John Atkins
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times
A popular night club promoter’s lover and her best friend lured him to a Far South Side home where he was robbed and murdered last year, prosecutors said Thursday.
LaDonna Curry and her pal Audreianna McNeil allegedly enlisted two men to help them carry out the deadly plan in the 11700 block of South Hale Avenue, said Assistant State’s Attorney Alexandra Molesky.
After meeting John “Fuzzy” Atkins at the nightclub where he worked on Aug. 31, 2013, the women — both Fenger Academy alums — allegedly convinced him to meet them at the Hale Avenue address.
Their two male cohorts were waiting in the back of the house and when the McNeil and Curry saw them, they left the gangway and got back in their car, leaving 33-year-old Atkins alone, Molesky said.
The women last saw Atkins on his knees with his hands behind his back, Molesky said.
He was discovered by neighbors with a gunshot wound to his head the next morning.
Curry and McNeil had gone to McNeil’s job but then went to McNeil’s house in Gary, Ind., after one of their cohorts called them, Molesky said.
That man also drove to the Gary residence in Atkins’ car, Molesky said.
There in McNeil’s garage, he allegedly burned Atkins’ ID and cell phone.
He also had in his possession a necklace belonging to Atkins, Molesky said.
The two women and the man ended up driving in a vacant lot where they burned Atkins’ car, Molesky said.
Cell phone records indicate that McNeil, 25, and Curry, 29, were in the area of the murder and were in Gary following the crime, Molesky said.
Both women allegedly admitted their role in the murders.
McNeil, of the 11900 block of South Lafayette Avenue, is a shift leader at a Dunkin Donuts and is taking nursing classes at Olive-Harvey College, an assistant public defender said.
Curry is unemployed and is a mother of four. According to police reports, Curry currently lives in the 7600 block of South Essex Avenue.
Judge Peggy Chiampas on Thursday ordered both women held in lieu of $500,000 bond on murder charges.
The two men involved in the murder have not been charged, prosecutors said.