Man will spend life in prison for Winnetka murders despite request for new sentence

WINNETKA, Ill. - More than 30 years after the brutal murders of a Winnetka couple and their unborn child, a judge denied David Biro's latest attempt to get out of prison.

The murders traumatized the upscale community in 1990.

This is now the fourth time Biro has unsuccessfully tried to be re-sentenced. But even though the judge's decision went their way, his victims' surviving family members say yet again, they're having to relive the trauma.

"We should be done with this," said Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins, sister of one of the victims. "I shouldn't have to spend my retirement years making sure Mr. Biro stays in prison, but I will if I have to."

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Bishop-Jenkins' sister and brother-in-law, Nancy and Richard Langert, and the Langert's unborn child, were found shot to death by an intruder in their Winnetka townhouse in 1990. On Friday, she said she was grateful a judge shut down the now 48-year-old Biro's latest attempt to have his life prison sentence reconsidered.

"I'm very grateful today that Judge Brosnahan, the Cook County State's Attorney's office — thanks to all of them — did the right thing," she said.  

Biro was 16, a junior at New Trier High School, when he shot and killed the couple. His lawyer argued Biro's life sentence violates the state's Proportionate Penalties Clause, but in her ruling the judge stated: "this court finds Petitioner has failed to make a substantial showing of a violation of a constitutional right."

The ruling was a relief for surviving family members who've been wanting to put Biro's legal case behind them for more than 30 years.

"My father, when he was dying of cancer, asked two things of me. He said, 'take care of your mother, promise me,' and he said, 'make sure Mr. Biro stays in prison.' I said, 'I promise, dad,' and so what's at stake for me is they died knowing I'd take care of that. And I will."

Biro did not appear in court for Friday's ruling. He will remain incarcerated at the Correctional Center in Pontiac, Illinois.