Prosecutors say a man violently carjacked a Lakeview woman in her garage Thursday and then sped from officers who tried to pull him over. Among the evidence that allegedly points to the man’s involvement are location records from a GPS device he was wearing on his ankle for a pending domestic battery case.
“I’m not allowed to hold you without bail on this matter,” Judge Charles Beach told Jmeere Murray-Lennan during a bond hearing Saturday. “Although, frankly, the temptation would certainly exist.”
Murray-Lennan, 18, and another man who remains at-large approached a woman as she was pulling into her garage on the 1300 block of West Fletcher and asked her for the time, Assistant State’s Attorney Sergio Gomez said.
She told them it was 6:24 p.m. Then, the second offender asked for her car keys.
The woman, 25, tried to reason with the man, but Gomez said he put his hand over her mouth and threatened to kill her.
Murray-Lennan then came behind the woman, placed a gloved hand over her mouth, and threw her to the ground, according to Gomez. He put his leg on her neck and face area, then threatened to kill her as the other man took the woman’s wallet, keys, earpods, and phone, Gomez said.
The other man started her car, and Murray-Lennan allegedly climbed into the passenger seat. They drove away, striking a neighbor’s iron fence as they fled, according to Gomez. A surveillance camera recorded Parts of the hijacking.
About four hours later, a CPD license plate reader located the car, and cops moved in. The driver sped from police but eventually drove onto a sidewalk and slammed into a railing near Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt Road. The vehicle, which began smoking, is totaled, Gomez said.
Murray-Lennan was the driver and no one else was in the vehicle, according to Gomez. He had the car’s key fob and the woman’s earpods in his possession, Gomez said. The woman’s wallet and phone were still in the car.
Investigators reviewed GPS data from an ankle monitor that Murray-Lennan has been required to wear since October 21, when he was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery. The device pinged at the hijacking scene at the time of the crime, Gomez said.
Murray-Lennan’s defense attorney said he works as an Uber Eats driver. He was adjudicated delinquent for possession of a stolen motor vehicle in 2017; residential burglary in 2017; unlawful possession of a handgun in 2018; and he has a pending juvenile robbery case, prosecutors said.
He is now charged with vehicular hijacking, possessing a stolen motor vehicle, robbery, and unlawful restraint as well as misdemeanor counts of fleeing and eluding and reckless driving.
“The individual … tried to reason with you and speak to you about this,” Judge Beach said. “All that did was result in a violent act in response.”
Beach ordered Murray-Lennan held in lieu of $500,000 with an additional $30,000 for violating the terms of release in the domestic battery case. Murray-Lennan must post $53,000 to get out of jail on electronic monitoring under Beach’s order.
