CHICAGO — An unsolved murder from the 2020 holiday season is the latest cold case to get the attention of Cook County Crime Stoppers.
The organization on Sunday announced a reward of up to $10,000 for information that helps police bring charges in the death of JeanCarlo Cobian, a 21-year-old who was found fatally shot in the 3400 block of South Archer early on December 30, 2020.
Two years ago, CWBChicago reported that a man arrested in an unrelated murder case was identified as a suspect in Cobian’s slaying, but the case remains unsolved.
A passing motorist discovered Cobian’s body in the street near 34th Street and Archer Avenue around 1 a.m. The police initially thought Cobian had been beaten, but medical personnel determined that he had been shot.
Family members said Cobian was driving home, but something happened along the way. Investigators found his car a short distance from where Cobian’s body was discovered.
Six weeks after the murder, Chicago police arrested a man named Nicholas Samudio after they allegedly found a bullet inside his bookbag while they investigated a double-parked car in the 2800 block of South Sawyer.
But the officers said in Samudio’s arrest report that they had another reason for him, too: he had been “positively identified as taking part in the murder of” JeanCarlo Cobian.
But he was not charged. Detectives found “insufficient evidence to present [a] felony case” to prosecutors, the police report said.
That was the 17th time Chicago police had arrested Samudio, who has Down Syndrome, since he turned 18 about three years earlier. He has never been convicted of any crime, prosecutors say. Samudio is, however, charged with two other murders: a man who was fatally shot in front of his pregnant wife following a road rage altercation and another man who authorities believe was killed in a case of mistaken identity.
Cook County Crime Stoppers is now offering up to $10,000 cash for information that helps crack Cobian’s case. Tipsters who want to remain anonymous can still qualify for the reward because the organization will provide a unique code to use as an identifier.
Information can be shared with Crime Stoppers at 800-535-STOP, [email protected], and online at p3tips.com.
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