CHICAGO (CBS) — A north central Illinois man has been sentenced to 49 years in prison for killing one man and wounding two others in a shooting in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side in 2013.

Quovadus Mahomes, 21, of Dixon was found guilty Sept. 13 of one count of murder, two counts of aggravated battery with discharge of a firearm, and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle after a bench trial before Judge James Linn, according to Cook County court records.

Mahomes was arrested minutes after he gunned down 27-year-old Devin Common and wounded two other men as they walked in the 7400 block of South Champlain on Jan. 29, 2013, authorities said at the time.

Common suffered two gunshot wounds to the neck and one to the chest, authorities said. The other two men, ages 27 and 30, suffered gunshot wounds to the leg and shoulder.

Judge Linn sentenced Mahomes to a total of 49 years in prison Thursday, according to court records. He got 30 years for the murder, seven years for each aggravated battery charge, and five years for the aggravated discharge of a firearm charge.

Mahomes has already begun serving his sentence at the Stateville Correctional Center, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections. He will receive credit for 1,444 days served in the Cook County Jail.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) — DuPage County Sheriff John Zaruba announced the arrest and charging of a Glen Ellyn man for first-degree murder.

On Jan. 17, Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of an injured person at 2N150 Mildred Ave. in unincorporated Glen Ellyn. It was determined that the victim, identified as 49-year-old John Murray, had sustained multiple injuries to his head, face and leg. Murray, initially transported to Glen Oaks Hospital, soon thereafter was transferred to Hinsdale Hospital. He died on Wednesday evening due to his wounds.

“The acts committed against Mr. Murray are reprehensible,” said Zaruba. “The suspect in this case took the life of a friend in a brutal and heinous manner and then took various steps to cover up his behavior.”

Detectives located multiple people who either live at or were present at the Mildred home during the incident. During the investigation, they learned that Murray was visiting James Aydelotte and that an alleged verbal alitercation between the two took a violent turn. Aydelotte allegedly struck Murray multiple times in the face and then stomped on his head while Murray was laying on the ground. It is also alleged that Aydelotte sliced open Murray’s leg with a large knife during the incident.

DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin said, “While nothing can be done to bring John back to those who loved him, the outstanding work of the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office will allow us to bring a strong prosecution against the man who allegedly took his life.”

Aydelotte is being held in the DuPage County Jail. Judge Russo set bail at $4,000,000; his next court date is on Jan. 31.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Greg Zanis has been building wooden crosses to commemorate the tragic loss of lives for more than 20 years.

His crosses were at Columbine High School, the Boston Marathon bombing and, more recently, at the Orlando nightclub shooting.

On Sunday, Zanis, 66, a retired carpenter from Aurora, erected nearly 40 crosses in a grassy lot in Englewood.

Each represents a homicide victim killed in Chicago in 2017, and another will be added for every person who’s killed in the city this year, he said.

If last year is any indication, Zanis will be busy. A total of 780 people were victims of homicide in Chicago in 2016.

He made crosses for all of them, too. They were carried by demonstrators who gathered downtown on Michigan Avenue on New Year’s Eve to march against violence.

On Sunday, several pastors gathered to pray at the site of the newly erected crosses at the the grassy lot near the corner of 56th and Bishop. It sits between two homes, one of which is boarded up.

A woman played the flute as Pastor Dan Haas, of Aurora, read each murder victim’s name and told the story of Cain and Abel.

“We believe that our prayers make a difference,” Haas said. “It’s not just a religious exercise for us,” he said.

A woman who asked not to be named gave him the land, said Zanis, who grew up in Chicago.

Why Englewood? “Englewood is well-known all around the country for violence,” he said.

Each cross takes about 10 minutes to build from lumber that was donated.

Zanis began building crosses after his father-in-law, Bud Stadler, was robbed and murdered in 1996.

“I just have had a loss myself and I know what people are going through, and it’s just so important that somebody reaches out to these families,” he said Sunday.

Family members are encouraged to go to the lot in Englewood and retrieve the cross bearing their loved one’s name, Zanis said.

“I’ll replace it with another one so the count will be complete,” he said.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) — It’s only January and Chicago has already lost nearly 50 people to murder.

On Sunday, a retired carpenter who has made crosses for victims of mass killings set up a solemn memorial in Englewood for the victims of violent crime in Chicago in 2017.

Greg Zanis unloaded the 43 crosses from the back of his pickup truck at a vacant lot near 56th and Bishop. One by one, each was placed in rows as the victims’ names were read out loud.

“What we’re doing here is we’re establishing a permanent location for all of the crosses put up for 2017,” Zanis said.

Pastor Dan Haas, of Aurora, joined the memorial, praying over the crosses; which bear the names of the victims, their date of death, and some photos.

“The purpose of our gathering is to pray for families, pray for the victims. We want to pray for the neighborhoods. We want to pray for the city of Chicago,” Haas said.

Another prayer vigil has been planned for February.

Zanis also has created crosses for the victims of the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, the Boston marathon bombing, and the Orlando nightclub shooting.

He said he plans to continue placing a cross for every murder victim in Chicago in 2017. He also made crosses for every homicide victim in Chicago last year, and the crosses were featured in a peace march along Michigan Avenue on New Year’s Eve.

CHICAGO (CBS) — A Far South Side man has been charged with fatally shooting another man Saturday evening in the Fernwood neighborhood.

John A. Smith, 22, faces one count of first-degree murder in 21-year-old Tremayne Henderson’s death, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The two got into a fight shortly before 5 p.m. inside a home in the first block of West 104th Place, and Smith shot the younger man in the chest, authorities said.

Henderson was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at 9:16 p.m., authorities said. He lived on the block where he was killed.

Smith, of the 12800 block of South Union, also faces a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance, police said. He is due in bond court on Tuesday.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) — A Markham man was ordered held in lieu of $500,000 bail Tuesday for allegedly stabbing to death the cousin of his ex-girlfriend’s current boyfriend.

Dalashawn Brown was outside the building of his ex-girlfriend’s apartment on the Far South Side early Sunday morning, as were the victim, Reginald Boston, and his cousin, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Jamie Santini said.

Boston, 26, and his cousin, who is currently dating Brown’s ex-girlfriend, heard footsteps in the gangway in the 3200 block of East 91st. When they saw someone walking in the gangway toward them, they saw Brown, Santini said.

Someone else asked who it was, and Brown responded “it’s Dayla,” referring to his nickname, Santini said.

As he approached, Brown, 30, who was wearing a puffy green coat, pulled his hands out of his coat pocket to show that he had nothing on him, Santini said. He then went on to say he was in the area for his kids, Santini said.

When Brown’s ex-girlfriend opened the door, her current boyfriend looked in her direction before looking toward Brown, Santini said. At that moment, he saw Brown pull back his arm from Boston’s abdominal area, Santini said.

Brown then ran away, Santini said. Boston went on to tell his cousin that Brown stabbed him and the two went after Brown, Santini said.

Soon, Boston had a hard time breathing. He later died at Advocate Trinity Hospital.

Boston’s cousin later identified Brown as the man who stabbed Boston, Santini said.

Brown was arrested at work in Crestwood the same day.

Brown, a father of four, was employed at an oil change facility, an assistant public defender said.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

HAMMOND, Ind. — A man has been charged with killing his ex-girlfriend and critically wounding her godson and goddaughter in a shooting Monday morning in northwest Indiana.

Joesph E. Barner, 32, faces one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated battery and two counts of battery by means of a deadly weapon, all felonies, according to an affidavit filed in the Superior Court of Lake County.

Officers responded about 6 a.m. Monday to a home in the 1300 block of Truman Street in Hammond and found three people shot lying in the living room, according to the affidavit.

Carmelle Erbie Cajuste, 44, was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. A 36-year-old woman was also shot in the head and a 27-year-old man was shot in the neck. Both were hospitalized in critical condition.

Barner and Cajuste had previously dated and lived together in an apartment in Lansing, according to the affidavit.

A domestic disturbance report involving Barner and Cajuste was filed at the Lansing Police Department on Oct. 13, 2016, according to the affidavit. They broke up, and Cajuste moved to the home in Hammond.

Barner told investigators that Cajuste was “doing drugs, sleeping with other men, spending all of the money he had made, and messing within at his apartment,” according to the affidavit. He further claimed she “would put spells on him and that after she made him food and he would eat it, he felt different.”

Barner told police he wanted to talk to Cajuste about money she owed him for bills and knew she would be leaving for work early in the morning, so he drove to the Hammond home, according to the affidavit. He bought the gun, which was reported stolen out of Lafeyette, Indiana, a few days before the shooting “because he felt unsafe.”

While talking to Cajuste and her goddaughter at the front door, Barner saw Cajuste’s godson approaching and fired shots, according to the affidavit.

The godson claimed he heard Barner yelling at Cajuste for leaving him and cheating on him, according to the affidavit.

Barner ran away from the scene and left his car parked nearby because he couldn’t find his keys, according to the affidavit. He called his mother, who picked him up in Calumet City and took him to her home in Lynwood.

Cajuste’s mother, who was home at the time of the shooting and called 911, also identified Barner as the suspect, according to the affidavit.

Barner was arrested at his mother’s home, according to the affidavit. The gun he used in the shooting was also recovered from the home.

Barner is being transferred to Cook County to face additional charges, according to Hammond Police Lt. Richard Hoyda.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) — A man is the third suspect charged with the fatal beating of a 17-year-old boy on New Year’s Day 2013 in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

Daniel Malave, 29, faces one count of first-degree murder in connection with the death of a rival gang member, Ezequiel Velazquez, according to Chicago Police.

Daniel Malave (Credit: Chicago Police)

He was arrested about 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the 4500 block of South Washtenaw, police said. On Saturday, Malave, who lives in the 4200 block of South Rockwell, was ordered held at Cook County Jail without bond.

About 6 a.m. Jan. 1, 2013, Velasquez and a 21-year-old woman were headed westbound on 40th Street when they encountered a dark Chevrolet Suburban blocking the street near Pulaski Road, authorities said at the time. A group of several suspects got out of the SUV and approached the pair in their Chrysler Sebring to ask if they had any gasoline.

When Velasquez and the woman replied they did not, the suspects pulled the woman from the car and beat her, police said. When the teen got out of the car, the suspects also beat him.

The woman did not seek medical treatment and the Chrysler was later found in the 4200 block of South Campbell, police said at the time.

Velasquez, of the Clearing neighborhood on the Southwest Side, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. An autopsy determined he died from blunt force head injuries and his death was ruled a homicide.

Malave is due back in court Jan. 30, court records show.

Vincent Lopez, 26, of the 5800 block of South Whipple, was charged in August 2013 with one count of first-degree murder. He has been sentenced to 24 years in prison, with a projected parole date in 2037. A boy, who was 15 years old at the time of his arrest in 2013, was also charged with murder in connection with Velazquez’s death. His name was not released at the time because he was a juvenile.

Vincent Lopez (Credit: Illinois Department of Corrections)

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2016. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

(CBS) – Police have shed more light on the shooting death of a Lewis University instructor who was gunned down in the western suburbs last week.

Dr. Matthew Lange was in his car when he was gunned down.

Lewis University Senior Vice President Raymond Kennelly says faculty and staff are shocked about the murder.

“He always took extra time with those students that might be having any struggles in the class or any difficulty with the material. He was one of those professors that always invested extra time in those students, to help them succeed,” Kennelly tells CBS 2’s Suzanne Le Mignot.

Lange was an assistant professor of psychology at Lewis and had been on staff for the past four years.

He was found shot to death Friday night in his car, in the parking lot of Scullen Middle School in Naperville. Lange had gone to the school to pick up his 4 ½-year-old son from a program.

Naperville Police Cmdr. Louis Cammiso says authorities do not think this was a random event.

“There was no robbery. That’s what we feel — the general public’s not at risk. This is not a robber on the loose,” he says.

A $5,000 reward has been offered to help crack the case.

CHICAGO (CBS) — The 27-year-old son of a congressional aide has been formally charged with stabbing his mother to death earlier this month inside their southwest suburban home.

Steven Chmela waived extradition from Wisconsin, where he had been held on a murder warrant since Jan. 12, according to court records and Oak Lawn police. He was charged with first-degree murder and ordered held without bond at a Tuesday court hearing in Bridgeview.

Chmela is the son of 55-year-old Marianne Viverito, who was found dead with multiple stab wounds on Jan. 10 in the basement of her home in the 5100 block of West 105th Place in Oak Lawn, authorities said.

Officers went to the home after a request for a well-being check from an out-of-state police agency concerning a woman who may have been injured in a domestic fight, police said. When officers arrived, they found blood on the ground and inside the home.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled her death a homicide.

Viverito worked as an aide to U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd) and was the daughter of former state senator and current Stickney Township supervisor Lou Viverito.

It was unclear why Chmela was initially taken into custody in Milwaukee County on Jan. 10. He was scheduled to undergo a doctor’s evaluation at a Jan. 13 court hearing at which his attorney said: “There is reason to believe the defendant is not competent to proceed,” records show.

Chmela was brought back to Oak Lawn on Monday, police said. He is due in court again Feb. 23 in in Bridgeview.

“Marianne was a beloved and trusted member of my staff, and has been a part of my team during much of my tenure in Congress,” Lipinski said in a statement. “She has helped countless of my constituents solve challenges they’ve faced with the federal government with a smile, good nature, and humor. As with me and my staff, I know that these constituents will miss her greatly.”

Ald. Mike Zalewski, whose 23rd Ward office on Archer is adjacent to Lipinski’s office, said he and his staff were “devastated” at the news of Viverito’s death. “We’re lucky to be able to call them friends,” he said.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2016. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) — It was a violent start to 2017 in Chicago, with the number of shootings nearly duplicating the tally from the start of last year, which ended up being the city’s bloodiest year in nearly two decades.

Chicago police said January ended with 51 murders, one more than January 2016. About half of the city’s murders last month happened in three districts on the South Side and West Side – the Austin, Englewood, and Harrison districts.

At the White House, President Trump told reporters: “If they are not going to solve the problem .. then we are going to solve the problem.

“We are going to have to do something about Chicago. Because what is happening in Chicago should not be happening in this country.”

Last month also saw 234 shooting incidents and 299 shooting victims – compared to 242 shooting incidents and 291 victims during the same time period last year.

RELATED: Ohio Pastor Claims Chicago Gangs Want To Work With Trump To Fight Crime | Emanuel Tells Trump To ‘Send More FBI, DEA, ATF Agents’

Despite the grim numbers in January, police have said a new plan is helping get guns off the streets. Police recovered more than 600 guns last month, an increase of more than 60 percent over January 2016. Police said gun arrests also were more than double the total from January 2016.

“We are beginning to see promising results,” Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said at a news conference on Wednesday, adding the culture surrounding gun violence will not “change overnight.”

Johnson has said police are doing their part to fight crime, and that it’s up to state lawmakers to do their part and pass legislation cracking down on repeat gun offenders.

The department said, since just three of the city’s 22 police districts account for about half of the city’s murders, more resources are being focused on those areas of Chicago.

Since there’s no telling what, if any federal assistance might be forthcoming from the Trump administration, the city is not taking any chances.

“Murders and shootings remain at levels unacceptable to me, and you have my word that we will continue to put our plans into place, and make the necessary investments in technology [and] training of our officers to make Chicago a safer city,” Johnson said.

That’s why the superintendent showcased one of his department’s two new Strategic Decision Support Centers on Wednesday.

The new facility at the Englewood District police station, and another at the Harrison District station are equipped with computers linked to ShotSpotter gunshot sensors on the streets, which can pinpoint precise locations of gunfire in almost real time.

It’s information officers can now get on their cell phones.

The centers also are connected to the city’s network of surveillance cameras, as well as license plate recognition equipment that can be accessed on smart phones, laptops, and tablet computers.

With shot spotter alerts sent to mobile phones, currently in use in the Englewood and Harrison districts, officers can pinpoint a shooting location, without the need for a call from 911 to respond. Thus, the response time to a specific location is faster, leading to more arrests, police said.

CHICAGO (CBS) — A man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for fatally shooting a man five years ago because he believed the man had robbed his brother.

Tommy Crockwell, 47, of Country Club Hills was found guilty of first-degree murder in November after a bench trial before Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak, according to the Will County state’s attorney’s office.

Crockwell hid in the bushes in a park in the south suburb, then crept up behind 19-year-old Johnny Rouse as he walked down a path on the evening of Oct. 26, 2011, according to prosecutors. Crockwell then shot Rouse once in the back of the neck.

Rouse, who died before his body hit the ground, was discovered by someone walking in the area later that night, prosecutors said.

Several months after the murder, police received information from an informant that Crockwell had told him he killed Rouse, prosecutors said. The informant, who had known Crockwell for years, wore a wire for investigators and visited him at his home in January 2012.

During a 33-minute recorded conversation that was played at the trial, Crockwell shared details of the shooting only the killer would know, like the manner in which the victim fell, that he was still wearing headphones connected to his MP3 player, and the type of gun he used, prosecutors said.

The informant asked Crockwell why he didn’t confront Rouse face-to-face, and Crockwell responded that he didn’t want to be identified if something went wrong and Rouse did not die.

Crockwell killed Rouse because he believed Rouse had robbed his younger brother, according to prosecutors.

Judge Bertani-Tomczak sentenced Crockwell to 50 years in prison Wednesday, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) — The son of convicted killer and former Bolingbrook police sergeant Drew Peterson has revealed he believes his father “probably” killed his third wife, Kathleen Savio, and his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.

Stephen Peterson has been raising his father’s four children in his father’s home while Drew Peterson has been serving a 38-year prison sentence for the 2004 murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Illinois State Police also have named Drew Peterson a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, although he has never been charged in that case. Stacy Peterson’s disappearance prompted authorities to reopen the investigation of Savio’s death, leading to Drew Peterson’s conviction for murder.

In an interview on Lifetime cable network show “Monster In My Family,” Stephen Peterson said he initially believed his father’s claims his third wife drowned accidentally and that Stacy left him for another man, but that he eventually grew to believe his dad killed Savio.

“I’d probably say so,” he said. “I think this is the first time I ever even said that out loud that I think he probably did it.”

Stephen Peterson also said he believes his father probably killed Stacy, who remains missing.

Stacy’s sister, Cassandra Cales, says she first heard about the show from friends.

“His conscience is finally catching up to him,” she tells CBS 2’s Roseanne Tellez.

This brings little relief. Cales say the Stephen Peterson son doesn’t allow her to see Stacy’s children, whom he’s now raising in his father’s old house. She thinks he’s looking for sympathy.

While Stephen Peterson says he still loves his father, and remembers him as a good dad, he said he knows his father thinks only of himself.

“I don’t think he fully realizes what he has done to Stacy’s family, Kathy’s family, our friends, the kids, everybody,” he said. “I’m not my father, and if I screw up, I own what I do. It’s something he will never do. He did not take into consideration anybody except himself.”

Stephen Peterson had not spoken to Savio’s sister, Sue Doman, since Savio’s funeral, until the two met for the show. Doman told him she hates his father, and asked Stephen to deliver a message to Drew.

“I want to tell you to tell him something for me. I want to hurt him,” she said.

Stephen Peterson said he understands how Doman feels about his father, “and that’s okay,” but he said he is not his father.

“I understand I sound like him, and I have his laugh, and at the right angle I even look like him a little bit, but that’s not me,” he said.

On the show, Stephen Peterson recalled often hearing his father and Savio arguing in the middle of the night while he and his brother were in bed. He said the fights were sometimes so bad, when he woke up the next morning, “the house would be destroyed.”

He also said his father repeatedly cheated on his wives with younger women, and noted that Stacy Peterson acted scared after Savio’s death, though he dismissed her fears at the time.

“You kind of look back and think, maybe she did know something, or maybe something did happen, but at the time we never thought twice about it,” he said.

Stephen Peterson acknowledged he appeared on “Monster in my Family” for the money, because his father’s pension payments have ended, and he was using the pension to help support his father’s children after Stephen was fired as a police officer in 2011.

He lost his job as a police officer in Oak Brook, after he was accused of obstructing the investigation into Stacy’s disappearance by hiding his father’s guns.

The Oak Brook Board of Fire and Police Commissioners ruled Stephen failed to disclose Drew had given him three guns and checks totaling nearly $240,000 just three days after Stacy vanished in October 2007, and later claimed they were irrelevant to the investigation.

Stephen said he didn’t suspect anything was wrong at the time his father gave him the guns and money.

“He’s your dad and you don’t think twice,” he said. “Why would my dad put me in a bad position?”

Drew Peterson was sentenced to 38 years in prison for Savio’s murder. After he went to prison, he also was convicted of trying to hire a fellow inmate to kill Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow, who prosecuted him. He was sentenced to an additional 40 years in prison for the murder-for-hire plot.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Attorneys for Jason Van Dyke on Friday filed a second motion seeking to dismiss murder charges against the Chicago Police officer in the 2014 fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald.

Defense attorneys had already filed a three-page motion last month seeking to dismiss the indictment, arguing that statements Van Dyke made to investigators were improperly used against him.

The new motion focuses on a “whole different set of irregularities, dealing specifically with the grand jury,” Daniel Herbert told Judge Vincent Gaughan.

Herbert went on to say that the grand jury “hastily” indicted his client based on false information, including allegations the 17-year-old McDonald was first shot in the back, and that video and audio from the dashboard-mounted camera was tampered with.

Prosecutors “misinformed the grand jury,” Herbert said.

The defense attorney also said that as soon as then-State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez was told video of the incident would be released in late 2015, “there was a rush to sacrifice Jason Van Dyke to the angry mob out there.”

Herbert called the October 2014 shooting, in which McDonald was shot 16 times, “justified.”

Gaughan did not rule on either motion to dismiss. But he said any arguments dealing with them would be done in open court.

Herbert on Friday also said he has asked the Cook County state’s attorney’s office to provide emails from the three or four assistant state’s attorneys involved in the case before the 38-year-old Van Dyke was indicted.

Van Dyke is expected back in court on March 23.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

(CBS) — There’s a meeting for parents tonight at a Naperville school — a week after a 37-year-old man was shot and killed in the parking lot as he waited to pick up his 4-year-old son.

Multiple gunshots killed Lewis University Professor Matthew Lange, authorities say.

He was shot in his car as he waited to pick up his child, who was in class at a Polish school in Naperville last Friday evening.

School Principal Barbara Panczyk says police will be at the school when parents meet tonight at 8.

“We (will) have police outside the school in the parking lot and some inside the school,” she tells WBBM’s Steve Miller.

Pancyzk says some teachers have told her they are still afraid to come to class.

“Some of my teachers, I called them during this week. And they said, ‘Principal, I think I’m not coming this Friday because I’m not ready. I’m still afraid,’” she says.

The Polish school meets once a week — on Friday evening — at the Scullen Middle School.

Naperville Police say they are getting tips but haven’t made any arrests. There is a $5,000 reward offered for information that leads to a break in the case.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Heather Mack has confessed in a series of YouTube videos to the 2014 murder of her mother, who was found inside a suitcase in Bali.

In the videos posted on Thursday, Mack says that she killed her mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, in a hotel room in Bali. She also says she “trapped” Tommy Schaefer into helping her coverup the murder.

Schaefer and Mack were convicted in Indonesia. Schaefer, 23, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for beating von Wiese-Mack to death. Mack, 21, was sentenced to 10 years for helping.

The YouTube videos raise questions about the role Schaefer was convicted of playing in the crime. Mack claims she took Schaefer’s phone to text fake conversations to incriminate him and would delete them before he saw.

“I don’t regret killing my mother and as evil as that may sound that’s my reality,” Mack says in the video. “I regret bringing Tommy into it. I regret being selfish. I regret bringing an innocent person into this because it was my battle…”

Mack claims the reason for the murder was because her mother had killed her father when she was 10 years old. She also states in the video that she wanted to be “set free by the truth. . . .

“I made up in my heart, my mind, my soul, in my blood and in the oxygen running through my body that I wanted to kill my mother,” Mack says in the video.

She also says that she and her lawyers convinced Schaefer to take the blame for the murder so that she could still be “entitled to the money” from her mother and “pay the lawyers more.”

An attorney for Mack and von Wiese-Mack’s brother, William, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Schaefer’s mother, Kia Walker, declined to comment.

The YouTube videos can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuvrueyv5Xk52CzLzPkxdcQ

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) — A retired Chicago Police officer has been charged with killing his wife, also a retired Chicago Police officer, on Friday in northwest suburban Spring Grove.

Lorin E. Volberding, 71, was charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of his wife and ordered held on $100,000 bond, according to McHenry County sheriff’s office records.

Officers responded at 1:23 p.m. on Friday to a home in the 10800 block of East Riviera Drive after a 911 call was placed by a neighbor, according to the McHenry County coroner’s office. They found Elizabeth M. Volberding, 68, with a gunshot wound to her neck. She was pronounced dead at 2 p.m. An autopsy on Saturday found she died of the gunshot wound.

Lorin Volberding was taken into the custody later Friday, Spring Grove Police said.

Elizabeth’s daughter, Jennifer Tilson, was contacted about her mother’s death Friday evening, her husband, Randy, said on Sunday. They live in Rock County, Wisconsin.

“It wasn’t really unexpected, and that’s a terrible thing to say,” Randy Tilson said of the news of his mother-in-law’s death.

The Volberding’s relationship was frequently abusive and violent, the Tilsons said. The couple distanced themselves from from them in 2007 after they discovered Lorin had been physically abusive to their son.

Elizabeth “would call us and ask to stay with us, something she never followed through with,” Randy Tilson said. “She lived in fear.”

The Tilsons said they believe Elizabeth’s death could have been prevented, perhaps if authorities had pressed charges after an incident in 2015, when Lorin barricaded himself in the Spring Grove home and threatened Elizabeth at gunpoint for several hours.

“If you have barricaded someone inside a house at gunpoint, you should remove the guns,” Randy Tilson said.

Lorin was never charged in the incident, the Tilsons said. It’s something they plan to continue to look into and have contacted an attorney to help them.

Jennifer said her mother and stepfather both retired from jobs at the Chicago Police Department in January 2000. Chicago Police confirmed that Lorin Volberding retired in 2000 after 27 years as a CPD officer, and his wife retired at the same time after 23 years in the department.

Lorin Volberding was expected to next appear in court on Tuesday.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) — Heather Mack has “confessed” to her mother’s murder.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s telling the truth.

Mack claims in a series of YouTube videos posted Thursday that she killed her mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting. She said she let her child’s father, Tommy Schaefer, take the fall so she could collect her inheritance. And finally, Mack said she plotted von Wiese-Mack’s murder because she had discovered her father had been killed by von Wiese-Mack during a family vacation to Greece.

Federal prosecutors in Chicago seem to have evidence that could undermine Mack’s story if the couple ever faces charges here.

Von Wiese-Mack’s body was found inside a suitcase in the trunk of a taxi outside the St. Regis Bali Resort in August 2014. Schaefer and Mack were later convicted in Indonesia. Schaefer, 23, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for beating von Wiese-Mack to death. Mack, 21, was sentenced to 10 years for helping.

Schaefer’s cousin, 26-year-old Robert Ryan Justin Bibbs, also pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to helping plot the murder. He is set to be sentenced in May.

Now Mack claims in three YouTube videos that “Tommy and Ryan are innocent.” Mack said, “I killed her, myself,” without offering details of the killing.

“I found out that [von Wiese-Mack] killed my father,” Mack said. “And I made it up in my heart, in my mind, my soul, in my blood, in the oxygen running through my body that I wanted to kill my mother.”

Schaefer’s mother, Kia Walker, declined to comment. Von Wiese-Mack’s brother did not respond to messages.

Until now, the couple had maintained that Schaefer killed von Wiese-Mack in self-defense after von Wiese-Mack broke into a racist rant and attacked Schaefer because Mack was pregnant with Schaefer’s baby. Federal prosecutors believe Schaefer beat von Wiese-Mack to death because he thought he would get a cut of Mack’s inheritance.

Now Mack has invoked the death of her father, James Mack, who died of a pulmonary embolism in August 2006. She claims she discovered the foul play surrounding her father’s death two weeks before she left for Bali with her mother. That’s when she said she decided to kill von Wiese-Mack.

But Mack had already offered Schaefer $50,000 to kill her mother six months earlier, court records allege.

Mack acknowledged that offer — just not the timing — in her confession video. She said Schaefer declined. She also said she stole Schaefer’s cellphone while he was sleeping and created fake text conversations between his phone and hers. She said she deleted them before he found them, and she said she started doing this in Chicago.

“I didn’t want to get arrested by myself in a different country,” Mack said. “So I came to Bali, and I told Tommy that he was going to come here for a vacation.”

The feds have used piles of text messages between Schaefer, Mack and Bibbs to support their theory of what happened. And while Mack’s claim may explain some of them away, the feds say Schaefer sent incriminating text messages while Mack was in Bali — separated from Schaefer’s phone by an ocean.

Mack left with her mother for Bali on Aug. 2, 2014. Schaefer joined them 10 days later. Two days before that, he asked someone on Facebook for $200. In exchange, Schaefer allegedly said he would forgive a larger debt because, when he returned from an overseas trip, “I’ll have enough money so I’m not even going to ask for the rest.”

While at O’Hare Airport that same day, Schaefer texted Bibbs: “Now I’m a millionaire; I come back for a week or two then it’s off to italy … In about a year or so I’ll have all that money … A couple mil prob.”

The feds also have at least five pages of heated text messages exchanged in the moments before von Wiese-Mack’s death between Mack and Schaefer. In one, Schaefer allegedly wrote, “let me just creep up and wack her.”

Additionally, prosecutors have a surveillance photo of Schaefer on the third floor of the Bali resort with something stuffed under his shirt. Mack and her mother were staying in room 317. Authorities believe Schaefer bludgeoned von Wiese-Mack with a fruit stand.

“The only thing Tommy is not innocent of is hiding the body,” Mack said. “And the only reason he did that, is because of me.”

Schaefer told Bibbs he and Mack had been discussing von Wiese-Mack’s death before the trip, according to Bibbs’ plea agreement. And in that document, Bibbs said he “believed that Schaefer and Mack were serious about murdering” her.

When he appeared in court to plead guilty last year, Bibbs gave an additional, but vague, explanation to a judge. He told her there had been a “situation” in 2014 with Mack, who was pregnant but was being encouraged by her mother to “kill the kid.” Bibbs also said von Wiese-Mack had complained about the race of the baby’s father, Schaefer.

Though Bibbs had spoken to Mack about her desire to have her mother killed, he made no mention in court of the alleged killing of Mack’s father.

Bibbs did, however, tell the judge he didn’t think Schaefer was capable of committing such a brutal crime.

He told the judge: “I thought Heather was going to do it.”

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) — A twice-convicted cop killer was released on Monday, after spending more than three decades behind bars.

Zolo Azania had been locked up since 1981, but after the Indiana Supreme Court twice overturned his death penalty, he ended up being sentenced to 74 years in prison. Prison officials said he was released from custody on Monday morning, after serving 35 years behind bars, and receiving credit for good behavior.

Azania was known as Rufus Averhart in 1981, when he was convicted of killing a Gary police officer while fleeing a bank robbery.

He and two other men robbed the Gary National Bank on Aug. 11, 1981, and as they were leaving the bank, they shot at Gary Police Lt. George Yaros.

Prosecutors and witnesses said Azania stopped and fired another shot into Yaros’ chest as he lay on the ground.

“I just say he’s a coward,” the late officer’s son, Tim Yaros, says.

Although Azania has admitted being an accomplice, he said he was not the one who shot Yaros, a World War II veteran who was nearing retirement when he was gunned down.

Gary Police Lt. George Yaros (Photo supplied to CBS)

Yaros’ son said he misses his father every day, and he can’t stop thinking about what his children and their children missed.

“I think that hurts more than anything; my sons, my daughter, and my grandkids never got to see him,” Tim Yaros said. “He was my best friend. I can’t say it any clearer than that.”

The Yaros family said they don’t buy Azania’s claim that he’s a changed man, pointing out that he killed another man in a botched robbery in 1972.

“There’s just no doubt in my mind that he is the person who committed this crime,” said daughter-in-law Lavonne Yaros. “I don’t hate him for what’s happened. I mean, I hate him because of what we’ve lost.”

Azania pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of 69-year-old Leonard Wick, after he and an accomplice broke into Wick’s home, and Azania shot Wick in a struggle.

“Now he’s getting a third chance,” Tim said. “I don’t think he deserves any chance whatsoever.”

In his view, Azania should have been executed for his crime.

Tim and Lavonne Yaros went to the cemetery on Monday to pray at the officer’s gravesite. They were joined by members of the Gary Police Department.

Azania’s attorney did not return calls seeking comment. Azania has set up a gofundme page to help pay for his life outside of prison.

CHICAGO (CBS) — The mother of a 16-year-old girl who was allegedly beaten and strangled by a man she met on Backpage.com, after having run away from home, has set her sights on the website.

Desiree Robinson’s mother, Yvonne Ambrose, was at the Markham Courthouse on Tuesday for the arraignment of 32-year-old Antonio Rosales, charged with murder in Robinson’s death.

“I want justice for Deisree, for all the young women and girls like her,” Ambrose said.

Prosecutors have said Rosales met Robinson through an ad for escorts Backpage.com, and had sex with her in a truck on Christmas Eve 2016.

“The defendant admitted that he had no money for a second encounter, and he tried to negotiate an additional free 15 minutes,” Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said in December. “The victim refused his offer and insulted him. Afterward, he punched her in the face and strangled her as she tried to call for help.”

Robinson was found dead in a garage in the 16200 block of South Hamlin Avenue in Markham two days later.

An autopsy determined Robinson was beaten, cut, and strangled.

Robinson’s family said they believe she might have fallen victim to a youth sex trafficking ring, and was featured on Backpage.com, which has been the target of multiple sex trafficking investigations.

“Desiree was brought to the defendant’s home by two people – a man and a woman – unknown to her family, for the purposes of having sex,” said attorney Gina Arquilla DeBoni, who is representing Ambrose. “Desiree was a victim of sex trafficking, and was featured in a post on Backpage.com.”

DeBoni said her office is conducting its own investigation on the family’s behalf, and expects to file a civil lawsuit.

After Rosales’ arraignment on Tuesday, Ambrose said she wants more answers, and is demanding a broader investigation of the events leading to her death.

“It could happen to anybody’s family, and we just want to try to protect our children. My life is now dedicated to making sure that this same awful situation doesn’t happen to another teenager out there again,” she said.

Backpage recently closed its adult advertising section, and replaced it with a message that says “censored,” after a U.S. Senate report accused the website of facilitating child sex trafficking.

A 53-page Senate subcommittee report alleges the site “sanitized” ads for prostitution and child sex trafficking, by editing out words like “teen” or “Lolita,” which made it clear ads were about illegal sex.

Backpage has denied the allegations in the subcommittee report, and said it shut down its adult section to protest censorship.