Intro
“Welcome to Murder By Nature, where we discuss True Crime, Mystery disappearances, and unsolved cases! I’m Jazmin Hernandez, your host!
Thank them for listening and being a part of this community.
References:
Introduce
Since 2001, at least 50 women between the ages of 18 and 58 have been murdered in a similar fashion within the city of Chicago. The victims were mostly African Americans, typically employed as sex workers, and often had previous experiences with the justice system. Nearly all were strangled, partially or fully stripped, and then left in abandoned buildings, alleys, garbage bins, parks, or snowdrifts. Twenty-five of the cases were closed by police, resulting in the arrest of 13 men.
Many strangulations were committed in just three police districts on Chicago's South and West sides. Areas with histories of violent crime and drug use, such as Washington Park and Garfield Park, have been common locations for these murders to occur. This pattern was recognized in 2018 through the Murder Accountability Project (MAP), which reviewed over 50 unsolved strangulation and asphyxiation cases dating back to 2001. The algorithm used by MAP sorts unsolved homicides by location, victim, and killing method to identify clusters associated with low homicide clearance rates. According to MAP, these factors could indicate an active serial killer. The Chicago police deny that any one person is behind the slayings. Others point to parallels across the murders, including location, method, and victimology, to suggest a Chicago serial killer has been terrorizing the streets for over two decades.
What’s certain is that women are dying at an alarming rate. And most of their murders have not been solved. All the women were found dumped after being killed in Chicago’s South and West Side neighborhoods, usually in abandoned buildings or alleyways. Most of the killings were done in a brutal fashion. Some victims were raped and beaten. Others were bound and gagged. Some women had plastic bags tied over their heads; most were stripped of their clothing and/or set on fire. Strangulation accounts for about 1% of murder cases, most being domestic violence. Most homicides in Chicago are shootings or stabbings. Random strangulations are extremely rare and stand out to law enforcement because strangulation is a personal and intimate attack. You have actually to be close to the person and fight them to do it. It’s also not the easiest way to kill someone. You have to hold them down until they stop breathing physically.
Each of these deaths represents a unique tragedy to the families they left behind.
Angela Ford, the earliest unsolved case, vanished after leaving home to pick up her children’s report cards in 1999. She was found strangled and unconscious days after her disappearance, and she eventually died in 2001 after a year and a half in a coma.
Gwendolyn Williams, the eldest of six, was found murdered in 2002.
Jan 18, 2003, Nacey Walker missed a lunch appointment and was never seen alive again. Her dismembered body was found almost two months later, stuffed in garbage bags and dumped on the side of a road.
In 2007, two women were murdered within 48 hours of each other. Theresa Bunn, who was eight months pregnant, was strangled, stripped, thrown in a dumpster, and set on fire. The next day, Hazel Lewis’s body was found in a burning trash can behind an elementary school. Yet, despite the violence and frequency of these murders, few have received much media attention.
“You’re talking about women who were thrown in the trash and found in abandoned buildings,” remarked Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. “Horrors that were just blips in the news, if at all.”
In recent years, however, the deaths have gotten a closer look. And some believe a single serial killer, the Chicago Strangler.
To Thomas Hargrove, founder of the Murder Accountability Project (MAP), the murders in Chicago are more than random violence. They’re the work of a single killer. “We know this is a series,” Hargrove said. “We have no doubt.” Hargrove founded MAP in 2015 after studying the serial killer Gary Ridgway. Ridgway killed dozens before his arrest in 2001. But it took the police a long time to realize they were dealing with one killer. Hargrove believes that a well-tuned algorithm could have found patterns that police missed. That’s what MAP does to identify potential serial killers, and Hargrove believes that his algorithm has found a definite pattern in the case of the Chicago Strangler. Thomas Hargrove noted, "There is one very odd pattern in the map: There is a linear array of body recovery sites on the Chicago Near South Side, which forms an almost perfect north-south line." This is pretty much the same line as the Chicago Green Line elevated train. Hargrove shared this information with the Chicago police, though neither the Murder Accountability Project nor the CPD was willing to state outright that the killer was using mass transit to find and slay his victims. It would be impossible to move the bodies on a train, but surely there are usable data points that have yet to be explored.
“almost all victims were recovered out-of-doors, often in alleyways or abandoned properties. That’s pretty unusual. At least three-quarters of the victims' deaths had a clear sexual component. The victims were found partially disrobed, completely nude, or parts of their clothing were ripped to expose the female form.” He added, “These 51 women were not killed by 51 separate men. Many of these women, probably most of these, were killed by men who have killed before.” Hargrove noted that the killings stopped in 2014, only to pick up in 2017. To him, this highly suggests that a single killer was briefly incarcerated and unable to kill. But the Chicago police aren’t so sure. To the police, the evidence simply isn’t there. Investigators have collected 21 pieces from about half the crime scenes; the DNA is different in each case.
To date, just one of the 51 murders has been solved. Diamond Turner, In March 2017, a garbage collector discovered Turner’s body, but the suspect wasn’t taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder until January 2020, police announced she had been killed by a man she’d had a relationship with. Like the others, she’d been asphyxiated and dumped. The man accused of her murder was also suspected in at least two other slayings.
So, is the Chicago strangler a serial killer? Or is something even darker at play?
The Chicago Stranger could certainly be an individual serial killer. Hargrove has even suggested a name: Darren Deon Vann. Vann strangled multiple women in Gary, Indiana, and dumped their bodies in abandoned buildings before his arrest in 2014. He even told police that he’d killed people in Illinois. Gary, IN, is right next to Chicago, and it’s considered part of East Chicago. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he’s responsible for some of the names on the list. However, the most recent murder on the list of potential victims in Chicago was in 2018, and there were others after he went to prison.
In 2019, CPD’s then-Chief of Detectives Melissa Staples said a team of homicide detectives who were on an FBI Violent Crimes task Force was assigned to look into each case. “They are reviewing every piece of evidence in every one of these cases,”
As that is the most information we have on the Chicago Strangler, we will dive into the stories of the women who were murdered.
2001:
Angela Marieanna Ford was found strangled in an abandoned building on January 4.
Charlotte W. Day was found in a vacant lot strangled on March 28.
Winifred Shines was found in the back lot of a Shop and Buy clothing store strangled on August 2.
Brenda Cowart was found strangled in a vacant lot on August 22.
Elaine Boneta was found strangled, faced down on the sidewalk on November 5.
Saudia Banks was found strangled in her apartment on December 28.
2002:
Bessie Scott was found strangled in a an abandoned beauty salon on February 16.
Jody Grissom was found strangled in an alley on August 14.
Lorraine Harris was located strangled in an alley on August 25.
Dellie Jones' body was found strangled in the garage of an abandoned building on September 7.
Celeste Jackson was found strangled in an alley on December 20.
Gwendolyn Williams was born the eldest of Rosa Pritchett's six children on Oct. 6, 1957, in Montgomery, Alabama. Gwen and two of her siblings moved with their mother to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1964, then to Chicago the following year. Gwen loved to dance. Her face lit up as the music and rhythms coursed through her body and gentle soul. She also liked to cook: collard greens, homemade cornbread, and southern cuisine, including the family delicacy: chitterlings. Gwen always insisted that she be the one to clean them with her mom, Gwen’s attention to pulling off the fat and rinsing the chitterlings of all foreign matter next to godliness. Church on Sundays and several times during the week was the family’s routine. Even when Gwen was grown and gone, she knew enough whenever she visited home to bring her “church clothes” so she could attend Sunday morning worship. On Wednesday, June 12, 2002, she was found strangled and lifeless, covered in blood. Her body had been discarded behind a Dollar Store in the 4800 block of North Sheridan Road. Police officials reported that Gwen’s body was half dressed and that she had drugs and alcohol in her system. Investigators also found semen and a stranger’s skin beneath her nails, evidence that Gwen the fighter had put up a fight. She was 44. Sharon is still haunted by the call that morning from the police with news about Gwen. The night before, Gwen had been at her house caring for her as she was mending from surgery. The two sisters had sat in bed watching movies, laughing, Gwen planting kisses on her sister’s dogs. Princess, a Dalmatian, still had Gwen’s red lipstick on her black-and-white spotted face when the phone rang with news of the murder.
2003:
Nancie Carolyn Walker. But those closest to her all called her Carolyn. The eldest of six sisters, Nancie was born on Aug. 15, 1947, in Birmingham, Alabama, on a Southern red-clay-dirt summer day. She danced most of her life, including at Frances Parker High School on Chicago’s Near North Side, where she was the cheerleading squad captain. Dancing remained a lifelong passion that she once studied at Columbia College before deciding to carve out a career as an entrepreneur. She also attended Roosevelt University. Nancie loved hushpuppies. She loved to go out to various restaurants and sample different foods. She loved to “step”—the Chicago-bred bop and cool version of ballroom dancing to smooth grooves in the key of R&B, where couples glide majestically across the dance floor. Myrna Walker sensed something was wrong when Nancie didn't show up for lunch. She said, “I waited, and I waited, and I waited… I called her, and she never answered her phone. I called her all evening.” No answer. The sisters talked every morning. The next Tuesday, Myrna called, again and again, all day long. Still, no answer. This was not like Nancie at all. Indeed the last time Myrna had spoken with her sister, she had called Tuesday to say she was on her way downtown to meet her for lunch. Two days passed, and still no word. It was Thursday. And Myrna sensed something might be wrong but wasn’t completely alarmed. She figured she would surely be able to reach Nancie then; after all, she held dance classes with her Buddhist dance troupe on Thursdays and never missed. Myrna called. Nancie had not shown up. “That’s when I knew something was wrong. When they said she didn't show up for class, I was (like) Oh, my God!” Myrna, filled with anxiety and fear, decided to go to her sister’s house for a well-being check. “When I walked into her house, I knew she hadn’t been there in a while….”
They contacted the police. The family says were not particularly moved to action. They figured it was a run-of-the-mill walk away from your home and life case. But that just didn't make any sense. Nancie was a businesswoman. She had made a run to the bank on the day she disappeared. Why would she just up and walk away? The answer was simple: She wouldn’t.
The cops weren’t convinced. Was it domestic? Alcohol? Drugs? Something else? Whatever the case, they would not accept the family’s sense of conviction that something was gravely wrong. The cops basically said as much. They said to wait until Monday. “Monday? I said, ‘We can’t wait ‘til no damn Monday,”. She helped the family organize a press conference at a South Side beauty salon. Days passed with no word on Nancie’s whereabouts as Myrna and her sisters and Cobb continued to press police to insist that her disappearance be featured as a Missing Person on the police website, to saturate the city with her picture, and to search. Seven weeks after Nancie disappeared, the news came on March 19, 2003. They had found her, or what was left of her. She had been dismembered, her body parts placed in trash bags and left on the Bishop Ford Highway. She was 55.
Tarika Jones was strangled in the basement of an abandoned building on May 20.
Linda Green was found strangled in an alley in May 20
Rosenda Barocio was located strangled in an alley on August 14.
LaTonya Keeler body was found strangled in a garbage can on August 16.
Latricia Hall was found strangled in a vacant lot on October 15.
Lucyset “Mary” Thomas' body was found in the garage of an abandoned building on October 15. She had been strangled and also had blunt force trauma to the head.
Ethel Amerson was found on December 26th on the second floor of an abandoned building. She was strangled and had blunt force head trauma.
2004:
Michelle Davenport's body was found in a garbage can, strangled on July 15th.
Tamala Edwards was found strangled in an alley on October 16th.
Makalavah Williams' body was found strangled behind Wood Brothers Stamping Steel on November 5.
2005:
Precious Smith was found strangled in an alley on January 13.
Denise Torres was located strangled in an alley on February 1.
Wanda Hall was found strangled in a vacant lot on August 30.
Yvette Mason was found strangled in an alley on December 25.
Shaniqua Williams' body was found behind an abandoned building, strangled on December 30.
2006:
Antoinette Simmons' body was found in a city trash container on July 14. Simmons had been asphyxiated and still had a plastic bag around her head.
Kelly Sarff was found strangled in an abandoned building on September 24.
MARGARET GOMEZ On Jan. 12, 2006, she was found dead and partially clothed in a salvage yard, in the 4200 block of Knox Avenue, on the city’s Southwest Side.
2007:
Veronica Frazier was found strangled in an alley on March 25.
Mary Szatkowski was found strangled on an enclosed porch on May 2.
Theresa Bunn On Nov. 12, 2007, she was found strangled to death in a trash bin near the South Side’s Washington Park, and strangled, her body nude and badly burned.— November 2007
2008:
Genevieve "Jenny" Mellas was located strangled in a wooded area on October 9th.
2009:
Charlene Miller was found strangled in her apartment on June 13.
Latoya Banks was found in an alley on July 5th.
Shannon Williams was found strangled in an alley on August 6.
Vanessa Rajokovich's body was located next to the river. She was asphyxiated and found with a plastic bag over her head.
2010:
Lafonda Sue Wilson was found strangled on June 25th.
Quanda L. Crider was found strangled with blunt force trauma in the first floor closet of an abandoned building on July 16th.
2011:
Angela Profit was found strangled in a vacant lot on August 28.
2012:
Pamela Wilson's body was located in the grassy area of a vacant lot on August 9th.
2014:
Velma Howard was found strangled in an alley on February 21st.
2017:
Catherine Saterfield-Buchanan was found strangled in a parkway on June 22.
2018:
Valerie Marie Jackson was found strangled in a yard on March 17.
Lora Dawn Harbin's body was located in a grassy yard of an abandoned resident on May 25.
Nicole Lynell Ridge was found strangled in a garage of an abandoned building on June 12.
Shantieya Smith 26-year-old Shantieya Smith—mother of a 6-year-old—was found murdered in 2018. Smith’s body was found badly decomposed beneath a car in an abandoned Chicago garage on the city’s West Side, so unidentifiable that only dental records could prove her identity. According to Smith’s autopsy report, her body went undiscovered for over a week. Extreme tissue loss and even evidence of maggots were reported in the examination. The only substances found in her system were trace levels of nicotine and alcohol. Smith’s likely cause of death was blunt trauma to the head and neck, her body left to decompose underneath a car. The coroner’s final conclusion: Homicide.
Reo Renee Holyfiend Some of Reo’s loved ones called her “Chocolate.” Some called her “Auntie.” Riccardo Holyfield, 32, called her his sister, although she was actually his first cousin. Reo was the first girl in the family and Ricardo the first boy. That meant the family doted over Reo, showered her with unrelenting affection. Her aunt, Ricardo’s mother even marked Reo’s arrival with a tattoo on her arm. Reo grew up in the South Side’s Englewood neighborhood, though as she grew older would ride the train with her cousins to explore the city. She liked to sing. Back in 1993 when “Sister Act 2” came out, Reo would pause the VCR and sing all the songs, serenading her cousins. Reo’s body was discovered on Sept. 10, 2018. A brief Chicago Sun-Times story reported in part: “At 11:27 a.m. Sept. 10, a Chicago Streets and Sanitation worker was dumping a garbage can into the garbage truck when he saw the woman’s body among the dumped garbage in the 500 block of West 95th Street, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.” But this much was clear. She was murdered. Discarded as trash. Her family never got to hold a funeral, to touch a casket, to have a proper farewell -- because her body was so badly decomposed she had to be cremated, Riccardo lamented.
My Thoughts
Outro
That brings us to the end of this episode! As always, thanks for listening to Murder By Nature. If you enjoy our show, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any streaming platform you are currently on, and be sure to come back Saturday for our new episode. Until then, I am your host, Jazmin Hernandez, don’t forget to stay safe! Don’t get murdered or murder people, you lovely humans!
