Two employees of elite universities charged in the fatal stabbing of a 26-year-old hair stylist were extradited to Chicago early Saturday to face charges of first-degree murder in the brutal killing.
Chicago police escorted fired Northwestern University professor Wyndham Lathem, 43, and Oxford University financial officer Andrew Warren, 56, from Northern California, where they surrendered peacefully on August 4 after an eight-day, nationwide manhunt.
Detectives questioned the men Saturday and they could appear in court as early as Sunday.
The men are accused of killing Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau, a Michigan native who had been living in Chicago, last month in Lathem’s high-rise Chicago condo.
Chicago police escorted fired Northwestern University professor Wyndham Lathem (left), 43, and Oxford University financial officer Andrew Warren (right), 56, arrived in Chicago early Saturday morning to face charges of first-degree murder in killing of a 26-year-old hair stylist
The men are accused of killing Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau, a Michigan native who had been living in Chicago, last month in Lathem’s (pictured Saturday) high-rise Chicago condo
Chicago police have said Cornell-Duranleau suffered 47 stab wounds, including ‘mutilations,’ to his upper body.
The stab wounds were located on his back, chest, shoulder and abdomen, with additional cuts on his arms, chin, neck, hands and wrists.
Authorities said the attack was so violent the blade of the knife they believe was used was broken.
They found Cornell-Duranleau’s body on July 27 after the building’s front desk received an anonymous call that a crime had occurred on the 10th floor.
He was discovered laying in his underwear partly lying against a bedroom door. He had been dead more than 12 hours. By then, authorities said Lathem and Warren had fled the city.
According to autopsy results released Friday by the Cook County medical examiner’s office, Cornell-Duranleau had methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death.
Chicago police have said Cornell-Duranleau suffered 47 stab wounds, including ‘mutilations,’ to his upper body. Pictured is Warren arriving in Chicago early Saturday morning
They found Cornell-Duranleau’s body on July 27 after the building’s front desk received an anonymous call that a crime had occurred on the 10th floor (pictured)
Police said Lathem and Cornell-Duranleau, who moved to Chicago from the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area about a year ago, had a personal relationship, though they have not described the nature of it or a motive for the attack.
It’s unclear what the relationship was between Lathem, Cornell-Duranleau and Warren, who’s British. He arrived in Chicago on his first trip to the US three days before the killing, after being reported missing in Great Britain.
Warren has been suspended from his payroll job at Somerville College, which is a part of the Oxford system.
Lathem, a microbiologist who’s been on Northwestern’s faculty since 2007 but was not teaching at the time of the attack, was terminated by the university for fleeing from police when there was an arrest warrant out for him.
Investigators said the day after the crime was committed Lathem and Warren drove about 80 miles northwest of Chicago to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
One of the men made a $1,000 donation to a local library in Cornell-Duranleau’s name. Lake Geneva authorities said the man making the donation didn’t give his name
One of the men made a $1,000 donation to a local library in Cornell-Duranleau’s name. Lake Geneva authorities said the man making the donation didn’t give his name.
At another point after the killing, Lathem sent a video to friends and relatives apologizing for his involvement in the crime, which he called the ‘biggest mistake of my life’.
The video raised concern among investigators that Lathem might kill himself.
Both surrendered to authorities in California on August 4. Lathem surrendered in Oakland and Warren in San Francisco.
Lathem and Warren both appeared in court in California last week, where they agreed to return to Illinois to face charges.
An attorney for Lathem, Kenneth H. Wine, called him a ‘gentle soul’ and said ‘what he is accused of is totally contrary to the way he has lived his entire life’. Wine said Lathem intends to plead not guilty to the charges.
Warren was represented by a public defender during a brief appearance in a San Francisco court. She said he is ‘presumed innocent,’ but declined to comment further.