Friends help suspects in killing surrender
A Northwestern University professor and a University of Oxford employee, both wanted in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 26-year-old man in Chicago, turned themselves in to San Francisco and Oakland law enforcement officials late Friday, authorities said.
Chicago police said the suspects will appear in court in the Bay Area before returning to Chicago for questioning by homicide detectives.
The two suspects came to the Bay Area because they had friends and colleagues in the area, who helped them surrender to authorities, Frank Conroy, a supervising deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service, said Saturday.
“These guys ... have had no criminal history,” Conroy said. “People panic when they were in a situation like they were in, and they reach out to people they might not have reached out to in years, just to try to hide.”
Wyndham Lathem, 43, surrendered to authorities in Oakland about 7 p.m. and was booked into the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on felony fugitive charges at 11:40 p.m., according to jail records. He is under intensive observation at the jail, said Sgt. Ray Kelly with the Alameda County Sheriff ’s Office.
Lathem is scheduled to appear in court in Pleasanton at 9 a.m. Monday for an arraignment.
He arrived at the Oakland courthouse by car and was told to get out of the car, which is when authorities placed him in handcuffs, Conroy said. No guns were drawn.
“I don’t know anybody who wouldn’t look distraught or worried,” Conroy said. “He wasn’t happy. He wasn’t crying, but he wasn’t giving everybody high-fives and telling jokes either. He looked solemn.”
Andrew Warren, who jail records list as 49, turned himself in at the San Francisco Police Department’s Park Station about the same time, said police Officer Grace Gatpandan.
“He knew he was next,” Conroy said.
Warren was booked at the San Francisco County Jail on felony fugitive charges about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. A court date was not immediately scheduled, but Conroy said he expects Warren will also appear Monday.
Both men are being held without bail.
“Both individuals will be held accountable for their actions, and we hope (Friday’s) arrest brings some comfort for the victim’s family. We are also thankful that this did not end in further tragedy,” the Chicago Police Department said in a statement.
The two men were being sought by authorities after the body of Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau was found in Lathem’s Chicago apartment on July 27. Cornell-Duranleau had been stabbed multiple times in a brutal attack that caused the knife to break, Chicago police said.
The front desk receptionist at Lathem’s apartment, in the River North neighborhood, received an anonymous call that a crime had been committed in Lathem’s 10th-floor apartment, said Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department.
When police arrived, Cornell-Duranleau had already been dead for about 15 hours. Surveillance video shows Lathem and Warren leaving the Lathem’s apartment building on the day of the stabbing, Guglielmi said.
Shortly after the stabbing, Lathem, an associate microbiology professor at Northwestern, sent a video to friends and relatives apologizing for his involvement in Cornell-Duranleau’s slaying, Guglielmi said.
In the video, Lathem was apologetic and said that the crime was “the biggest mistake of my life,” Guglielmi said.
The content of the video concerned police that Lathem could harm himself, Guglielmi said.
It was through their friends and colleagues that Chicago police received tips that the two men were in the Bay Area, Conroy said.
Lathem obtained an attorney in the Bay Area, who was not identified, to negotiate his “safe surrender,” Conroy said.
Warren did not negotiate with the Marshals Service on his surrender, Conroy added.
Neither suspect made a statement upon arrest.
“The information (Chicago police) had on Mr. Lathem was more actionable than they had on Mr. Warren,” Conroy said, explaining why negotiations were not made with Warren. “They knew more about Mr. Lathem. The victim’s body was found in his apartment.”
There is no information on whether Lathem has retained the Bay Area attorney to represent him in court on the first-degree murder charges he’s facing.
On Monday, the defendants can choose to fight the extradition, which Conroy said would be unusual. If they are ordered back to Chicago, officials will have 10 business days to pick up the two men and return them to Illinois.
Lathem has worked at Northwestern University since 2007 but was recently placed on administrative leave, Alan Cubbage, a spokesman for the university, said Saturday. Cubbage did not elaborate on why Lathem was placed on leave.
On the day of slaying, Lathem and Warren drove 80 miles northwest of Lake Geneva, Wis., and made a $1,000 donation to the public library there in Cornell-Duranleau’s name, Guglielmi said. The man making the donation did not give his name, but police suspect it was Lathem, Guglielmi added.
Cornell-Duranleau moved to Chicago from Grand Rapids, Mich., after receiving his cosmetology license. He had a personal relationship with Lathem, Guglielmi said.
Cornell-Duranleau’s family posted a statement on Facebook after his death. “Our family is deeply saddened by the death of our son. It is our hope that the person or persons responsible for his death are brought to justice,” they said.
Warren, a senior treasury assistant at Somerville College at Oxford University in England, arrived in the United States three days before the killing. It is unclear how Warren knew Lathem and CornellDuranleau and why he was in the United States, Guglielmi said.
Police contacted the university and determined that Warren was not in the country on university business, Guglielmi said.
“Neither the College nor the university were aware of the case, which is clearly extremely worrying,” Alice Prochaska of Somerville College said in a statement. “We and the university authorities will liaise with the investigating authorities and provide any assistance that is required. This comes as upsetting news to all of us.”