South Side Strangling Suspect in Custody

By JoshMogerman on May 29, 2010 9:00PM

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.

According to the Sun-Times, a break in the case occurred on May 22 when beat cops responded to a disturbance where a woman claimed she had been choked in Roseland. A DNA swab was taken which later connected the man to the murders after a tipster responded to recent police alerts.

If the arrest holds up, it will be a shot in the arm for CPD, which is undergoing a “comprehensive management review” of the force and operating 2,000 officers short of its full-authorized strength. It will also help to address questions about police investigations that followed similar outbreaks of stranglings on the South Side in recent years and bolsters the decision to strengthen the CAPS community policing program in the 2010 budget after debilitating cuts made in 2008.