Fourteen-year-old Kelli O'Laughlin's parents found her dead in their home on Thursday afternoon after she apparently walked in on a burglary. more ›

Prosecutors have asked the Illinois Supreme Court to jump in on the murder case against Drew Peterson. Procedural rulings related to important hearsay evidence have held up prosecutors' progress, largely due to the fact that they may have missed a deadline. more ›

It's only coincidental that two news stories in the past 24 hours involve ex-employees of suburban North Chicago. But it's a still a coincidence. more ›

A extradition hearing is underway for an Indiana man accused of murdering his Michigan girlfriend, stuffing her body in a suitcase and throwing it in a Hobart, IN pond. 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 former City Health Department spokesman who was convicted five years ago of murdering a cab driver during a heated, drunken exchange over an $8 fare has been released from prison on parole. Michael L. Jackson was convicted of second-degree murder for the 2005 incident, in which he ran over Haroon Paryani three times with Paryani's own cab. more ›

27-year-old Sonny Pierce has been charged with the rapes and murders of three teenage girls. Cook County State's Attorney Anital Alvarez and law enforcement authorities believe the three women Pierce is accused of killing may only be the start of a series of murders and have asked citizens with any information linking him to unsolved murders to come forward. more ›

Normally the news of a young black man sentenced to prison for murder would get a passing glance in the media. This story is a bit different as the young black man at the center of the story, Derrick Lemon, was once a primary figure in another murder case 17 years ago. Lemon was sentenced yesterday to 71 years in prison for murdering his aunt's boyfriend during a family barbecue in 2006. In 1994, Lemon tried in vain to keep two other youths, ages 10 and 11, from throwing his younger brother Eric Morse fourteen stories from the Ida B. Wells housing projects to his death because Morse wouldn't steal candy for them. Lemon at one pint was hanging on to his brother, but let go when one of the youths bit his hand, and he tried to run down the stairs to save his little brother. more ›

Here is the sketch of the suspect in the Monday murder of Sally Katona-King, who died from injuries sustained when the suspect pushed her down a flight of stairs trying to flee the Fullerton Red/Brown Line "L" station after robbing another person of their iPhone. more ›

We listed this in yesterday's "Extra Extra" but this needs its own post. Police are looking at surveillance tape and asking CTA riders who were at the Fullerton Red/Brown line station Monday to come forward if they have information into the death of Sally Katona-King. Katona-King died from injuries sustained after a robber pushed her down a flight of stairs so he could flee the station after robbing another CTA passenger of her iPhone. more ›

Citing "a long mental health history and educational issues as well," DeKalb County public defender Regina Harris requested a psychological evaluation for William Curl, the man accused of murdering NIU student Antoinette "Toni" Keller in October. more ›

An 18-year-old was charged yesterday in the murders of a mother and her two daughters in Morgan Park. more ›

A 19-year-old gang banger is being questioned as a "person of interest" in the murders last week of Chicago police officer Michael Flisk and CHA policeman Stephen Peters. more ›

A DuPage County judge granted a public defender's request to delay a mental exam for Marci Webber, who has been accused of murdering her 4-year-old daughter, Magdalena "Maggie" Webber. more ›

We can't even begin to imagine how the family of Andrea Faye Will is feeling after they received the news that Justin Boulay, who was convicted of murdering Will in 1998, is being paroled and leaves prison tomorrow for Hawaii, where his wife is a college professor. more ›

Scott Eby accepted a plea bargain today in the 2004 rape and murder of 3-year-old Riley Fox that spares him the death penalty but guarantees he spends the rest of his life in prison. more ›

Details are beginning to come out regarding last week's brutal murder of 4-year-old Magdalena "Maggie" Webber, who had her throat slahed by her mother with such force that her head was nearly severed from her body. more ›

On Friday, it was announced that Allan Kustok, 59, has been charged with the murder of his wife, Anita, in their Orland Park home. This weekend, new reports surfaced via Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed that revealed that Kustok may have reportedly led a secret sex life. Police are currently investigating claims that Kustok had a five-year affair with another woman and may have also used an internet site for married individuals seeking sex with others. The Kustoks' children, Zak and Sarah, an anchor for Comcast SportsNet, maintain that they were unaware of any infidelity that potentially took place. more ›

• It seems some aldermen are pretty steamed about Rahm Emanuel's impending run for Mayor.
• It seems Tony Rezko , who pleaded guilty today to another fraud charge, is "ready and willing" to testify against ex-gov Rod Blagojevich if given the chance at the next Blago trial.
• Allan Kustok, the husband of slain teacher Anita Jeanie Kustok and charged with her murder, has been ordered held on $2 million bond.

It was a heinous act of violence, one captured on video, shown around the county (and the world), and one that was sadly symbolic of the violence Chicago Public School students are facing. Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the beating death of Fenger High student Derrion Albert, an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time, pulled into a brawl between two factions of students: those already attending Fenger and students newly bused in from Altgeld Gardens, two groups that had been stuck in an ongoing cycle of violence. more ›

Jermaine Brazill, 19, from Dolton, was arrested in Danville and charged with the May 24 murder of Destin Hernandez, a 15-year-old honor student from Thornridge High School. Dolton police tracked Brazill to Danville and he was arrested on Aug. 13 by U.S. marshals and Dolton and Danville police. Brazill was charged with first-degree murder and is currently being held in Cook County Jail on $1 million bond, according to Dolton police detective Darryl Hope via the Chicago Sun-Times. "I got a lead that he was in the area, I coordinated with Danville police and got the marshals involved, we did surveillance, and once he was spotted we made the arrest," Hope said. more ›

Yesterday a Lake County, Indiana jury found Engelica Castillo, 20, guilty of murder, two counts of neglect of a dependent, battery and false informing for the 2009 death of two-year-old Jada Justice. Castillo, Jada's cousin, babysat the girl for two weeks in June of 2009 while Jada's mother was out of town. When Jada went missing, Castillo originally told police that she had left the girl in the car while running an errand and Jada was gone when she returned. But Castillo's then-boyfriend Timothy Tkachik admitted the girl's death to police and led them to Jada's body, burned and encased in concrete. From the Tribune: more ›

Ronald Rice, already serving a 60-year sentence for aggravated kidnapping and deviant sexual assault of an 11-year-old boy, was sentenced today to 80 years for the 1980 murder of Edwin Gulbransen. Rice had originally said he accidentally struck the boy with his car and dumped the body in a field but later admitted to strangling the boy. The case was reopened in 2008 and Rice was charged with murder. Today, Rice, who was up for parole in 2012, pleaded guilty and received his new sentence. more ›

Murder charges against Jerry Hobbs, the Zion man accused of murdering his daughter Laura and her friend Krystal Tobias in 2005, have been dropped by prosecutors. The move comes after DNA evidence has been provided that links another man to the crime, clearing Hobbs of wrong-doing. The new suspect is from Zion but is currently being held in Virginia on charges of assaulting two women. Hobbs had originally confessed to the murders but later claimed he had been coerced. more ›

A warm, sunny weekend took a violent turn overnight as at least three people have been reported killed and 12 wounded since last night. In all, the Tribune reports 13 separate shooting incidents ranging from 8:16 p.m. last night to 5:06 a.m. this morning. Two of the fatalities were reported in the Englewood neighborhood. The first killing happened at 10:25 p.m., the other at around 1 a.m. when police responded to shots fired in the 6400 block of South Paulina Avenue. One victim was pronounced dead at the scene while the other was transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The third killing happened early this morning in the East Chatham neighborhood. There were no reports of any suspects being held for any of the shootings. more ›

Between late Friday evening and early this morning, 40 people were reported shot across the city with seven reported deaths. Chicago Police Supt. blamed at least half of the incidents on gangs. According to the Tribune, 18 people were shot just last night and, in a refrain that we're far too used to, the Trib reports, "No one is in custody for any of the shootings." In one incident on the West Side, in the 1300-block of West Hastings, five people, including a small child, were hurt in a shooting just after midnight at a Father's Day bar-b-q. Earlier in the weekend, three men were killed early Saturday morning in a shooting in Little Village. On Saturday night, an argument over a woman led to two men injured by gunfire and another killed in the Roseland neighborhood. more ›

After Saturday night's outbreak of violence, Sunday saw a similar rash of shootings that's left as many as 12 injured and 3 dead. The first reported incident occurred yesterday afternoon shortly after 1 p.m. in the city's West Elsdon neighborhood and the last one happened around 5:30 a.m. this morning in the Uptown neighborhood where a man was shot by a bike-riding gunman. Shootings in Brighton Park, Little Village, and Englewood resulted in deaths. In addition to the four shootings deaths this weekend, another man died as a result of injuries sustained in a beating in Bridgeport early Sunday morning. With the five deaths since Saturday afternoon, May 2010 has seen 43 murders, slightly down from last May's total of 47, but that's not saying much. more ›

An anonymous tip may have led Chicago police to a serial killer on the city’s South Side. DNA from a 24-year old suspect matches traces left with the remains of Siobahn Hampton, found strangled in an abandoned storefront. And DNA evidence from two other similar murders in the Roseland neighborhood match those found on Hampton. Connections to two other similar murders in the area are also being investigated. more ›

A woman who was five months pregnant was stabbed to death at a friend's home in Villa Park yesterday afternoon and the murder was witnessed by the victim's three-year-old daughter. Police are currently searching for 31-year-old Eric Gilford for questioning related to the crime. There's still confusion as to exactly what happened and Gilford's relationship to the victim. Some reports say the victim was visiting her boyfriend's apartment when the incident occurred while a neighbor told the Tribune the victim had introduced herself a week before as "Eric's wife." And ABC 7 refers to the victim as Gilford's ex-wife. A witness told CBS 2, "A little girl came running outside talking about her daddy stabbed 'em, her daddy stabbed 'em. I said, 'Are you okay?' The little girl was full of blood." more ›

Thomas Wortham IV, a Chicago Police officer, was killed last night outside his parents' Chatham home when three men tried to rob him of his motorcycle; Wortham was off-duty at the time. Three men left their car and approached Wortham around 11:30 p.m. last night as he was leaving his parents house after dinner. When they tried to steal his motorcycle, gunfire was exchanged. Wortham was reportedly shot in the head; his father, a retired police veteran, had seen the men approach his son, came outside, and shot at the three suspects, striking two and killing one. The third suspect fled the scene in a car; police have since recovered what they think is that vehicle. The suspect killed has been identified as Brian Floyd, 20. Wortham is the second officer from the CPD's Englewood District to be killed within the last year. Officer Alejandro Valadez, who was shot and killed last year, also worked in the District. more ›