CHICAGO — The man police believe is responsible for fatally stabbing his wife in Portage Park on Tuesday afternoon was later found dead inside a parked car near the attack site. Court records show prosecutors asked a judge to keep the 57-year-old in custody last month after they charged him with kidnapping and aggravated domestic battery by strangulation, but the judge, Thomas Nowinski, rejected their request.
The man, who has not been publicly identified by officials, was arraigned on a five-count true bill related to the October allegations on Monday morning, court records show.
At about 2:23 p.m. yesterday, an off-duty Chicago police detective intervened upon seeing a man stabbing a woman in the 5600 block of West Leland, according to CPD. The officer fired shots toward the attacker, who fled the scene. Police said the officer also suffered a graze wound to his leg during the incident.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband was found dead inside a car in the 5500 block of West Leland a short time later. He had apparently suffered a gunshot wound to his shoulder.
Prosecutors on October 9 asked Nowinski to keep the man in custody as both a safety threat and flight risk, according to court records. But the judge denied both detention petitions. Instead, he released the man on a GPS tracker and told him to stay away from his wife and certain locations, the records show. His wife received an emergency order of protection from her husband the same day.
According to the October allegations, the man had grabbed the woman while she was walking and tried to knock her out.
In various court filings, the woman detailed a series of violent allegations involving her husband, including multiple threats that he would kill her.
The man is the 29th person accused of killing or shooting—or trying to kill or shoot—someone in Chicago this year while having a felony case pending. The cases involve 44 victims, 11 of whom died.
Earlier this year, Nowinski denied an emergency order of protection sought by a woman in a different case on the North Side. Crosetti Brand, a violent felon who received a 16-year sentence for a 2015 home invasion, had sent threatening texts to the woman and her family, then rang her doorbell and pulled on her front door, officials said.
Brand was sent back to prison briefly. Shortly after being released again, he went to the woman’s Edgewater home and fatally stabbed her 11-year-old son, prosecutors allege.
The “not horrible” series
This report continues our coverage of individuals accused of killing, shooting, or trying to kill or shoot others on pretrial release for a felony allegation. CWBChicago began our series of reports in November 2019 after Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans publicly stated, “We haven’t had any horrible incidents occur” under the court’s bond reform initiative.
On September 18, 2023, Illinois eliminated cash bail entirely. Our “not horrible” continues.
The actual number of murders and shootings committed by people awaiting trial for felony allegations is undoubtedly much higher than the numbers seen here. Since 2017, CPD has brought charges in less than 5% of non-fatal shootings and 33% of murders, according to the city’s data.
Previous reporting
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