Thursday, March 28, 2013
A defense attorney in the Nightmare on Hickory Street double murder wanted a special prosecuctor appointed and a hearing convened to ferret out a leak, but for now he won't get either one of those things.
A series of stories about the Nightmare on Hickory Street double murder published exclusively by Patch revealed so many disturbing details that a defense attorney wants a special prosecutor appointed and a special hearing held to "determine who the culprit is here." But defense lawyer Chuck Bretz is getting neither of those things—at least for now. Will County Judge Gerald Kinney said Wednesday that he may revisit the issue of a special evidentiary hearing but that he isn't going to order one yet. Bretz and the other attorneys representing two young men and two young women charged with brutal murders of Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover, both 22, backed off on their request for a special prosecutor. The defense attorneys for Adam Landerman…
Saturday, March 16, 2013
A young man charged with stabbing his mother and dumping her in a ditch was sent to jail on a $2 million bond—and more! On this week's Court Supervision.
You only have one mother, and no matter what, you shouldn't strangle her, stuff her in the back of your car, stab her and leave her in a ditch in Crete. But that's exactly what the police say a man did a couple weeks ago. Blake Springsteen, 22, was charged with attempted murder in connection with an alleged March 4 attack on his 46-year-old mother, Jennifer Springsteen, in their home outside Flossmoor. On Wednesday, Cook County Judge Brian Flaherty set Blake Springsteen's bond at $2 million. That was interesting, but far from the only thing going on in court last week. In Joliet, we had the judge in the Nightmare on Hickory Street double murder case continuing to keep the court file sealed not once, but twice. Over in Bridgeview, a Burr …
Monday, March 4, 2013
Nightmare on Hickory Street: One of the four accused killers in the Hickory Street double murder made sure his accomplices were in just as deep as him by making them kick and beat the bodies, according to police reports.
After taking care of his half of the double murder on Hickory Street, Joshua Miner wanted the two women who stood by while the killings were carried out to "get some dirt" on themselves, according to the police reports obtained last week by Patch. Miner, 24, and Adam Landerman, 19, had just finished strangling Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover, both 22, in a house on Hickory Street in the early morning of Jan. 10, police said, and Miner decided it was time to make a phone call. Miner reportedly told police he called someone named “Chicago,” and that Chicago gave him some advice about dumping the car Rankins and Glover took to the Hickory Street house. During that phone call, Landerman heard Miner say, “It’s OK. There’s four mouths that know…
Saturday, March 2, 2013
The judge for the Hickory Street double murder case doesn't want anyone talking.
The Hickory Street double murder case took a surprising twist this week when one of the defense lawyers complained about stories in Patch and the judge ordered the attorneys involved not to talk to the media. Will County Judge Gerald Kinney also sealed the file for the case against accused killers Adam Landerman, 19, Joshua Miner, 24, Alisa Massaro, 18, and Bethany McKee, also 18. The four were charged with murdering Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover, both 22, in Massaro's house on Hickory Street in Joliet. Judge Kinney said he wants both defense attorneys and prosecutors to investigate who allegedly leaked police reports. The judge said he will revisit the issue on March 11. Here's what else was going on in the area's courthouses last week…
Friday, March 1, 2013
Judge Gerald Kinney also wants prosecutors and attorneys representing the four murder defendants to investigate the supposed leak.
The judge presiding over the Hickory Street double murder case put a gag order on all the attorneys involved and instructed them to investigate an alleged leak of police reports that led to a series of stories published by Patch. "I don't think it's inappropriate to start the process of saying, 'Where did this come from?'" Judge Gerald Kinney said during a brief hearing Friday morning at the Will County Courthouse. "I do think we need steps to get to the bottom of it," Kinney said. "I don't know who did it but I think we need to make a good faith effort to find out, and where it goes it goes." Joliet lawyer Chuck Bretz, who represents one of the four charged with last month's murder of Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover, both 22, asked …
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Patch obtained police reports detailing what allegedly transpired in the Hickory Street house in Joliet where two young men were choked to death in January.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
The cell phone supposedly used to report the murders of two Joliet men has not been located, a source said.
An extensive search along Interstate 80 for an alleged killer's cell phone in the wake of last month's double murder on Hickory Street came up empty, a source said. The missing phone is the same one 18-year-old Bethany McKee supposedly used to call her father, Bill McKee of Shorewood, to let him know two young men were dead in the home of her friend Alisa Massaro, also 18. Bill McKee passed that information along to officers with the Shorewood Police Department, who in turn alerted the Joliet police, sources said. Joliet police officers then headed to Massaro's home on North Hickory Street and found the bodies of Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover, both 22. Plastic bags covered the heads of Rankins and Glover, a source said, and the two …
Saturday, February 9, 2013
The friends and families of two slain Joliet men saw their alleged killers in the flesh for the first time.
Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover were strangled to death nearly a month earlier, but just this week their friends and family finally got an in-person glimpse of the two young men and two young women charged with killing them. Adam Landerman, 19, Alisa Massaro, 18, Joshua Miner, 24, and Bethany McKee, 24, were brought to court together for their arraignments Tuesday morning. Each of the four faces six counts of first degree murder in connection with the slaying of Rankins and Glover, both 22. It was the second court appearance for Landerman, Massaro, Miner and McKee, but they were not in court for the prior date. They made that appearance via a closed circuit video hookup from the Will County jail. That was only one of the things going on …
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
But the fiancee of one of the victims was not so forgiving.
Friends and family of two men strangled to death in a Hickory Street house packed a courtroom for the alleged killers' arraignment this morning. But for the accused, only one man showed up for his child's day in court. Bill McKee, father of 18-year-old Bethany McKee, was the only one in the gallery for the two young men and two young women charged with the Hickory Street double murder. McKee watched his daughter plead not guilty, endured the insults of a grieving fiancee, and then spoke of his own pain. "It just sucks that whole families have to go through this," McKee, a Shorewood resident, said. "You can do the best job raising children, but you don't know what's going to come out. "It's not the parents," said McKee, whose 18-year-old …
Saturday, January 26, 2013
The mothers of teenage murder victims Delasse Lanier and Adrian Knox yelled at the young man charged with gunning down their sons.
The grief-stricken mothers of two Joliet teens slain on Second Avenue this fall lashed out at the young man charged with gunning them down. "As long as I know you murdered my son I'm going to keep smirking, bitch," Andrea Knox shouted at 18-year-old Sjolante Crowder during a Friday morning court hearing. Crowder was chained at his wrists and ankles and sitting in the courtroom jury box for the until-then uneventful hearing in front of Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak. Crowder faces murder charges for allegedly shooting down both Knox's son, Adrian Knox, 17, and Knox's best friend, Delasse Lanier, 18, in October. Crowder crept up on the two teens from behind and shot them in the back, police said. A third man took a bullet in the gun attack but …
Hartz
11:01 am on Thursday, March 28, 2013
I agree. The only "new" information in those reports were the statements made by the defendants. Everything minus keeping the teeth for a trophy was practically public knowledge. I can understand the prosecution wanting a fair trial, so that these monsters get what they deserve. No one wants to hear anything less, due to a technicality. I don't believe that wasting time and trying to figure out … more ›