I didn't have him for any classes, but a few friends of mine did. He was kind of a character, but IIRC not necessarily in a good way. I remember back in '86 or '87, someone superimposed his head on a picture of a guy in a porno mag, added the caption "Al 'Thruster' Filan" and passed it around in a few classes.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 5428.story
chicagotribune.com
Family: Woman charged in Orland Park stabbing acted in self-defense
By Rosemary Regina Sobol
Tribune reporter
3:03 PM CST, January 26, 2014
A woman accused of fatally stabbing a high school teacher in Orland Park has told relatives she acted in self-defense after her friend was threatened, an uncle said Sunday.
"There's a lot more to the story," said Ed Hensley, 43, of Winchester, Ky. "I don't know all the details but I believe her."
"The big thing is, she feels like she was defending herself."
His niece, Alisha M.Walker, 20, has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Alan Filan, 61, a teacher at Brother Rice High School on Chicago's Southwest Side.
Police say Walker, from Akron, Ohio, has confessed that she went to Filan's home Jan. 18 after Filan contacted her through the classifieds website Backpage. The two had met on at least two other occasions, according to police.
Walker, who has prior arrests for drugs, prostitution and battery, told police the two argued over money and there was a struggle, during which Walker stabbed Filan several times, police said.
Filan was found dead on the kitchen floor of his Orland Park home Tuesday when he didn't report for work that day. The Cook County medical examiner's office said the cause of death was multiple stab and incise wounds.
Walker's uncle said another woman, a friend of Walker, was also at Filan's home at the time. Walker has told relatives she acted in self-defense after the other woman was threatened, according to Hensley.
"There's a lot of things that don't make sense," said Hensley, who said he spoke to his niece by phone Saturday night from the Allen County Jail in Fort Wayne, Ind., where Walker is being held. "She's not doing very good, she's pretty upset, she was crying."
Orland Park Police Department Cmdr. John Keating confirmed this afternoon that there was "another female who traveled to the home with the suspect." He also said that there would be an extradition hearing for Walker Monday in Fort Wayne.
Hensley acknowledged that Walker has been in trouble before but "nothing like this." He added, "She was trying to get herself straightened out."
Hensley and his wife Dawn, who is the sister of Walker's mother, took Walker in when she was in eighth grade through her senior year in high school when "times got tough" for her, he said.
"She's always been around," Hensley said. "She is like my little girl."
Hensley said the last time he saw his niece was about three years ago but he keeps in touch by phone. Hensley said he feels terribly about what happened and he is worried about his niece.
"I hate to think of anybody losing their life over anything," Hensley said.
"I am worried about her because murder one … that's the rest of her life," Hensley said. "She's 20. She has a long hard road ahead of her. If she did wrong, she's going to have to pay the price for what she did."
Filan taught at Brother Rice High School for nearly 40 years and coached soccer at Tinley Park's Victor Andrew High School from 1988 to 2010.
Brian Collie, 44, a 1987 Brother Rice graduate, said the circumstances surrounding the stabbing were "definitely surprising."
"He always taught us to be good, upstanding young Christian men," Collie said. "Again, I don't know the situation, but it just seems out of character for him to be in that situation.
"To us, he was upstanding in every way," he said. "I hope he rests in peace. I'm sorry and saddened that all the young men weren't able to be guided by him."
Filan, a 1974 graduate of Calumet College of St. Joseph's in Whiting, Ind., is part of a prominent Cook County family. His brother, Bill, is a Chicago lobbyist, and his sister, Denise, is a Cook County judge.
