A man has been charged with first degree murder after throwing a fire extinguisher down five floors to kill a homeless man. more ›

With all the hype and hoopla surrounding "flash mobs" (or not) attacking and robbing people, it somehow doesn't come as a shock to hear that Monday, June 6th was the deadliest day of 2011, at least so far as homicides are concerned. The Redeye reports that 6 people were murdered on Monday, in incidents scattered throughout the city. However, none of the killings took place anywhere near Streeterville, the Gold Coast or any of the sites of the better-publicized assaults. more ›

A 34-year old DeKalb man named William Curl has been charged in the death of NIU student Antinette "Toni" Keller. Curl was a person of interest to the police because he was a frequent visitor to Prairie Park, where Keller's remains were found, and also possibly because he reported a fire in the woods near the park where Keller told her friends she would be. more ›

The disappearance of NIU student Antinette "Toni" Keller is now a homicide investigation. Remains found at a park where Keller was last headed were so badly burned that the cannot be identified as Keller's. According to officials close to the investigation, items found near the remains have been identified as belonging to Keller. more ›

Regina Lofton, the mother of 13-month-old twins Kimora and Kamari Roberson, was charged late yesterday with felony child endangerment resulting in the death of a child in connection with the girls' deaths Thursday night. The charges came after the Cook County Medical Examiner's office ruled the deaths homicides and concluded the girls died from "hyperthermia, environmental exposure and failure to thrive due to maternal neglect." Each girl was underweight - 13 pounds each - at the time of their deaths. more ›

Last night deaths of 13-month-old twins Kimora and Kamari Robeson have been ruled homicides by the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. The official cause of death was listed as "hyperthermia, environmental exposure and failure to thrive due to maternal neglect." Hyperthermia is a frequent cause of death for children left in vehicles. The girls were most likely dead for several hours before the police were contacted around 6 p.m. last night. A spokesperson for Illinois Department of Children and Family Services says the department has never had contact with the family. No formal charges have been filed yet. more ›

With temperatures surging yesterday to 15-degrees above normal, reaching mid-July levels, the city saw another round of violence overnight. Nine people have been reported injured in seven separate shootings since 9:10 p.m. last night with one dead, a 35-year-old man shot near Washington Park. According to the Tribune, no suspects in any shootings were in custody as of 6:30 a.m. this morning. more ›

It looks like the city recorded its first homicide of 2010 over the weekend. Joyce Fulguim, 61, was found dead in her home (11000-block of South Lowe) Saturday afternoon from blunt force trauma to the head. Police say evidence points to Fulguim being the victim of a home invasion. Several items - including her car - were taken but police later recovered the stolen vehicle and had two people being held for questioning. more ›

Police are still investigating the death of former Blago adviser Christopher Kelly but Kelly's "girlfriend" (Kelly was married at the time of his death) is no longer talking to police and, according to Country Club Hills mayor Dwight Welch, she is "lawyered up." Which is perhaps a good thing: according to the Tribune, while the death has been investigated as a possible suicide - the Sun-Times reports that Kelly, "called a woman identified as his 'girlfriend' and told her that he took some pills and was going to kill himself" - it seems they're now treating the case as a homicide investigation due to it's high profile nature. Said Welch, "We're giving it all of the bells and whistles. Were going after every detail ... we're treating it as we would if this were a homicide. It's a high profile case, we want to do it by the books, by the numbers and do it right.'' more ›

• Michael Jackson's death has been ruled a homicide.
• It was a clout-y first day of the Fall 2009 term at the University of Illinois today.
• Bensenville's village president has conceded the fight against O'Hare expansion but is still expressing concern for effects on the city's maintenance.

• The CTA Board approved plans to extend the Red, Orange, and Yellow Lines, but we'll believe it when we see it.
• U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky's son-in-law died while snorkeling during a family vacation in Mexico.
• Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois is cutting 650 jobs.

It was a violent July, but for the first six months of 2009, crime was down overall across the city compared with the same time period in 2008. The Sun-Times has a break-down of the stats and shows a nine percent decrease in overall crime, including a three percent decrease in violent crime. more ›

Chicago Police reported Friday that there have been 108 murders in Chicago between January and April, a 19.4 percent drop from last year, which saw 134 murders during the same time frame. They have also recovered 421 more firearms and 49 more assault weapons than during this period last year. Total violent crime is down 2.8 percent overall, and property crime is down 9.6 percent. Police Superintendent Jody Weis attributes the decline to new crime reduction strategies. "With the summer fast approaching," Weis said in a press release from the police department, "we will look closely at the tactics which have made the streets safer and engage the community to help us continue in this direction." more ›

Carnell Pitts, 18, was shot and killed at a house party on the South Side late Friday night, just two weeks after his younger brother, Kendrick Pitts, 17, was shot and killed along with two others. Carnell Pitts had allegedly been arguing with someone and was shot in the back. He later died at Advocate Trinity Hospital of multiple gunshot wounds. The death was ruled a homicide, and the police do not have any suspects in custody at this time. more ›

Well, this wasn't the news we wanted to see going into Christmas. For the first time in five years, Chicago has eclipsed 500 murders, according to Chicago Police spokeswoman Monique Bond. No other details are known other than that the homicide occurred last night. While these numbers are still a far cry from the bloody 90's (when homicides topped 900 a year from 1991 through 1994), it's still an uptick from last year's 443 murders and doesn't do beleaguered Chicago Police honcho Jody Weis any good. more ›

Chicago police have asked the FBI to assist them in finding Jennifer Hudson's nephew, 7-year-old Julian King. King has not been seen since the murder of his uncle and grandmother yesterday. The FBI was called in as it's believed the boy may have been transported across state lines. more ›

Police are questioning a man suspected of killing the mother and brother of singer-actress Jennifer Hudson in an Englewood home. The Chicago Police are also searching for Hudson's 7-year-old nephew, who is missing since another relative went by the house and found the bodies of Darnell Donerson, 57, and Jason Hudson, 29, yesterday afternoon. more ›

In a crazy, sad story that’s been evolving all day, Boubacar Bah has been charged with the early morning hit-and-run death of Thomas Dalof. Dalof, 26, had been celebrating with friends his recent acceptance into both the Chicago Fire Academy and the local stagehands union. His friends gave an account as to what happened after they left the bar: more ›

In the face of month after month (and year after decade after century) of alleged and proven police misconduct making headlines in our fair city, the department has finally started to catch up and react. Residents who use 311 to report a crime can now fill out an online satisfaction survey. more ›

Stacy Peterson, a 23-year-old Bolingbrook woman, has now been missing for five days. Though police are still calling their investigation a missing person search (and not a homicide investigation,) it can't be good that they are searching a nearby pond. Today's news has three main parts: The actual investigation: Two days before she disappeared, Stacy Peterson told husband Drew Peterson that she wanted a divorce, according to her aunt, Suzan Robison. The next day, Peterson... more ›

Jean Sliwinski was convicted of reckless homicide today and was also deemed mentally ill. She'll be sentenced November 26. George Ryan is supposed to report to prison November 7...unless Judge Posner's emphatic dissent is enough to convince the 7th Circuit to extend Ryan's bail until his case can be appealed to the Supreme Court. There are people who enjoy Ricky Henderson jokes. There are people who enjoy Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me jokes. Then... more ›

After a long hiatus, we deemed this weekend’s goings-on worthy of a crime roundup. There was a definite family vibe in the air, although in these cases that’s not really a good thing: An elementary school janitor was arrested last week on suspicion of sexually assaulting two teenage family members. Eric Vaughn, 41, worked at Tilton Elementary School on the West Side. Though there’s no evidence of wrongdoing with students, Vaughn is not to have... more ›

This morning three relatively young men were charged for viciously beating a homeless man with chains and a sign. The only provocation for the attack was apparently when the man bumped into one of the men as they were walking out of a bar near Randolph and Wabash. Because of an accidental run-in, 40-year-old Franklin Hayden ended up in Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious condition with the possibility of losing an eye. To be honest,... more ›

"How stupid are the drivers in this parking lot?" via kudzuplanet. more ›

It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend... Gothamist spent the week writing about New Yorkers behaving badly: at the post office, at the Garden, and at the fertility clinic. Calvin Klein may not be misbehaving, but he's just a little dirty, and in a completely different way than some NYC kitchens. SFist had its share of misbehave-rs, too, like... more ›

Over the weekend, Chicagoist first mentioned Rebecca Klein. At that time, the 32-year-old Villa Park woman had been missing since Friday, and her family had created a blog in hopes that someone out on the internets had information about her disappearance. more ›

This photo shows what you do not want to see when you look out the CTA train's window. There was a "small track fire" on the Brown Line tonight. More» more ›

After reading through today's news stories consisting of a child beaten to death, a shooting leading to a car plowing into a home, stabbings in Edgewater, and a human skull discovery, Chicagoist yearns to enlighten you about something a little lighter, a little prettier, a little less riddled with death and violence (well, on the surface, at least). Because we care.
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