A West Rogers Park man already facing murder charges in the random rooftop slaying of an air conditioning repairman is now charged with concealing the death and dismembering the body of a woman found in his refrigerator.
Brandon Sanders, 33, was ordered detained on the new charges by Cook County Judge Shauna Boliker. He was already being held in connection with the May 2023 murder of Rasim Katanic, 69, who was found stabbed to death on the roof of a local restaurant. Sanders also faces three federal sex trafficking counts, including one involving a minor.
Prosecutors say the case against Sanders began unraveling on May 12, 2023, when Katanic was attacked and stabbed while servicing a cooler compressor on the roof of Tahoora restaurant, 2345 West Devon, around 4:25 p.m. According to prosecutors, surveillance video showed Sanders climbing to the rooftop after wandering through a shoe store and into an adjoining courtyard.
Sanders then burglarized a nearby apartment belonging to two Loyola University students who had been away at their graduation ceremony, prosecutors said. He allegedly shaved in their bathroom, discarded some clothing, left a pair of boots in the oven, and stole some of their clothes. Katanic’s wallet was found on their computer table. A water bottle recovered in the apartment preliminarily tested positive for Sanders’ DNA, prosecutors said.
Video showed Sanders leaving the building roughly 90 minutes after the killing, dressed in the students’ clothing and with Katanic’s keys hanging from his waist, prosecutors said. He then walked to a furniture store on Devon Avenue where he once worked. Prosecutors say he told a manager the store no longer had to pay rent because their landlord was “dead on the roof” and he had “taken care of it.” Two employees offered to drive him home but kicked him out of the car in the 6400 block of North California after he began behaving erratically. Katanic’s wallet, phone, and keys were later recovered on that block.
That night, prosecutors say, Sanders flagged down an Evanston police officer and asked to be taken to a hospital, but he was not arrested in Katanic’s death until June 29.
Two days after his arrest, investigators executed a search warrant at his home in the 6100 block of North Campbell. They found a large machete on top of the refrigerator and discovered a black, heavy-duty garbage bag on the middle shelf. When they cut a small hole in the bag, the smell told them immediately what was inside.
Investigators determined it was the body of Iman Al-Sarraj, 18, who prosecutors say had been living with Sanders and exploited for sex trafficking since at least September 2021. Prosecutors described them as also being “in a dating relationship.” Investigators determined Al-Sarraj’s body appeared to have been burned, and DNA testing on material inside a disconnected oven on the rear porch showed “very strong support” that it came from Al-Sarraj, prosecutors said. Blood was found on the apartment walls, the floor, and a bed frame, which had no mattress. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Al-Sarraj died from multiple injuries in an assault, including extensive stab wounds and incisions.
A week before Katanic’s murder, Chicago police officers encountered Sanders near Devon and Western while responding to a call about a person with a gun, prosecutors said. No gun was found, but Sanders was acting erratically and had to be subdued with a Taser. He reportedly made statements about a terrorist plot that had killed his girlfriend and said there was a dead body. He was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation.
Sanders is now charged with concealing a homicidal death and dismembering a human body in connection with Al-Sarraj’s case.
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