Prosecutors said Matthew Ascaridis was left alone on the sand for hours after a violent confrontation.
WAUKEGAN, Ill. — The hours between a late-night beach confrontation and a 911 call became a defining issue before jurors convicted Nicholas Caban and Jacob Firestone in Matthew Ascaridis’ killing.
A Lake County jury found Caban, 23, and Firestone, 22, guilty Saturday of second-degree murder in the Sept. 17, 2022, death of Ascaridis, a Highland Park father of two. Prosecutors said the defendants used excessive violence, then waited hours before contacting authorities while Ascaridis lay fatally injured near Fort Sheridan Beach.
The 911 call did not come from the shoreline where Ascaridis was later found. It came around 5:23 a.m. from Caban’s home in the 3400 block of Dato Avenue, after police already had been called to Fort Sheridan Beach for a man found near the water. Officers who went to the home found Firestone lying in the front yard and Caban standing nearby. Both were injured but conscious. Firestone was taken first to Highland Park Hospital and later to Evanston Hospital for brain surgery. Caban was treated for cuts to his face and the back of his head. Prosecutors used that scene to press a core point: Whatever injuries the defendants had, they had not called for Ascaridis when he needed help. The state said Ascaridis had been left alone, unable to move and gasping for air before he died.
The timeline began hours earlier with noise near a lakefront home. Darci Ascaridis testified that she and her husband were packing for a trip around 11 p.m. Sept. 16 when loud sounds drew their attention. Matthew Ascaridis called police twice to report the disturbance. Around 1 a.m., he was told an officer’s response could be delayed. He then walked toward the beach with a flashlight. A witness told investigators that Caban and Firestone were at the beach listening to music and using a motorized surfboard in the water. The witness said he saw a man with a flashlight approaching and left before the confrontation. A Forest Preserve officer later arrived around 2:15 a.m. and testified that he did not see or hear anything unusual. By shortly after 5 a.m., a beach walker reported an unresponsive man in the water near shore.
The delayed report mattered because of what the coroner later found. Dr. Eimad Zakariya of the Lake County Coroner’s Office testified that Ascaridis suffered catastrophic spinal cord injuries similar to trauma he had often seen in car crash victims. Trial testimony also described repeated strikes to the head, a broken neck, signs of drowning and numerous lacerations to the back of the head. Prosecutors argued that Ascaridis was struck by at least two people while he was not moving. The coroner’s office ruled the death a homicide from multiple injuries suffered in a physical fight. The state did not present the case as a brief scuffle with an accidental fall. Prosecutors said the wounds, the blood evidence and the defendants’ later statements showed a beating followed by a failure to summon aid.
Caban and Firestone gave investigators different versions that cast Ascaridis as the aggressor. One investigator testified that Caban said he and Firestone had a confrontation with Ascaridis and that Ascaridis fell on the beach. Another investigator said Firestone claimed in the hospital that Ascaridis beat both men. Prosecutors argued those statements were inconsistent with medical testimony and DNA evidence collected from blood at the scene. The jury also heard about the age and condition of the defendants after the incident. Caban was 20 and Firestone was 18 at the time. Both were injured enough to need hospital care, but the state argued that their injuries did not account for the severity of Ascaridis’ trauma or the hours before the call. Jurors convicted both men on all counts after a six-day trial.
Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said the verdict followed an investigation by the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force and the coroner’s office. He said the evidence showed Ascaridis “was killed due to excessive violence from these two offenders.” Rinehart also said prosecutors continued to grieve with the family and would support them as the case moved to sentencing. The trial team included Ben Dillon, chief of the felony division, and Assistant State’s Attorney Kyle Doyle. Prosecutors called more than a dozen witnesses, including officers, medical personnel and experts. The testimony moved from the family home to the shoreline, from the defendants’ yard to the hospital and from the autopsy table to the jury room. The verdict came Saturday, April 18, 2026, more than three years after Ascaridis’ death.
The legal path was not immediate. Firestone was charged soon after the killing with obstructing justice for allegedly hiding a cellphone and a wheelbarrow. Caban and Firestone were charged with second-degree murder in March 2023. Their trial began April 13, 2026, and ended six days later with guilty verdicts. Second-degree murder carries a sentencing range of four to 20 years in prison in this case, with any sentence to be served at 50%. The defendants’ next court date is June 18. At that hearing, the judge is expected to consider the trial evidence, the statutory range, arguments from lawyers and statements about the impact of Ascaridis’ death. No sentence has been imposed, and the convictions remain the latest court action.
Ascaridis’ life outside the case was described through family testimony and public tributes. He was 45, married and the father of two children. Supporters remembered him as a warm presence and a devoted parent. Those descriptions stood beside the stark sequence jurors heard: a family preparing to leave town, noise near the home, calls for police, a walk toward the beach and a fatal encounter in the early morning dark. Fort Sheridan Beach is a familiar lakefront setting in the north suburbs, but the trial turned it into a map of decisions and delays. Prosecutors argued that the most important decision after the fight was the one not made soon enough: calling for help where Ascaridis lay.
The case now moves to sentencing on June 18, when Caban and Firestone will learn their punishment for the second-degree murder convictions in Ascaridis’ death.
Author note: Last updated May 9, 2026.