CHICAGO — A man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stabbing a 75-year-old man to death in Rogers Park. Judge Peggy Chiampas handed down the sentence on Tuesday after Cash Johnson, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of murder, according to court records.
The victim, Nanda Bhattarai, initially survived the March 19, 2021, attack but died twelve days later.
Footage from a string of surveillance cameras showed Johnson walking from his home to a nearby McDonald’s, where he bought food with a credit card and began walking home around 5:40 p.m., officials said. More footage showed Johnson walking back toward his home with Bhattarai walking along the same route behind him.
Video showed Johnson entering a gangway in the 1600 block of West Morse and Bhattari, walking with a cane, following behind him. About a minute later, Bhattarai walked out of the gangway holding his stomach and bleeding, prosecutors said. Gravely wounded by eight stab wounds, he walked about two blocks to his home and called 911.
Camera footage allegedly shows Johnson fleeing out the opposite end of the gangway after the stabbing and then jogging to his own apartment.
About a month after the attack, police arrested Johnson at his home and confiscated the shoes and jacket he was wearing in the video, according to prosecutors.
Johnson allegedly gave various explanations for what transpired in the gangway, including that some men who were armed with a knife tried to rob him. He later claimed that he called the elderly man into the gangway because he thought the 75-year-old wanted to buy weed from him, according to prosecutors.
