February 2012 Archives

On Sunday morning, Michelle Lech received an unknown visitor at her home. The man identified himself as "Dave" and then proceeded to make a hit and run confession in the killing of Michelle Lech's sister over three years ago.

In August 2008, Melissa Lech was a 20-year-old college student awaiting her junior year at the University of Illinois. She had just left a bar and was walking along the street in Joiliet when she was struck by a car, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. The driver of the car stopped and checked on the still alive woman briefly, before driving off. Melissa Lech later died.

Daycare worker Melissa Calusinski allegedly threw 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan to the ground so violently that he suffered fatal head injuries after the boy refused to wash his hands following a snack. Calusinski denies the daycare murder ever happened and says that Kingan died from a preexisting condition which medical experts affirmed.

Despite her plea of innocence, Calusinski was convicted and sentenced to 31 years in jail. The 25-year-old woman will be in jail until her late 50s, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

Major drug busts frequently happen when police observe someone transporting a smallish amount of drugs and that person leads police to a major stash. That’s what happened in the Chicago marijuana bust this week, where Chicago police nabbed over a ton of marijuana as well as a significant amount of crack.

The street value of the drugs is about $6 million and four people were arrested in connection with the South Side crime, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

A lesson for wannabe gangbangers: Even if you don’t pull the trigger, you could be spending the rest of your life in jail.

It seems that more often than not, you read about homicides and murders and are surprised at how light a prison sentence is doled out. The sense of injustice has become so great, that it’s no longer surprising when someone convicted of killing another only has to spend a few years in jail.

In a totally gnarly move, police arrested a Chicago surfer for illegally ripping some swells on Lake Michigan, reports ABC7 News.

Rex Flodstrom is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday to respond to disorderly conduct charges for surfing the off-limits lake on Jan. 17. The 40-year-old was arrested and ticketed for disorderly conduct and violating city park ordinances for being at a closed beach, according to ESPN.

They also took his surfboard.

Private First Class Matthew Zavala was training for combat in foreign countries such as Afghanistan. Instead of encountering violence on a battlefield, however, Zavala was reportedly gunned down on the streets of Chicago, reports WLS-TV.

Zavala, who was close to turning 21-years-old, was reportedly killed during the early hours of Saturday morning when an unknown shooter shot him in the head and jumped into a waiting getaway car. Zavala had just exited a party bus after celebrating a friend's birthday when the shooting occurred, according to neighbors.

Three teens are facing misdemeanor sexual abuse charges for allegedly forcing a girl to perform sex acts on them at Lincoln Park High School, reports WLS-TV.

Chicago police claim Jewvon Davis, 19, Kenneth Esco, 19, and a 17-year-old male threatened to beat up a 16-year-old girl’s friend if she didn’t perform the sex acts. The incident allegedly occurred last Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. in a Lincoln Park High School stairwell.

Davis has since been released on $5,000 bond, and the 17-year-old is being charged as a juvenile.

Alleged Latin Kings member Shalimar Santiago was found guilty of murder and aggravated battery for reportedly ramming into an SUV he thought contained gang rivals in 2009, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Santiago reportedly slammed into the SUV twice before sideswiping the vehicle because he thought the SUV contained members of rival gang the Latin Dragons. The SUV he attacked, however, was filled with a group of young men and women who had gotten lost on the West Side after a night of clubbing.

A 15-year-old boy’s winning design for Chicago’s next city sticker is being investigated after allegations arose that it contained gang signs, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. If gang activity has infiltrated an innocent city contest, could this mean Chicago’s gang problem is getting worse?

The boy’s design depicts a heart containing the Chicago skyline and four hands above the heart. It is supposed to honor city firefighters, paramedics and police, but an internet blogger accused the drawing of having a more nefarious meaning.

A senseless weekend bar fight left the second-grade students of a Naperville teacher mourning his death and a suspect sitting in jail, reports ABC 7 News.

"I have had a lengthy police career and never hearing that made less sense than this stabbing," Naperville Police Chief David Dial told ABC 7.

Charges have been filed against a man suspected of committing the horrendous Lynwood murder of Eugene White, and the kidnapping and sexual assault of his wife, Cecilia White, reports ABC 7 News.

Lynwood police have charged Calvin Griffin with murder and kidnapping after he was arrested on an unrelated charge on Thursday; however, they did not say what they believe Griffin’s motives may have been.

Several students of Adlai E. Stevenson High School, a highly-ranked public school in Lincolnshire, are the targets of a police drug investigation, according to WGN News.

Students at the school reportedly told WGN that several students have been expelled and dozens more suspended for their possible involvement in drug dealing at the school.

One-to-two-hundred students are reportedly on police investigation lists because they either sent a text message or an email connected to the drug dealings, according to WGN. Many of the students’ phones were confiscated as part of the investigation.