BY MATT MCKINNEY
For Chicago Sun-Times
A 19-year-old man was denied bond Sunday after he drove drunk and crashed a van in a construction zone — killing one worker and injuring several others, prosecutors said.
Erick A. Lopez, of the 3700 block of 83rd Place, was charged with three felony counts of reckless homicide in a construction zone, aggravated DUI resulting in death and aggravated DUI resulting in bodily harm, police said.
Lopez allegedly sped through the construction zone at 4911 S. Western Ave., failing to stay in his lane and smashed into several orange construction barriers about 4:15 a.m. Saturday, prosecutors said.
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BY MICHAEL LANSU AND SCARLETT SWERDLOW
Homicide Watch Chicago
Chicago Police recorded about 1,335 murders from 2011 through 2013 – a majority in communities where residents have little education and money.
While low educational attainment and high levels of poverty are associated with murder rates, some Chicago communities buck the trend.
Of Chicago’s 77 communities, Austin has the most residents, and the most people living in poverty. It also had the most murders from 2011 through 2013 with 96.
However, just because a community has a higher percentage of residents living in poverty doesn’t necessarily mean it will have a high murder total.
The East Side and Logan Square communities both had poverty rates above the city average, yet each area had low homicide rates.
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BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor
Chicago had the exact same number of murders in the first five months of 2014 as it did through the same period last year, police said.
Forty-two people were murdered in the city in May, raising the total number of killings to 137 — the same as in 2013 and a 34 percent decrease from the 207 slayings through the unusually violent first five months of 2012, police said.
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BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago Editor
Chicago had nine more murders and 101 more shooting victims in April 2014 than it did in April 2013 — raising the city’s murder total to 95 through the first four months of the year, police said.
Despite the bloody month, the city has tallied only two more murders this year than it did through the same period last year, a 1 percent increase, police said. The 95 slayings are a 38 percent decrease compared to to the unusually violent 2012, when 154 people were killed in the first months of the year.
Police said 2014 has had the second fewest killings through the first four months of the year since 1959, with only 2013 seeing fewer slayings.
Of the 33 Chicago murders in April, eight of the deceased were under the age of 18 — including three 16-year-olds and three 17-year-olds.
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Wallace Faust / Photo from Chicago Police
BY SUSAN DU
Homicide Watch Chicago
Charges have been upgraded against Wallace Faust for allegedly smoking marijuana prior to a crash that killed his passenger last December on the South Side.
Faust, 18, of the 7600 block of South Greenwood Avenue, was charged days after the crash with one misdemeanor count of DUI. He was charged Monday with aggravated DUI and reckless homicide, authorities said.
On Tuesday, Faust appeared before Judge Adam Bourgeous Jr. to face the new charges. Bourgeous released Faust on a $350,000 individual recognizance bond and ordered him placed on electronic monitoring.
About 11:20 p.m. Dec. 28, 2013, witnesses saw Faust and his cousin driving separate cars at a high rate of speed on South Chicago Avenue, Assistant State’s Attorney Rina Infelise said.
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Richard Lyons / Photo from Chicago Police
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times
Richard Lyons was sentenced to 60 years in prison Friday for the brutal stabbing death of his 9-year-old daughter, Mya.
Ericka Barnes called her ex a “coward and psychopath” for killing their daughter on July 14, 2008.
Lyons, now 45, initially “confused” police by telling them he found Mya lying in pool of blood in a dilapidated lot near his home in the 8400 block of Gilbert Court, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Fabio Valentini said in Lyons’ January trial.
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Andre Alejandro / Photo from Chicago Police
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times
Andre Alejandro was sentenced to 40 years in prison Thursday after admitting he shot and killed 13-year-old Ivan Alanis at an Uptown pizzeria.
A purported Gangster Disciple, Alejandro, 25, pleaded guilty to the 2012 murder before Cook County Judge Thomas Gainer, according to court records.
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BY WILL HAGER
Homicide Watch Chicago
Chicago went through its longest murder-free stretch of the year in March and closed out the month with 22 homicides, the fourth lowest total for a March on record, Chicago Police said.
Despite four murders in the first two days of the month, Chicago went through a period of 133 hours without a murder from March 2–7, eclipsing the run of 126 killing-free hours from Feb. 15-20.
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Eric Murchinson / Surveillance photo from FBI
Eric Murchinson is suspected of robbing a west suburban Melrose Park bank last year and has been charged with murder in connection with the fatal 2013 stabbing of Aurelia Wilborn in the Roseland neighborhood that same day.
Murchinson, 44, who is in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, was charged Thursday with one felony count of first-degree murder in the July 2, 2013 stabbing death of the 64-year-old Wilborn at her home about 10:15 a.m. in the 10800 block of South Calumet Avenue, according to a statement from Chicago Police.
Judge Laura Sullivan ordered Murchinson held without bond Friday, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.
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BY MICHAEL LANSU
Homicide Watch Chicago
When it comes to murders, Chicago has been called a city of two extremes.
A majority of the killings in recent years happened in portions of the South and West Side, yet even those areas still have communities with extremely low murder totals. Communities with the lowest murder totals can be found throughout the city — especially near suburban borders.
A Homicide Watch analysis of Chicago Police murder totals from 2011 through 2013 found a drastic difference between communities. During that time, 41 percent of the 1,349 murders reported by police happened in just nine communities, while 34 percent of the city’s 77 official communities averaged one killing per year or less.
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