the heart and injured Hayes and bar security worker Rafael Castenada during the confrontation.

Dial, who is retiring in May, said he had “never seen anything that made less sense” during his 45-year career in law enforcement.

Wild, 24, of Lisle, was pronounced dead Saturday morning at Edward Hospital in Naperville.

Hayes, a senior at North Central College in Naperville, underwent emergency surgery at the hospital and was discharged Sunday, a night nursing supervisor said. Castenada was released Saturday after undergoing treatment there for his wounds.

Olaska, 27, lives on the 1500 block of Foxhill Road, in the Brookdale neighborhood on Naperville’s northwest side. He listened Sunday in court on a closed-circuit television connection as his lawyer, Earl Grinbarg, argued unsuccessfully for a lower bail.

Assistant State’s Attorney Tim Diamond, who asked for bail of $5 million, detailed for Cerne the incident involving the beer and the wine glass. Earlier reports had the altercation growing out of Olaska teasing Hayes about a tight T-shirt he was wearing.

Diamond said Hayes and Wild did not know Olaska, and that the stabbing occurred for “no apparent reason ... essentially no reason for self-defense.”

The lounge’s surveillance videotape “shows (Olaska) stabbing the three victims,” Diamond said. He added Olaska tried to escape from the bar, only to be restrained by a police officer who had been sent to the scene.

Diamond said Olaska also gave police a written confession to the crime.

In arguing for bail of $1 million, Grinbarg said Olaska’s behavior was a “grotesque aberration,” and any bond higher than that would be “oppressive” to Olaska’s family. Grinbarg also noted Olaska was a lifelong Naperville resident with “no criminal background whatsoever.”

Diamond replied the nature of the crimes made Olaska a flight risk. The minimum sentence for first-degree murder is 20 years in prison, and Diamond said that since Olaska attempted to flee following the stabbing, he might try to run again.

Olaska’s family attended the hearing along with several members of the church. Family members, through Grinbarg, declined to comment on the case.

Olaska earned a master’s degree in aviation management from Middle Tennessee State University, and worked at the Schaumburg Airport as an aviation manager. Grinbarg said the time he spent at school was the only time Olaska had lived apart from his family.

Berlin, during the news conference, called the incident an “utterly senseless act of violence,” one that had “no explanation.”

He said an investigation determined Hayes and Olaska were “having words with each other” about Olaska, the beer and the wine glass. “Wild came over to see what was going on,” Berlin said.

The exact words exchanged between the parties are unknown, Berlin said. Toxicology reports that could determine to what extent, if any, alcohol and drugs were a factor are now being performed.

Berlin also said that, in addition to the bar videotape, police have a videotaped confession from Olaska, who reenacted for them how the alleged fight and stabbing occurred.

“There was no indication that it was an accident,” Berlin said.

The weapon used in the confrontation was described as a folding knife with a 5-inch-long blade.

When asked if Frankie’s Blue Room had a history of trouble, Dial replied it was “one of the more responsible nightclubs in downtown Naperville.” He added Olaska had no history with police, and reiterated there was no way to make sense of the stabbing.

“(Olaska) didn’t say why,” Dial said. He called the incident the result of a “nonsensical argument with someone.”

Olaska also faces trial on charges of attempted murder for the stabbings of Hayes and Castenada. He is scheduled to be arraigned March 5 before Judge Kathryn E. Creswell.

Bill Bird contributed to this report.