The River North murder trial involves two unlikely suspects who participated in the gruesome act of killing a young Chicago hairstylist. The two suspects, 57-year-old Andrew Warren, an employee at Oxford University, and 47-year-old Wyndham Lathem, a former Northwestern researcher, willfully surrendered to the authorities after a one-week search. The two suspects collaborated in the murder of the 26-year-old Trenton Cornell-Duranleau in Lathem’s apartment at River North. They inflicted multiple stab wounds that ranged up to six inches deep on the deceased body, an act described as psychopathic for sexual fantasy (Masterson, 2017). The intriguing part of this case is not only the brutal nature of the crime but also that the suspects rarely match the exemplary profile of a sexually violent killer.

The case of sexually violent killers always involves persons who began displaying such characters at young ages. For example, the historical case of split personality in the confusing Chicago murder involved a six-year-old girl named Suzanne Degnan, daughter to James Degnan (Innes, 2017). Suzanne was kidnapped, and the father duly asked for a ransom of $20,000; however, Mr. Degnan lacked the money and appealed for safe release of her daughter over the radio. The abductor made no contact with the family but what followed was a horrifying experience. A police search team discovered a dismembered body of a girl strangled to death during the night of the abduction, with the remains placed in different sewers. The killer left a lipstick written note saying, “For paradise’s sake, arrest me before I slay more, I cannot restrain myself,” said the letter.

The investigators used this note as the first clue, but it led them to a dead end. Later on, as the manhunt seemed unsuccessful, the police apprehended William Heirens, a 17-year-old student in a burglary. He had in his possession some of the items from Suzanne’s home. After injection of the truth serum, William revealed that George Murman murdered Suzanne; nonetheless, George was not a real person and turned out to be William’s alter ego (Innes, 2017). William turned into this personality and murdered victims to derive sexual pleasure from the act. Considering William’s case, it becomes difficult to classify the River North murder case since the two suspects have no history of violence. Their profiles do not match the typical sexually violent criminals. Additionally, reports from investigations show that after the two suspects fled the state, one of them had the time to stop at Wisconsin, Lake Geneva, to submit a donation in the name of Cornell-Duranleau to a resident library (Masterson, 2017). This act shows a rare case of remorse from a murder suspect, unlike in William Herein’s case.

Psychopaths do not have remorse, and they rarely turn themselves in for trial. The former Oxford University employee, Andrew Warren, was found guilty. He has committed a first-degree killing and offered to attest against Professor Lathem of Northwestern University in a murder test. However, State Attorney’s office declared the plea agreement sealed and that Warren’s statement at Lathem’s trial would determine his prison sentence. This case is a rare occurrence of people who had no history of psychopathic behavior and led a meaningful life, committing a gruesome murder termed as “savage and grisly,” according to the Superintendent of Chicago Police, Mr. Eddie Johnson (Cauguiran, 2019). The River North trial is interesting because we have two murder suspects with no history of a related crime who feel guilty for being psychopaths, which begs the question: Could it be that they were forced into this act? What was their driving factor apart from sexual fantasy?

References

Cauguiran, C. (2019, July 22). Ex-northwestern professor’s alleged accomplice pleads guilty, agrees to testify in river north murder trial. ABC7 Chicago. Retrieved January 24, 2021, from https://abc7chicago.com/ex-nu-professors-alleged-accomplice-pleads-guilty-agrees-to-testify-in-river-north-murder-trial/5411779/

Innes, B. (2017). Serial Killers: Shocking, Gripping True Crime Stories of the Most Evil Murderers. Quercus Publishing.

Masterson, M. (2017, September 27). Criminologist: Suspects in stabbing case don’t match typical profile. WTTW News. Retrieved January 24, 2021, from https://news.wttw.com/2017/09/27/criminologist-suspects-stabbing-case-don-t-match-typical profile