Daley Nephew's Police Files Went Missing, Reappeared

Police files related to the David Koschman case mysteriously disappeared and then suddenly turned up.

The case led to the indictment of former Mayor Richard Daley's nephew, Richard Vanecko, nearly nine years after 21-year-old Koschman's death. Prosecutors say Koschman died after Vanecko punched him in a fight on Chicago's Division Street in April 2004. Koschman died from brain injuries.

According to an internal affairs report obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, the police files related to the case went missing at some point years ago. They weren't found or returned until 2011, after the investigation into Koschman's death was closed and police concluded Vanecko acted in self-defense.

They later turned up sitting on top of a file cabinet inside a sergeant's office.

No one knows who took the files, how long they were gone or who returned them. The Sun-Times reports the files included a handwritten note that said "V Dailey [SIC] sister son," an apparent reference to Vanecko being Daley's nephew.

It was Vanecko's self-defense argument and the missing files that led to the appointment of special prosecutor Daniel Webb to re-examine the case and charge Vanecko, who now awaits trial.

The missing files are expected to be brought up during the trial. 

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