Homicide Watch Chicago

By SAM CHARLES
Chicago Sun-Times
and ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wyndham Lathem, the Northwestern professor suspected of murder, dropped off his alleged accomplice, Andrew Warren, at a San Francisco police station before Lathem turned himself in to federal authorities in Oakland on Friday, police told the Chicago Sun-Times.

They were the subjects of a nationwide manhunt after being charted with the murder of Trenton H. James Cornell-Duranleau last month in River North.

San Francisco Police Lt. Randy Caturay confirmed that Warren surrendered to police by himself Friday, though Lathem drove him to the station in Golden Gate Park.

Caturay added that, after Warren was in custody, he was questioned by San Francisco Police homicide detectives. He said that the British consulate was also made aware of Warren’s arrest.

The two were wanted for allegedly murdering the 26-year-old Cornell-Duranleau on July 27 inside an apartment in the Grand Plaza Apartments in the 500 block of North State Street in River North.

A Chicago Police spokesman said both men will face a judge in California before being extradited to Chicago.
Read more

Detectives seeking fresh leads have released new details about a July shooting in the Far South Side Princeton Park neighborhood that killed 58-year-old William Everett Cooper II.

On Friday night, Chicago Police released a photo of a black, four-door Audi with tinted windows that was used in the killing of Cooper.

Cooper, known as “Willie,” was outside about 4:15 p.m. July 15 when two people got out of the Audi in the 100 block of West 95th Street near “Lilydale Outreach Workers for a Better Community,” a nonprofit organization Cooper ran, authorities said.

They fired shots with an AR-15 assault rifle, got back into the car, and drove away south on LaSalle Street, police said.

Cooper, who lived in the Fernwood neighborhood, was shot in his mouth and torso, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Known as the Mayor of 95th Street, Cooper founded Lilydale to help teens find jobs and help ex-offenders return to society. He also worked with the Cure Violence group.

“Willie was one of my first violence interrupters. He helped mediate over 50 conflicts that could have turned deadly while he worked with me. Everybody loved him and respected his office,” Tio Hardiman, former director of Ceasefire Illinois, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

No one was in custody. Area South detectives asked anyone with information to call (312) 747-8271.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire and Homicide Watch Chicago

By ANALISA TROFIMUK
Homicide Watch Chicago

Maricela Huerta recalls her son, Christian Pichardo, serving his community from his grandparents’ garage in South Chicago as the community barber.

The 18-year-old often provided free haircuts to children in the neighborhood so he could practice while attending Success Barber School.

Pichardo impacted many children in the neighborhood through conversations held over those haircuts, according to Huerta, but a young man nicknamed “Ricky” was one of his favorite clients and closest friend.

Not many in the community treated Ricky as a normal kid due to his Down syndrome, but Pichardo spent time and joked around with him like he would with any other friend, Huerta said.

“He always had compassion for others,” Huerta said.

On May 23, 2011, Pichardo was found fatally shot outside his grandparents’ home, and while it has been six years since his death, family and friends sometimes still refer to him in present tense and ‘fill in the blanks with what he would do,’ keeping his compassionate spirit alive, according to Huerta.

“We always see things in a different light because of him,” Huerta said.
Read more

By JEFF MAYES
Homicide Watch Chicago

At least 14 people were killed last week as Chicago passed the 400-homicide mark for the year nearly a week ahead of last year’s pace, when the homicides numbers were the highest in two decades. The victims included a mother shot while walking with her young son, and a man stabbed to death in a luxury apartment, a crime which has sparked a nationwide manhunt.

When Kennatay K. Leavell was shot to death early Friday near the former Cabrini-Green public housing projects on the Near North Side, it was the city’s 400th homicide of the year.

But before the day was over, two more homicides had been reported that happened earlier, and by Aug. 1, the date when the 400th homicide of 2016 was reported, there had been at least 410 this year, according to Sun-Times data.

Add in five people shot dead by on-duty Chicago Police officers; the deaths of 10 people ruled homicides due to wounds suffered in years past; four people charged with reckless homicide over motor vehicle-involved fatalities; and a man charged with murder in a case where autopsy results are still pending, and the number grows even higher.

Of those killings, about 380 have been with guns, the data shows. Fifteen people were stabbed to death, nine were abused or assaulted, two were strangled, three were intentionally hit by vehicles, and one was forced to ingest bleach.

The total included a woman killed in a shooting that also injured her 4-year-old son and a man Friday evening in the West Side Austin neighborhood. The shooting happened at 5:19 p.m. in the 5200 block of West Kamerling, police said. Nikia Betts, 28, was walking down an alley with her son and the man when shots rang out, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. She was shot in the head and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she died at 5:54 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office. The boy and 19-year-old man were both shot in the arm, police said. They were taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition.
Read more

By JORDAN OWEN and MATTHEW HENDRICKSON
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Father of five Abel Melesio was shot to death Thursday morning while watering the lawn of his home in the Southwest Side Gage Park neighborhood.

About 11:30 a.m., the 46-year-old Melesio was in front of his home watering in the 5600 block of South Richmond when a black Cadillac SUV drove by and someone inside fired shots, according to authorities and community activist Andrew Holmes.

His family heard the gunfire and ran outside to find Melesio shot twice and lying in the grass, Holmes said. His daughter rode with him in the ambulance to Holy Cross Hospital.

Melesio was pronounced dead there at 11:45 a.m., the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
Read more

By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

Jonathan Gonzalez and Emmanuel Diaz were pals once. But the friendship soured when Gonzalez became convinced that Diaz had romantic feelings for his wife.

The men confronted each other one last time in February, a roadside encounter that turned deadly, Cook County prosecutors claim.

Diaz, 32, ended up hitting Gonzalez with his Nissan Sentra then fled from the 8900 block of Belmont Avenue, Assistant State’s Attorney Ed Murillo said in court on March 1, when Diaz was charged with failure to report an accident involving a death.

That charge may be upgraded after the Cook County medical examiner’s office this week ruled Gonzalez’ death a homicide.

Back in March, assistant public defender claimed the 34-year-old Gonzalez had stopped his Chevrolet Impala right behind Diaz, got out of his car and approached the driver’s side of the Sentra.
Read more

By JORDAN OWEN and ANDY GRIMM
Chicago Sun-Times

Just days after a 26-year-old Trenton H. James Cornell-Duranleau was found stabbed to death inside Northwestern University professor Wyndham Lathem’s luxe River North apartment, a nationwide manhunt for the microbiologist has begun.

A Cook County judge on Monday issued arrest warrants for Lathem, 42; and Andrew Warren, 56, a payroll assistant at Oxford University’s Somerville College in England, for the murder of Cornell-Duranleau on July 27.

On Wednesday, Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said detectives believe the pair have fled Illinois, but their passports have been flagged by the State Department, and the U.S. Marshal Service has joined the search.

“The search for them will only intensify,” Guglielmi said. “They should do the right thing and turn themselves in to any police station. It’s only a matter of time.”

Police had been looking for Lathem soon after Cornell-Duranleau was found dead inside the professor’s flat in the Grand Plaza Apartments at 540 N. State around 8:30 p.m., when police responded to a request for a wellness check. Lathem is listed as the registered owner of the apartment, which sits just over a mile from his office in Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, Guglielmi said.
Read more

Nineteen-year-old Kenyon Hill died Tuesday, five days after he was shot in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side.

Hill was in the 700 block of North Lawndale about 2:25 p.m. Thursday when someone shot him in the face, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

About five minutes later, police were led to a home in the 500 block of North Hamlin, where witnesses said a possible suspect in the shooting was barricaded inside.

A SWAT team was on the scene until about 7:15 p.m., when police were given consent to enter the residence, but nobody was found inside, police said.

Hill, who lived several blocks away in the same neighborhood, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died at 10:27 p.m. Tuesday, authorities said.

An autopsy Wednesday found he died of multiple gunshot wounds and his death was ruled a homicide.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Delano Jones was killed Monday afternoon in a Southwest Side shooting as he walked out of his Marquette Park neighborhood home to his car.

The 38-year-old Jones walked out of his home and got into his car just after noon in the 7200 block of South Artesian, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

An SUV pulled up next to him, and someone got out and fired at him, police said.

Jones was shot three times, and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at 12:33 p.m., authorities said.

No suspects are in custody.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Ramon Flores was shot to death early Monday while hanging out on his front porch in the Belmont Central neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

About 12:20 a.m., the 21-year-old Flores was standing on a porch with a friend in the 2400 block of North Meade, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

A male suspect fired at least 5 shots shots from across the street and Flores was hit as he and his friend tried to run, authorities said.

Flores, who lived on the same block, suffered a gunshot wound to the right arm, which penetrated his chest, authorities said.

He was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was pronounced at 12:57 a.m.

Funeral services for Flores will be conducted at 5 p.m. Friday at the Alvarez Funeral Home at 2500 N. Cicero Ave.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire