Homicide Watch Chicago

By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

Raymond Boyle | Chicago Police

When the fight was over late Monday afternoon, Boyle’s cohort, 20-year-old Angelica Escamilla, was dead, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.

Boyle and his other pal, Dalton Stropes, were also injured, as was their teenage prey, who police determined stabbed Escamilla in self-defense, Assistant State’s Attorney Barry Quinn said Thursday.

Boyle, 21; and Stropes, 20, were charged with Escamilla’s murder because she was killed while they were committing felonies—aggravated battery and engaging in mob action, authorities said.
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By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

A West Garfield Park man strangled his live-in girlfriend Vanessa V. Taylor, then confessed to killing her on Facebook, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.

James E. Thomas | Chicago Police

James E. Thomas went into his victim’s Facebook account and wrote, “My girlfriend was part of the mob. She came to kill me, so I killed her,” Assistant State’s Attorney Akash Vyas said.

The 49-year-old Taylor was found by officers Tuesday lying on a bedroom floor with an electrical cord wrapped around her neck.

Minutes earlier, her 28-year-old son had asked police to conduct a well-being check because his older brother had been getting unusual Facebook notifications from their mother’s account, Vyas said.
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By LEEANN SHELTON
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A Latin Kings street gang member has been sentenced to 51 years in prison for fatally shooting Brandon Cage after demanding he renounce his own gang in the summer of 2013.

Abel Ruiz, 23, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder on May 21 after a four-day trial before Judge Vincent Gaughan, court records show.

Prosecutors accused Ruiz of fatally shooting Cage about 1:30 a.m. June 12, 2013, in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood.

Ruiz was riding in a car with fellow Latin Kings when he instructed the driver to stop in the 3300 block of West 60th Street, according to court records.
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By REEMA AMIN and JORDAN OWEN
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Two men have been charged with a stabbing that left 20-year-old woman Angelica Escamilla dead and a 19-year-old man hurt during a melee Monday afternoon in the North Side Lincoln Square neighborhood.

Raymond Boyle, 21; and Dalton Stropes, 20, are each charged with two counts of murder, one count of mob action, and one count of aggravated battery with a weapon, all felonies, according to Chicago Police.

The fight happened about 3:30 p.m. Monday in the 2100 block of West Windsor, police said. One of the men, armed with a knife, stabbed Escamilla, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. A 19-year-old man was also beaten.
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A man has been charged with murder for strangling Vanessa V. Taylor in her West Garfield Park home earlier this week, a murder discovered by police after her roommate posted on social media that he had killed her.

James E. Thomas, 49, was charged with one county of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated assault to a peace officer with a weapon, according to Chicago Police.

About 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, officers performing a well-being check in the third-floor apartment in the 4300 block of West Flournoy found the 49-year-old Taylor unresponsive, police said. A source said she had been strangled with a computer cord.
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By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

In what was supposed to be a retaliatory strike against a romantic rival, a convicted felon accidentally shot Jason Jernigan in 2013, but after admitting the crime to a witness, he is now charged with the cold-case murder.

On Tuesday, Dwayne Anderson, 32, was charged with the murder of Jernigan, 27, after being arrested at Hill Correctional Center in downstate Galesburg, where he is serving a two-year sentence for drug and firearm convictions, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

In the fall of 2013, Anderson was involved in a dispute with a friend of Jernigan “over the affections of a woman,” a statement from prosecutors said.
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Angelica Escamilla was fatally stabbed and two other people injured during a domestic-related fight Monday afternoon in the North Side Lincoln Square neighborhood, officials said.

The stabbing happened about 3:30 p.m. in the 2100 block of West Windsor, police said.

During the fight, a man armed with a knife stabbed the 20-year-old Escamilla and two other men, ages 19 and 21, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Escamilla, of the 4200 block of North Lincoln, was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 4:20 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.
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Avery Williams was shot to death while driving in the Morgan Park neighborhood late Tuesday on the Far South Side.

About 10:45 p.m., the 22-year-old Williams was driving in the 11100 block of South Hamlet when a black SUV pulled alongside and a gunman inside shot him in the abdomen, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

Williams, who lived in the 10400 block of South Church, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he later died, authorities said.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

By MITCHELL ARMENTROUT
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

A man has been charged with the fatal stabbing of Adrian Campos earlier this week in a Logan Square neighborhood backyard on the Northwest Side.

Ruben Quispe-Trujillo | Chicago Police

He and Campos were drinking when they got into an argument and Quispe-Trujillo pulled out a large knife, stabbing Campos in the chest, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Campos, 26, was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 4:11 a.m. Both men were residents of the block where the stabbing happened, authorities said.
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By ASHLEE REZIN and LEEANN SHELTON
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Vanessa V. Taylor was found strangled early Tuesday in her West Garfield Park neighborhood apartment after her roommate posted on social media that he had killed her, police sources said.

About 2:30 a.m., officers performing a well-being check in the third-floor apartment in the 4300 block of West Flournoy found the 49-year-old woman unresponsive, police said.

Taylor was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
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