Homicide Watch Chicago

By ANDY GRIMM Chicago Sun-Times The dark, revolting images on the massive monitor screen showed Gizzell Ford, just months removed from winning her school spelling bee and collecting a straight-A report card, with piles of trash heaped around her bruised, scarred body. Then came video of the third-grader, swaying drowsily, her hair askew and eyes … Read more →

By RUMMANA HUSSAIN Chicago Sun-Times Gizzell Ford, a straight-A student, was by seen almost everyone who crossed her path as a “blessing”—a lovely, bright smart girl. The 8-year-old, in her diary, expressed a desire to have a fulfilling relationship with her paternal grandmother nourished with deep conversation and love. But all Helen Ford gave Gizzell … Read more →

Two months after the grandmother of 8-year-old Gizzell Ford was charged with the little girl’s murder, Gizzell’s father appeared in court Monday — now also accused in the brutal killing. A skeletal Andre Ford appeared in a wheelchair before Judge Laura Sullivan at the George Leighton Criminal Courthouse, where the 28-year-old man was ordered held … Read more →

By John Seidel Chicago Sun-Times Eight months before 8-year-old Gizzell Ford suffered a horrifying demise allegedly at the hands of her paternal grandmother, court records show the girl’s mother tried to win back custody of her daughter. But Cook County Judge Lionel Jean-Baptiste wouldn’t give her back to Sandra Mercado last December, the Chicago Sun-Times … Read more →