Paul Meyers | Homicide Watch Chicago

WEEK IN REVIEW: At least 6 killed in Chicago homicides; body of woman slain months earlier found in Little Cal

Jeff Mayes — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 17:00:28 -0500

By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

At least 6 people were homicide victims last week in Chicago, though one was ruled self-defense. And the body of a woman murdered months earlier was found dismembered and packed in suitcases in the Little Calumet River, a grisly crime for which two men are being held without bond.

There were two fatal shootings over the weekend, just hours apart in the South Side Auburn Gresham neighborhood.

Ashton Simpson was fatally shot Sunday night. The 36-year-old was inside a building in the 8300 block of South Wood when he heard gunshots and went outside to check about 9:10 p.m., according to Chicago Police.

Police said he was then shot in the chest, face and arm. Simpson, who lived on the same block, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

About two hours earlier, a 19-year-old man was fatally shot, also in Auburn Gresham. Akim Gaddis was standing outside in the 8400 block of South Loomis at 6:53 p.m. when a vehicle pulled up and someone inside opened fire, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Gaddis, who lived on the same block, was shot in the back and died less than an hour later at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

A 21-year-old man was shot to death Thursday afternoon in Humboldt Park. Wilfred Santiago was walking in the 1600 block of North Francisco about 2:30 p.m. when two males walked up, one of them pulled a gun and opened fire, according to police and the medical examiner's office. The pair then ran away northbound.

Santiago, of the 3500 block of North Kostner, was shot in the torso, arm and lower back; and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died, authorities said.

Police are investigating whether the shooting was gang-related.

Rocky Weekes was shot to death early Tuesday during a fight in Old Irving Park.

The 31-year-old got into a physical dispute about 3:05 a.m. in the 3300 block of North Keeler with someone who pulled a gun and shot him in the chest, according to police and the medical examiner's office.

Weekes, of the 3400 block of North Kenton, was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he died three hours later, authorities said.

Police are investigating whether the shooting was gang-related.

Deandre Myles was shot to death in East Garfield Park Monday night.

About 7:45 p.m., the 23-year-old Myles was standing on a sidewalk in the 3100 block of West Fifth Avenue when someone walked up and shot him repeatedly, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Myles, who lived in the 2000 block of West Maypole, died at Stroger Hospital.

Derrick Simpson was stabbed to death Monday morning in Chatham. The 56-year-old was stabbed in the chest in the 800 block of East 81st Street at 11:30 a.m., police said.

Simpson was fighting with another man when that man stabbed him, police said. Simpson, who lived in the same block where he was stabbed, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

A person of interest was taken into custody, but that person was released after police said the stabbing was in self-defense.

In a case that a judge called "barbaric," Cook County prosecutors claim a South Side man beat and choked his girlfriend to death before dismembering her body and placing the pieces in suitcases.

Paul Meyers then enlisted the help of his older brother, Arronis Jackson, in disposing of Laneesha Miller’s remains, which authorities recovered from the Little Calumet River last week, prosecutors said.

Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. called the crime barbaric as he ordered the siblings held without bond.

Miller, of Atlanta, was last seen alive June 21, when the 28-year-old called her father to wish him happy Father’s Day and say she was returning to the South the next day.

But prosecutors said Meyers heard a recording on Miller’s cellphone of her talking about sleeping with another man, grew livid and hit her on the head with a hammer, then choked her to death in his home in the 2700 block of West 84th Place.

Meyers, 33, then put the body in the trunk of Miller's car. A few days later, Jackson, 44, helped dispose of the body, which was dismembered, placed in four suitcases, and abandoned in the river near the Bishop Ford Freeway.

Meyers is charged with murder, and his brother is charged with concealment of a homicidal death.

Prosecutors: Man killed his girlfriend Laneesha Miller, put her dismembered body into four suitcases

Jeff Mayes — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 15:08:00 -0500

By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

A South Side man beat and choked his girlfriend, Laneesha Miller, to death before dismembering her body and placing the pieces in four suitcases, Cook County prosecutors said Friday.

Laneesha Miller | Chicago Police

Paul Meyers then enlisted the help of his older brother, Arronis Jackson, to dispose of Miller’s remains, which authorities recovered from the Little Calumet River earlier this week.

“Barbaric,” Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. said in disgust before ordering the siblings held without bond.

The 28-year-old Miller, of Atlanta, was last seen alive by a friend on June 21, Assistant State’s Attorney Todd Kleist said. Later that afternoon, the 28-year-old called her father to wish him a happy Father’s Day. She had been planning on traveling back to the South the next day so she could be there for her child’s surgery later that week.

Paul Meyers | Chicago Police

She never made it.

When Meyers heard a recording on Miller’s cellphone of her talking about sleeping with another man, he grew livid and hit her on the head with a hammer, Kleist said. Miller started to cry, sending Meyers into such a rage, he choked her to death in his home in the 2700 block of West 84th Place.

Meyers, 33, wrapped Miller’s body in a shower curtain and then placed it in the trunk of her car, Kleist said. He drove the car around, wondering what to do with the body.

A few days later, Jackson, 44, assisted in disposing of Miller’s remains, which had been placed in four suitcases, Kleist said.

Arronis Jackson | Chicago Police

Miller’s car was found abandoned in the 12100 block of South Wallace soon after. Maggots and Miller’s blood lined the carpet in the truck.

Meyers paid someone to clean the room he was staying in with bleach and other cleaners, Kleist said. He also got rid of his mattress, which was later recovered in the garbage with red stains.

The trash also contained a piece of Miller’s jewelery, Kleist said.

Meyers, who has been charged with murder, made five separate third-party admissions about what he had done, prosecutors said.

Jackson, of the 2600 block of West 87th Street, also gave third-party admissions and confessed his role in the crime, Kleist said.

The father of five is charged with concealment of a homicidal death.

Meyers was already on parole for a weapons case.

The father of four works as a barber, an assistant public defender said.

Two men charged after body of Laneesha Miller found in Little Calumet River on Far South Side

Jeff Mayes — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 09:44:16 -0500

Two men have been charged in connection with the murder of 28-year-old Laneesha Miller, whose body was found Thursday in the Little Calumet River after she was reported missing in June from the Washington Heights neighborhood.

Laneesha Miller | Chicago Police

Authorities found the Miller's body about 5 p.m. in the river near the Bishop Ford Freeway at 135th Street, according to Chicago Police. The Cook County medical examiner's office confirmed someone was found dead there, but a spokesman said the person had not been officially identified as of Friday morning.

Paul Meyers, 33, of the 2700 block of West 84th Place, has been charged with one count of first-degree murder, according to Chicago Police. Arronis Jackson, 44, of the 2600 block of West 87th Street, faces one count of concealment of a homicidal death, police said.

A friend last saw Miller on June 16 in the 9600 block of South Halsted, according to a June 27 missing person alert from Chicago Police. On June 21, she called her father and told him she would be driving to Georgia the next day, but family members there say she never arrived.

Paul Meyers | Chicago Police

Arronis Jackson | Chicago Police

Investigators drained the Marquette Park Lagoon in a search for her body, but found nothing.

Unconfirmed media reports say at least one of the suspects confessed to beating and stabbing Miller, then cutting up her body and dumping it in a trash bag in the river.

Meyers and Jackson were scheduled for bond hearings Friday, police said.

—Chicago Sun-Times Wire