BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor
When Linda Sanders was found in her Grand Boulevard home, the 60-year-old mother was lying in a pool of blood after being “battered almost beyond recognition,” prosecutors said.
Chicago Police detectives talked to relatives, technicians collected evidence and a private body removal service — which some officers have nicknamed “the body snatcher” — took Sanders’ body to the Cook County medical examiner’s office, where a forensic pathologist would determine the cause and manner of death.
The next day, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen J. Cina determined Sanders died from “multiple blunt and sharp force injuries.” He ruled the death a homicide, and her son was charged with murder hours later.
“The police investigation focuses on if there was a crime committed, and then catching the bad guy,” Cina said. “Our investigation focuses on determining causes and manners of death. We run two independent investigations.”
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BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago
After consecutive years of record low murder totals, killings rose nearly 30 percent compared to the first quarter of 2014.
The 80 murders through the first three months of the year is the highest first quarter murder total since since 117 people were slain in the first three months of 2012, according to Chicago Police data.
After the unusually violent 2012, murders fell 47 percent in the first three months of 2013. The 62 killings in the first quarter of 2014 were the fewest slayings during that span since 1958.
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BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor
A WBEZ investigation released on Monday examined the declining number of murder cases closed by Chicago Police over the past 25 years.
Since 1990, the number of murder cases closed in the same year the killing happened fell from nearly 70 percent to below 30 percent. With the mayoral election just two weeks away, there has been a renewed interest on the yearly murders totals — and subsequent arrests — since Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office in 2011.
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BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor
Chicago had one fewer killing this February compared to last February, but slayings remain higher than last year after a violet January.
Chicago Police reported 19 murders in February 2015, one less killing than last February and six more than February 2013. The 19 slayings were more than a 20 percent decrease from the 27 murders in February 2012 and the 24 in February 2011.
Despite the slight decrease in February killings, the city still has a 20 percent increase in murders this year compared to last year after a 40 percent increase in murders in January.
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BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor
Chicago averaged nearly a murder per day in the first month of the new year.
Police reported 28 murders in January 2015, a 40 percent increase compared to the 20 last January, when the city had the fewest January murders since 1964.
While January slayings were up compared to last year, they were significantly down compared to the 40 killings in 2013 and the 38 in 2012, according to police data.
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BY KENNY NGUYEN
Homicide Watch Chicago
While Chicago has seen a steady decline in murders since the turn of the century, where those killings happen have remained relatively unchanged.
Chicago Police reported 6,944 murders between 2001 and 2014, according to city data. About 78 percent of those killed happened outside.
In 2001, about 75 percent of the city’s 666 murders happened outdoors. In 2005, the total number of killings fell to 453, with about 77 percent happening outside. In 2009, 81 percent of the city’s 459 slayings happened outdoors.
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July 18 shooting in the 400 block of East 45th Place / Photo by Alex Wroblewski
BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor
Chicago could record its lowest murder total in nearly five decades for the second consecutive calendar year, despite an increase in shootings in 2014.
Chicago Police reported 390 murders through Dec. 20, while the Cook County medical examiner’s office reported 410 homicides, including 16 fatal police shootings, during the same period. There have been at least 10 additional homicides and one fatal police shooting since then.
Police, which follow federal guidelines when counting murders, determined some of the homicides were self-defense or accidents.
The numbers represent a 2 to 4 percent decrease in killings from 2013, and a 19 to 20 percent decrease from the unusually high 2012, when there were 504 murders. It would be fewest killings in any year since the 397 slayings in 1965.
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BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago
Chicago Police reported nine more murders last month compared to November 2013, yet killings remain down 3.5 percent compared to last year.
Police reported 38 November murders, a 31 percent increase from the 29 murders in November 2013. The November 2014 murder total is more in line with 2011 and 2012, when 37 and 39 people were killed in the month.
For the year, Chicago Police, which follows federal guidelines in how it counts murders, reported 369 killings through the first 11 months of the year.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office, which counts slayings differently, have reported 406 homicides, including 14 people fatally shot by police officers.
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Restaurant employee Chang Z. Qui was fatally shot last week during an attempted robbery at the Austin eatery. Reader “g3rm4n_chocol4t3” posted this about the killing:
Just sickening……whoever this shooter is…..GET A DAMN JOB!!!!!! Robbing and killing innocent people is not the answer. Grow a pair and go out into the world and help make it better. Condolences to the victim’s family. I hope they find you and justice is swift. You don’t deserve to live freely.
