Jurors heard that Matthew Ascaridis suffered trauma more often linked to car crashes than a beach confrontation.
WAUKEGAN, Ill. — Medical testimony about catastrophic spinal cord injuries became a central part of the state’s case before a Lake County jury convicted two Highland Park men of killing Matthew Ascaridis at Fort Sheridan Beach.
Nicholas Caban, 23, and Jacob Firestone, 22, were found guilty Saturday of second-degree murder after prosecutors said the physical evidence did not support their claims that Ascaridis caused the fight or was fatally hurt in a fall. The men face sentencing June 18.
Dr. Eimad Zakariya of the Lake County Coroner’s Office gave jurors one of the starkest accounts of the case. He testified that Ascaridis, 45, suffered catastrophic damage to his spinal cord, injuries he said were more often seen in car crashes. Prosecutors also presented evidence that Ascaridis had been struck repeatedly in the head with significant force, causing his head to move violently and leaving him with a lacerated spinal cord. The autopsy described a broken neck, multiple injuries and about a dozen lacerations to the back of the head. The coroner’s office ruled the death a homicide. Assistant State’s Attorney Ben Dillon argued that the injuries showed Ascaridis was hit by at least two people while he was not moving. The medical account gave jurors a physical record of the violence that prosecutors said no self-defense story could explain.
That evidence was matched with blood and DNA findings from the beach and the surrounding investigation. Investigators testified that Caban said he and Firestone had a confrontation with Ascaridis and that Ascaridis fell. Another investigator said Firestone claimed during a hospital interview that Ascaridis had beaten both him and Caban. Prosecutors told jurors that those statements conflicted with the medical testimony and the DNA evidence recovered from blood at the scene. The state also stressed what did not happen after the confrontation. Prosecutors said Caban and Firestone did not immediately seek help for Ascaridis, despite injuries that left him unable to move. In closing arguments, the state said Ascaridis was left alone near the shoreline, gasping for air, before he died. Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said after the verdict that the jury followed the forensic and circumstantial evidence to reach the convictions.
The trial opened April 13 and lasted six days. Prosecutors called more than a dozen witnesses, including law enforcement officers, medical personnel and experts. The case reached the jury more than three years after the early morning of Sept. 17, 2022, when the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force responded to Fort Sheridan Beach in Highland Park and found Ascaridis dead with signs of trauma. A person walking the beach reported a body near the water around 5:12 a.m. The location was close to Ascaridis’ home and near the line between Highland Park and Lake Forest. Police later connected the death to an altercation involving Caban and Firestone, who were both Highland Park residents and were 20 and 18 at the time. The state charged them with second-degree murder in March 2023, months after the death and after additional investigation by police and coroner’s personnel.
Jurors also heard how an ordinary night at home moved toward the fatal encounter. Darci Ascaridis testified that she and her husband were packing for an upcoming trip around 11 p.m. Sept. 16 when they heard loud noises near their house. Matthew Ascaridis called police twice to report the disturbance. Around 1 a.m., she said, he was told it could take some time for an officer to arrive. He then headed toward the beach after speaking with an officer by phone. He carried a flashlight. A witness who had been with Caban and Firestone told investigators the men were listening to music and using a motorized surfboard in the water. That witness saw a man with a flashlight walking toward them but left before the confrontation. A Lake County Forest Preserve officer testified that he arrived at the beach around 2:15 a.m. but did not see or hear anything there.
The next clear law enforcement contact came after 5 a.m., first at the shoreline and then at Caban’s home. Highland Park police were called to a residence in the 3400 block of Dato Avenue around 5:23 a.m. after Caban reported an altercation. Officers found Firestone lying in the front yard and Caban standing nearby. Both appeared injured but conscious. Firestone was taken to Highland Park Hospital and later transferred to Evanston Hospital, where he underwent brain surgery for a brain bleed. Caban was taken for treatment of a facial laceration and a cut to the back of his head. The injuries to the defendants were not disputed, but prosecutors said their presence did not justify the level of force shown in Ascaridis’ body. The state framed the issue as a question of excess violence, delayed aid and accounts that shifted responsibility away from the defendants.
Rinehart said his office charged the case after the Major Crimes Task Force and the coroner’s pathologist uncovered conclusive evidence that Ascaridis was killed by excessive violence. “We will continue to support the family as we prepare for the sentencing hearing,” he said. The second-degree murder verdict means jurors accepted criminal liability while rejecting a full acquittal. Under the sentencing range cited by prosecutors, each defendant faces four to 20 years in prison, with the term to be served at 50%. The upcoming hearing will allow the court to consider the trial record, victim impact statements and any arguments from the state and defense before deciding punishment. No sentencing decision has been entered, and both defendants remain in the court process.
Ascaridis’ family was present through a case that described the father of two not only as a victim in a forensic record but as a husband who had been home packing for a trip hours before he died. Supporters described him as an involved parent, an “incredible husband” and someone who greeted people with warmth. Those details stood beside the clinical findings that dominated trial testimony: spinal trauma, head lacerations, a broken neck, blood evidence and the timeline between the first noise complaints and the 911 call. Prosecutors used both to argue that the case was not just about a fight but about the force used after the confrontation began and the decision to leave a severely injured man on the beach.
The verdict leaves Caban and Firestone awaiting sentencing while Ascaridis’ family waits for the final court ruling in a case that began at the water’s edge before dawn on Sept. 17, 2022.
Author note: Last updated May 9, 2026.