Erick Sanders / Photo from Chicago Police
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times
After allegedly gunning down his on-and-off roommate in her bedroom last month, Cook County prosecutors said a sweaty and nervous Erick Sanders repeatedly admitted to a friend that he “messed up” and asked his mother to drive him to Indiana.
As the mother and son made their way south, Sanders got a call from police asking him to return to the city because they had questions about Carnesha Fort’s murder.
But 19-year-old Sanders, who got out of prison earlier this year, told his mother he didn’t want to go back behind bars and got out of her car and fled at a gas station before stealing her cell phone and $40, Assistant State’s Attorney Jamie Santini said.
Sanders was back in prison Thursday after he was ordered held without bond for Fort’s June 6th murder.
Sanders had lived on and off with the mother of four and others in a Garfield Park residence after he was released from prison in February for violating his probation in a drug case.
But he had recently started fighting with Fort, 22, over his contributions for rent and groceries and Fort’s use of Sanders’ LINK card, Santini said.
On the night of the murder, Sanders came to the residence in the 100 block of North Keeler Avenue and asked to use Fort’s phone to call a cab, Santini said.
Sanders left the residence but came back a few minutes later claiming to have left his phone there, Santini said.
Sanders went to the bathroom before entering Fort’s bedroom and shooting her, Santini said.
A witness heard a pop and saw Sanders run out, prosecutors said.
Carnesha Fort / Family photo
Fort’s four children — ages 3, 5, 7 and 8 — were home when she was killed, her longtime boyfriend, Darnell “LA” Tubbs said.
A child was heard yelling from the window of the apartment for help, Santini said.
Sanders, whose address was listed in the 0-100 block of North Long, was allegedly identified by witnesses in a physical line-up.
Fort worked for Hudson Concessions in a stockroom at O’Hare International Airport, but had dreams of going back to school to pursue a career as a pharmacist, Tubbs said.