Chicagoist Weekend Blotter

By Shannon in News on Mar 18, 2007 9:52PM

Surprisingly little St. Patty's related fare for the blotter this weekend. Hooray!

crime scene

Two fatal fires broke out between last night and this morning. A 66-year-old Englewood mad died from a fire that started around 10:20 Saturday night of a two-story apartment building. The man was identified as Lamar Jackson, who worked as a security guard. Two women were injured. And in Lakeview, an unidentified 28-year-old man was killed in another fire Sunday morning. Four people were in the third-floor apartment, where the fire started. Three escaped, but the fourth is thought to have died of smoke inhalation.

A 29-year-old mother in unincorporated Maine Township was charged Sunday with the death of her five-year-old daughter. Mila Petrov had allegedly been abusing Melanie Beltran for three years before the girl was found Tuesday night with extensive head wound trauma. Melanie died of her injuries the next day, the same day that Petrov gave birth to another child. Petrov and the children's father now have six children total; all of them were taken into custody by the Department of Children and Family Services.

47-year-old David Brown, a Park Forest resident, died Saturday night after attacking his father and brother. When police arrived, Brown turned on them, clawing an officer in the face and head and striking a police dog. Brown was finally placed in handcuffs when he suffered cardiac difficulties, dying in an emergency room in Chicago Heights. He was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, but the cause of his rampage or death is currently unknown.

Police are searching for a missing woman in Villa Park. 32-year-old Rebecca Klein left for work Friday morning but never showed up. Her van was found close to her home with the keys in the ignition and her work bag still inside. The situation is being treated as a criminal investigation, as police have found some "disturbing evidence," according to Klein's father. A blog, rebeccaklein.blogspot.com, has been erected in hopes of Internet recognition.