Two criminal defense attorneys say they have evidence to back a theory even John Wayne Gacy claimed in his later years: that the notorious serial killer had accomplices. more ›

The family of William George Bundy finally have closure after DNA samples they provided to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart's office matched samples extracted from the unidentified remains earlier this year. more ›

Harold Wayne Lovell, long presumed to be one of Gacy's victims, was found to be living in Florida after his family submitted a DNA kit for testing. more ›

A White House study released yesterday showed that 83 percent of men arrested in Cook County last year tested positive for at least one illicit drug. more ›

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart held a news conference this morning to list a litany of disturbing practices regarding how the county handles burying unidentified and indigent people. Dart detailed instances where bodies were collected for burial in U-Haul trucks, bodies being buried eight to a plot, and and as many as 26 babies being buried in a coffin along with body parts. more ›

As Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart looks at as many line items as possible to comply with County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's mandate to balance the county budget, one of the casualties could be the Sheriff's Department's graffiti removal program. The anti-graffiti unit is responsible for removing gang tags and other graffiti throughout the suburbs, but cutting it from the budget will allow Dart's department to continue patrolling unincorporated stretches of Cook County, guarding Cook County Jail and the Circuit Courts. Given the choice, Dart may have to err on the side of overall safety. more ›

County Board President Toni Preckwinkle seems headed for a showdown with Sheriff Tom Dart over proposed cuts to his department's budget. If Dart holds the line with his current proposed cuts, it could become the first confrontation in Preckwinkle's administration. more ›

Now that Tom Dart has quashed his aspirations to become mayor of Chicago, it's back to business at the Cook County Sheriff's office, and at the top of Dart's to-do list is booting folks out of their foreclosed homes. more ›

For the second time in two years, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced that his department will not act upon foreclosure evictions related to Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and GMAC/Ally Financial until those three financial institutions can provide affidavits stating that each of the foreclosures were examined and that there are no problems with them. more ›

An elderly senior citizen couple were peacefully resting Thursday night, but were abruptly wakened when officers of the Cook County Sheriff raided their home executing a search warrant. more ›

Cook County commissioners made a dramatic u-turn at their last meeting -- the forthcoming regime change led them to discuss containing costs. more ›

A statewide alert was issued this week when almost two dozen guns, including high powered assault rifles and handguns were stolen from a shooting range in south suburban Harvey. The Cook County Sheriff’s Department briefly tried to field an assist in investigating the case, but pulled out quickly. The Tribune reports Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart cancelled the investigation because the department wanted an investigation “free from the influence” of Harvey Police. The range was reportedly not a “secure” facility for storing guns. more ›

Burr Oak Cemetery is set to reopen to the public four months after the Cook County Sheriff closed it down. The cemetery came into the spotlight in July when hundreds of families were left in shock when it was discovered four employees allegedly dug up over 300 graves, dumped the bones in a large pile, and resold the grave plots. The county is still scrambling to account for thousands of dead, and even set up a website to aid in the effort. more ›

There are a variety of reasons one goes to Chicago’s Sexpo: pretty mostly naked people, the women’s lingerie show, adult entertainment networking or, oddly enough, legal counseling. more ›

Apparently there are some fugitives in Cook County that aren't fans of John Stossel -- if they were, they might have been more skeptical responding to a "mystery shopper" scam. But unlike most other promises of easy money, this time the scam was run by the good guys. more ›

Cook County sheriff's police broke up a dogfight taking place in the basement of a house in the 500 block of West 66th St. on Saturday night. The fight was attended by 50 people, including a pregnant woman and a few teenagers. Three men (pictured from left to right: Donaver Jones, Melvin Trent and Timothy Norris) were charged with felony dogfighting. All others were issued misdemeanor tickets for attending a dogfight.

Police swept into the basement about 10 p.m. Saturday night to find a bloodied 10-by-10-foot makeshift ring surrounded by 3-foot-high wooden boards smeared with blood, bites and scratches. The floor of the ring was covered with a red rug that police said was used to disguise blood. more ›

In the final chapter of the ongoing Tom Dart Eviction Saga, Sheriff Dart has said that with the new court procedures in place, he will resume evictions on Monday. Dart hopes the new orders will ensure that the banks will properly notify rent-paying tenants of foreclosures on the buildings they live in. more ›

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is closer to resuming evictions of rent-paying tenants living in foreclosed properties now that judges are using a new court document. The new document specifically outlines how long the tenant has until he/she has to leave the property - the shortest of 120 days or the remainder of the lease. Dart spokesman Steve Patterson said:

We applaud Judge Kinnaird for taking this step and believe it brings us much closer to a resolution. We're continuing to meet with the judge and state's attorneys, addressing logistical changes that will have to take place before the plan can be finalized. But we're confident things are moving in that direction.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, he of "We won't surprise tenants with an eviction order intended for their landlord" fame, recently sat down with Time Magazine to discuss the housing crisis and why he came to the decision he did.

Tell me about your thoughts on the "cavalier" attitude at the root of this problem. more ›

Police announced today that they believe Anu Solanki is alive and with a male companion. Investigators used her cell phone records to connect her to 23-year-old Karan Jani of California. Solanki, who hasn't been heard from since Monday, was in contact with Jani several times the day she disappeared, and police say they think the two are in a rental car. If you see Solanki or Jani, give the Cook County Sheriff's office a jingle (847-294-4733)--she's still a missing person. And if you have a USC log-in, please let us know what Jani's Facebook profile says. more ›

Vito Zaccaro was working at Cook County ... that is Stroger Hospital as a Cook County Sheriff's officer when the inmate he was guarding pulled a shank on him, stabbed him in the neck and wrestled with him for his gun. Losing blood from his neck, he retained control of his weapon, and chased down Willis Reese in his attempt to escape. Now, two months later, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's office has denied... more ›

Late last month the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted to disband the Stroger Hospital Police Department, in response to allegations of abuse and unnecessary roughness. You may remember back in September when three Stroger Hospital police officers were accused of pulling a 77-year-old man from his car and beating him in front of the medical center. And last month Sun-Times reporter Steve Patterson was "roughed up and manhandled" by that same police force as... more ›

We hope you're reading this weekend's blotter on a laptop outside somewhere. A homeless woman is being questioned concerning a fatal fire in Wrigleyville Saturday morning. Around 7 a.m. a fire broke out in a three-story apartment building at 3553 N. Fremont in a stairwell, quickly spreading throughout the structure. Three unidentified men and one woman, 24-year-old Jennifer Carlson, were found dead. Witnesses saw an unkempt woman hovering around three smaller fires the previous night... more ›

Here's the scenario: Cook County's in the hole by about $500 million. Infamous Board President Todd Stroger wants to slash jobs without raising taxes, which has many people up in arms, including newly elected Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. Stroger wants to dispose of some of Dart's courtroom staff and police force. What's a rookie sheriff of the most populated county in Illinois to do? more ›

The battle over cuts to the Cook County budget intensified this week, and is expected to get hotter in the coming weeks. Hundreds of people, from county health care workers to community activists to patients turned out en masse at the first of several public hearings over Todd Stroger's proposed budget cuts. Targeting long-term care at some county facilities and slashing the number of Sheriff's police, Stroger, who was noticeably absent from Tuesday's hearing, said... more ›

The primary election results are in, and here are some of the candidates you will see on the ballot in the November election: Governor-Democrat: Rod Blagojevich (70.1%) This was no surprise since Eisendrath never seemed to get his campaign off the ground. We know a lot of people who voted Eisendrath as part of showing their disapproval towards Blago. Governor-Republican: Judy Baar Topinka (38.0%) Topinka held off a late surge from Oberweis, who early on... more ›

Chicagoist believes that the concept of homeland security is all about a delicate balance between feeling safe and being constantly reminded that you're supposed to be wet-your-pants scared every time you set foot in a crowded public place. We were acquainted with this notion when we took our first overseas trip as a teenager. Those soldiers with M-16s in the Frankfort airport sure looked like they could handle any trouble that came our way, but holy crap, what was so freaking scary that they had to wave a machine gun around at the tourists? This concept is old hat in most of the world and it's only made itself comfortable here in the States since Sept. 11, but the same rules apply. Those German shepherds at the train stations look like they can tear ass on any troublemakers, but are any of those bad guys around? Did you see one? What's that guy doing with his bag over there? Shit, get me off this train! more ›

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Okay, so not yet, but there will be. more ›

Chicagoist has never served on a jury so we can only imagine what a mind-numbing inconvenience it is, even with the sexiest of cases. However, we're not so sure even we can condone a juror whipping out a cell phone and texting away. more ›