John Wilson Jr. found guilty of stabbing Kelli O'Laughlin to death in 2011

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (WLS) -- A jury found John Wilson Jr. guilty Monday night of stabbing 14-year-old Kelli O'Laughlin to death in her home in October 2011.

The 14-year-old victim's parents talked about the verdict in an exclusive sit-down interview with ABC7 Eyewitness News. Their emotion spilled out of the courtroom with hugs and tears as the two week trial ended after only two hours of jury deliberations.

"The evidence was there, we knew he was guilty but it goes with the jurors. It's in their hands and if they decide no, there's nothing we can do," said Brenda O'Laughlin, Kelli's mother.

"She was nervous and shaking. I was quite happy," said John O'Laughlin, Kelli's father.

John and Brenda O'Laughlin have been through so much. It was Brenda who came home from work in October of 2011 to find Kelli collapsed on the kitchen floor with a knife nearby. She called 911, mistakenly thinking her daughter committed suicide. Defense attorney John Paul Carroll played that up, going so far as to suggest Kelli committed suicide and her mom staged a burglary to cover it up.

"Obviously none of it stuck, obviously," said John Paul Carroll, defense attorney.

The defense claimed everything from suicide to racism, contending John Wilson Jr. was a convenient suspect because he was a black man visiting a white neighborhood. But prosecutors had Wilson's DNA and GPS from Kelli's stolen cell phone.

"I think the facts speak for themselves. I don't think anyone could not get emotional listening to the facts," said Guy Lisuzzo, assistant Cook County State's Attorney.

"No family should have to go through what we've been through - or have their child go through it - and it was horrific," said Brenda O'Laughlin.

The relief the O'Laughlins feel from the guilty verdict is tempered by the loss of their daughter, a high school freshman with countless friends and the world ahead of her.

"No matter the outcome of the trial, we're not getting Kelli back, but we feel good for the community that the person who would do that to our little girl isn't out in the community. Now we can put that behind us," said John O'Laughlin.

Sentencing is scheduled for October 10. The O'Laughlins say they've already put pen to paper to describe their loss in a way that will put their daughter's killer away for the rest of his life.