CHICAGO -- When Joe Jacobazzi got a flat tire about 20 years ago on a cold night, he didn't hesitate to call Jeffrey Kramer at 2 a.m. and ask for help.
Kramer, who owned an auto repair shop, immediately sent someone out to fix Jacobazzi's flat.
"No charge. Just a handshake," recalled Jacobazzi, a friend of Kramer's father.
Since the deaths on Tuesday of Kramer, 50, his wife, Lori, 48, and their son Michael, 20, Jacobazzi said the crime has been "eating me. There's no rhyme or reason."
That sentiment resonated with the hundreds of people who paid their respects Sunday for the Kramers, who were shot to death in their west suburban Darien, Ill., home.
"I was shocked," said 15-year-old Torrie Stoewsand, Lori Kramer's second cousin. "They seemed like one of the last types of families that this would happen to."
As mourners snaked around the Hallowell and James Funeral Home in Downers Grove, Ill., two men who allegedly conspired together to kill the Kramers remained behind bars. Earlier Sunday, Jacob Nodarse, 23, and Johnny Borizov, 28, were denied bail as prosecutors provided grisly new details about the killings.
Borizov, who prosecutors say badgered Nodarse into committing the crime, is charged with first-degree murder, solicitation of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Nodarse, the alleged gunman, is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Nodarse promised Borizov he would kill Angela Kramer, with whom Borizov was locked in a heated custody battle over their 13-month-old son. After breaking into the Kramer home with a hammer, the first of his 10 shots downed Michael Kramer as Kramer was trying to get a knife. Then Nodarse shot Jeffrey and Lori Kramer.
After Nodarse couldn't find Angela Kramer, who was hiding in a closet and calling 911, he stood over each body and pumped another bullet into their heads to make sure they were dead, Assistant DuPage County State's Attorney Jeffrey Muntz said in court Sunday.
Nodarse returned to his car parked a block away and fled to Florida.
He called Borizov on a prepaid cell phone, saying: "This is Jake. I am still driving and I think I am being followed."
Muntz said Nodarse and Borizov discussed the scheme on Feb. 25 -- the same day Nodarse bought a gun used in the shootings and quit his job at an auto dealer. There is no evidence Borizov paid Nodarse to commit the killings, but Nodarse told police he would do anything for Borizov, Muntz said.
Arrested outside his parent's Florida home, Nodarse eventually led police to a Terre Haute, Ind., trash bin behind a pancake house where he had thrown a .40-caliber Glock handgun and the clothes he wore during the attack, officials said.
To give himself an alibi, prosecutors allege that Borizov was at the Empress Casino in Joliet until 3:40 the next morning after the shootings, Muntz said. Borizov made sure security cameras and credit card receipts would bolster his alibi, prosecutors said, and he brought a relative to vouch for his whereabouts.
Borizov's lawyer, Marc Wolfe, called Muntz's allegations empty. Wolfe disputed the prosecution's motive and blamed Nodarse. He said the custody issue "was not heated and was going very well. This whole case sits on this fellow Jacob. Because Jacob professes to know Johnny, therefore Johnny must be involved? Ridiculous."
Nodarse's lawyer, Randy Rueckert, said he was unfamiliar with the details of the case but said, "I just have to shake my head."
Muntz refused to say if another person police have questioned along with Borizov would face charges.
Borizov and Nodarse are due in court March 29. If convicted, they could be eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors have not decided to seek the death penalty yet.
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