Chicagoist Weekend Blotter

By Shannon in Miscellaneous on Mar 11, 2007 9:43PM

We hope you're reading this weekend's blotter on a laptop outside somewhere.

waiting for the call

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 and earlier that day. She was found after the deadly blaze, smelling strongly of smoke. An unconnected electrical fire at 3500 N. Lake Shore evacuated a high-rise early Sunday, with only four injured people.

A traffic aide died Saturday as a result of being hit by a motorist. Julian Alamillo, 44, was directing traffic on the West Side Wednesday when he was struck by a car. Alamillo is the first Traffic Management Authority death ever. He also worked part-time at O'Hare for Continental Airlines.

A 41-year-old man from Anchorage, AK, was arrested at O'Hare Friday afternoon in an Internet underage sex sting. Benerito M. Angel met what he thought was a 14-year-old girl in a chat room two weeks ago. She agreed to perform oral sex on him during his three-hour layover from Turkey to Seattle. In reality, the girl was a female police officer, and Angel was scooped up by the Cook County Sheriff's Police Child Exploitation Unit. He was charged Saturday with indecent solicitation of a child.

Finally, some happy news: A man and his dog were saved from drowning in frigid Lake Michigan Saturday afternoon. The 30-year-old man, a woman and 1-year-old puppy Carla were walking along Montrose Pier when Carla got off the leash and jumped into the water. The unidentified man immediately jumped in after her, but found himself unable to get out due to the cold. His companion and a witness notified police on their cell phones, who came to both the man and the dog's rescue. Both should recover just fine.

Image courtesy of Jeff Cagle.