Summertime is a high-traffic season at area cemeteries, both for people visiting loved ones' graves and the thieves preying on them.
So with Father's Day around the corner, police officials are warning people to lock their cars and keep a close eye on purses and other valuables after several recent thefts at graveyards.
Skokie police are on the lookout for somebody who has stolen several purses from Memorial Park Cemetery in recent months.
And four burglaries have been reported over the last two months-ceme from vehicles parked at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery near Alsip, said Lisa Gordon, a spokeswoman for the Cook County Sheriff's Department.
A burial takes place today at Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie. (Tribune / Chris Walker)
In each case, Gordon said, a woman returned to her car from a graveside visit to discover her purse had vanished.
"They are in a cemetery and they may forget to take their purse or they may feel no one will do something like that when they're visiting a grave site," Gordon said. "That's why we like to remind them to lock their cars. I think it's terrible. Someone is already grieving and this adds insult to injury."
Hillside police have beefed up patrols at the village's cemeteries as temperatures rise, said Detective Anthony Milazzo, because history has taught them to prepare for an upswing in thefts.
"We haven't had any trouble this year, but it was a big problem in the past," Milazzo said. "As the weather gets warm, we really make it a priority to increase the patrols, because this is when it starts."
People who wouldn't dream of leaving a wallet or purse in an unlocked car elsewhere feel safe in a cemetery, said Robert Fells, chief operating officer and general counsel for the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association.
The association tells its roughly 3,600 member cemeteries to impress upon visitors that grave sites are places for peaceful reflection, but they're also part of the real world. "When you go to a ballgame, park outside the stadium and go inside, you always lock your car," Fells said. "We want people to take the same precautions when they're in a cemetery, not because there's a high likelihood of anything happening, but because locking your car is just the right thing to do in any situation."
With more than 100 cemeteries in Cook County, thieves have plenty of potential targets, especially on a holiday like Father's Day, when so many families visit relatives' graves.
At Memorial Park Cemetery, thieves have been stealing graveside vases to sell as scrap for years, said Skokie Police Sgt. Fred Brehmer.
But the handful of thefts of mourners' valuables this year at Memorial Park represents a brazen new low, Brehmer said. Six similar burglaries were reported there last year, he said.
In one case this year, somebody grabbed a purse that a woman had set down on the ground while visiting a nearby grave, he said.
"These are unscrupulous people preying on the grieving parties of the departed," Brehmer said.
Brian Cox contributed to this report.
Chicago police fired shots at a man while responding to a call of a domestic disturbance this evening on the Southwest Side, and as of about 8:45 p.m. the man remained barricaded in his home.
About 5:45 p.m. police went to a home on the 5400 block of South Talman Avenue after getting a call about a man with a gun during a domestic disturbance, according to Police News Affairs Officer JoAnn Taylor.
When police arrived the man inside the home confronted the officers and pointed a gun at police, who fired shots, Taylor said. The police officers were not injured and it was not immediately known if the man was wounded.
The man fled to the attic of the home and barricaded himself inside, she said. There was no indication that he had a hostage.
Officers secured the area, and members of the SWAT team were called to the scene.
As of about 8:45 p.m. officers were continuing efforts to negotiate with the man, she said. Some streets in the immediate area were blocked off.
--Heywood Hoffman
In the months after she was raped and left for dead in a Southeast Side park in March 2008, the victim said she was shown photos on several occasions by police in their efforts to find her attacker.
But none of them matched her memory until July 2008 when she viewed a police lineup and identified Jeffrey Slowinski as the rapist. She pointed him out again today in court.
"I remember those eyes," the woman, 59, testified at Slowinski's bench trial on attempted murder, aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated attempted kidnapping charges. "I was shown many pictures, and I never saw anyone with those eyes."
The victim testified that a man suddenly ran up to her as she took her usual early-morning walk in Rowan Park near 116th Street and Avenue O.
The man punched her in the head, breaking her nose and crushing her left cheek and orbital bones. He then dragged her off the path by a sling she was wearing for a broken arm and raped her repeatedly.
"He called me a [expletive], whore, fat -- all kinds of nasty things," said the woman, removing her reading glasses at times to dab at her eyes with a handkerchief.
"And what were you doing at this time?" asked Cook County Assistant State's Atty. Annette Milleville.
"Silently crying and just hoping to survive," the woman responded.
The woman had surgery following the attack and still suffers from painful nerve damage to her face.
Under cross-examination Tuesday by Slowinski's lawyer, Kevin Milner, the woman acknowledged that she told police after the rape that her attacker was about 5 feet 6 and 200 pounds. By contrast, Slowinski, 29, of Whiting, Ind., stands about 6 feet 3 and weighs 250 pounds. She also told police she didn't notice any marks on the attacker's body, but Slowinski's arms and torso are covered in tattoos.
Porter sentenced Slowinski in February to 9 years in prison after he was convicted for attacks last year on two other women. He rammed his car into both women's vehicles, but each escaped.
The bench trial before Circuit Judge Dennis Porter was recessed until August because a state witness was unavailable.
Tonight's opener of the Crosstown Classic series at Wrigley Field between the Cubs and White Sox was postponed because of rain.
No makeup date was set.
Read more in Hardball on chicagotribune.com.
Cubs and Sox fans try to stay dry at Wrigley Field today. (Tribune / Scott Strazzante) MORE PHOTOS
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn today continued his warnings about dire consequences to state services if lawmakers don't approve an income tax increase by July 1, but House leaders from both political parties said his saber rattling has done little to sway support.
The new governor repeated his call for lawmakers to return to Springfield next week to "finish their work" after they passed a makeshift budget two weeks ago that his office says is $9.2 billion short. Without a tax increase, Quinn's office said more than 100,000 social service providers and 10,000 state workers face layoffs, and thousands of children, elderly and the disabled would lose services.
Read more in Clout Street on chicagotribune.com.
David Hernandez, the investor in a Chicago Internet radio station who was accused Monday by federal regulators of operating a Ponzi scheme, is missing, according to the Downers Grove police.
Hernandez's wife, Gina, reported him missing after he did not return home from work Monday evening, police said. The couple live in Downers Grove.
Hernandez, 48, was last seen driving an olive-colored 2005 Ford Explorer, police said. He was wearing a burgundy shirt and khaki pants.
Hernandez bilked more than 100 investors in at least 12 states out
of $11 million by guaranteeing fixed rates of return as high as 16
percent, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil action
filed Monday in federal court in Chicago.
Any person with information in regards to his whereabouts should contact the Downers Grove Police Department immediately at 630-434-5600.
The Post-Tribune reports: The parents of a 9-year-old Gary boy badly burned last week while with three older boys say police have done little to investigate what they believe was a "hate crime" against their son. Joshua Judkins suffered burns over 20 percent of his body June 8 while playing with the older boys.
Get the full story: Post-Trib.com
An accused murderer who was the target of an interstate manhunt was in jail today in Joliet in lieu of $10 million bail, officials said.
Jesus E. Zambrano, 19, of the 1000 block of North Raynor Avenue in Joliet is scheduled to appear in Will County Court for a preliminary hearing on July 13, Will County state's attorney spokesman Charles Pelkie said on Tuesday.
Zambrano, who allegedly helped another man kill Robert L. Gooch, 36, on May 22, was arrested May 28 in Texas near the Mexican border. He was booked into the Will County Adult Detention Facility Saturday.
Zambrano allegedly accompanied Pedro Sanchez, 30, a parolee from the Illinois Department of Corrections, to a third-floor apartment on the 1000 block of Lois Place in Joliet around 12:50 a.m. May 22.
The two men confronted and shot Gooch, who was visiting a woman with whom Sanchez had been romantically involved, Joliet Deputy Police Chief Pat Kerr said. Gooch lived on the 300 block of Richards Street in Joliet.
The woman, who was in a back room with two young children, told police Gooch responded to a knock on the apartment door. She said she heard him talking to Sanchez, heard a gunshot and then found him dead on the floor.
--Dennis Sullivan
Joliet Deputy Police Chief Pat Kerr said today he expects arrest warrants to be issued before the end of the week in the fatal shooting of a Joliet teen last week.
Alfredo Aguirre, 17, of the 900 block of West Park Avenue was fatally injured during the evening gang shootout, Kerr said.
"We're looking at persons of interest right now," he said. "We've talked to most of the people involved."
Kerr said the shoot-out began in an alley on the 500 block of West Marion Street and ended a block away near the intersection of Marion and Illinois Streets. Friends took Aguirre to a local hospital, where he died following emergency surgery, he said.
A 19-year-old associate of Aguirre's was shot in the calf during the fracas, Kerr said. He said no bystanders were hurt.
--Dennis Sullivan
A worker picking up highway barrels on the Dan Ryan Expressway was seriously injured this morning when a sport-utility vehicle hit him and pinned him against his truck, authorities said.
The worker, who sustained severe leg injuries, was taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition, a fire department spokesman said. He remained in serious condition this afternoon at the hospital, a spokesman said.
The incident occurred shortly before 4:30 a.m. in the southbound lanes of the Ryan near 26th Street, where the local and express lanes merge, said Illinois State Trooper Mark Hall. The worker was an employee of a construction subcontractor, according to a witness.
IDOT spokeswoman Marisa Kollias said the worker was "picking up a lane closure when he was struck."
The driver, whose full name was not available, was ticketed with four citations, including violating "Scott's Law," improper lane usage, driving with a suspended license, and no insurance, said Illinois State Trooper James Gawel. Scott's Law, also known as the "Move Over Law," requires motorists to yield to moving emergency vehicles.
The Cook County jail's maximum-security division remained on lockdown today after four inmates were injured in a fight Tuesday night at the jail, authorities said.
The fight occurred in Division 9, the jail's maximum-security division, around 8 p.m., said Cook County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Patterson.
The fight was over a personal dispute, rather than a dispute centering on gang rivalry, as often happens at the jail, Patterson said.
One inmate was transported to Mt. Sinai Hospital in serious-to-critical condition with a stab wound, said a Fire Department spokesman. That wound was to the shoulder, and he was expected to be returned to the jail today, Patterson said.
Three other inmates involved in the fight were taken to Cermak
Hospital by Sheriff's police and returned to the jail overnight, Patterson said.
Division 9 remained under lockdown this afternoon, he said.
