The Return of The Chicagoist Reader Meet-Up
Cubs Combat Casino
Notre Dame Fan Takes It Too Far, Allegedly Punches Clausen
County Sales Tax Rollback Vetoed - Here We Go Again
PHOTOS: Peaches And Amanda Blank At Metro
Cook County prosecutors have dropped all charges against Jason Austin, the 26-year-old man who had been charged in the murders of police officer Robert Soto and social worker Kathryn Romberg. According to reports, the prosecution's case began unraveling when witnesses recanted their initial testimony, and evidence emerged that Austin's maroon car—which had allegedly placed him at the scene of the crime—was actually at a body shop at the time of the shootings.
Police Superintendent Jody Weis and Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine released a statement saying the investigation is still "vigorously going forward." [WBBM, Trib, S-T]
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
So was he there with his car or not? People recanting their story: suspicious. But a car is either there or it isn't.
And we know that's an open and shut case because there's no way a fellow gangbanger who works at an auto body shop would, you know, lie to give the guy an alibi or anything.
Scooter Libby (commenter on Chicagoist, not ex-felon Bush lawyer) called this a month ago. He felt like the married Soto and Romberg with an ex-cop boyfriend had other people with motive in the shooting.
The deathbed id by Soto and the quick capture of the supposed killer seemed all to good to be true looking back on it.
You're damn right I called this one!
Unless Soto & Romberg were actually having sex at the time of the shooting, there's no way a cop like Soto would have allowed a stranger to have gotten that close.
WLS-TV said that video shows a totally different car driving away than Austin's.
Soto & Romberg were killed by someone one of them knew, probably her ex who is also a cop.
Austin now has a very short lifespan unless he moves far, far away!