Koschman Mother: Charges Are Bittersweet

For Nanci Koschman, word that charges had been filed in connection with her son's death were  bittersweet.

"Seeing it in print makes me feel better," she said Monday. "But it doesn't bring David back."

David Koschman died in the spring of 2004 after an argument in Chicago's Gold Coast. For eight years, his mother has waged a fight to bring justice in his death.

She said she got a bit of justice Monday, when former Mayor Richard Daley's nephew, R.J. Vanecko, was charged with involuntary manslaughter.

"I'm going to go tell David tomorrow that he can finally be at peace, that someone is being charged," she said.

Remarkably, she said she has no interest in seeing Vanecko go to jail. 

"It's not going to bring my son back," she said. "I wanted it on record that the man hit my son ... for no reason. ... He hit him hard enough that he died."

Most important, she said, was she wanted it on record that her son didn't cause his own death.

"I wanted David's name cleared," she said.

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