Cook County State’s Attorney Richard A. Devine announced the new discoveries that arose after investigations of separate Englewood murders, which now links alleged Englewood serial killer to 1994 Murder for which another man, Huber Geralds, has previously been convicted.
Hubert Geralds, 34, was convicted in November of 1997 for six counts of First-Degree Murder and one count of Attempted Murder, all in relation to 1994 and 1995 Murders of women in the Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.
The very first victim of Geralds was reported to be Rhonda Kings, 24, who was found dead in an abandoned building on December 21, 1994. Geralds confessed to all of the six murders, including that of Kings’, for which he was convicted for and sentenced to death in 1998; however, prosecutors decided to move to vacate the charges against Geralds in 2000, after DNA evidence linked the first victim’s death to another Englewood serial killer, Andre Crawford. Regardless, Geralds remained on death row for a conviction involving five other aforementioned murders, which he was linked to through DNA evidence.
On January 31, 2000, Andre Crawford, 37, was charged with ten counts of First-Degree Murder and one count of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Assault. Crawford is accused in the series of rapes and murders, allegedly killing ten women in the Englewood neighborhood and sexually assaulting another victim on Thanksgiving night of 1997, who eventually survived the attack. It was stated that Craword’s chosen victims were prostitutes and drug addicts who were lured into a trap after being offered narcotics in exchange of sex. Crawford admitted to attacking the victims and subsequently raping their corpses.
Investigations and DNA evidence linked Crawford, who initially pleaded not guilty, to the deaths of Angel Shatteen, Cheryl Cross, Constance Bailey, Evandrey Harris, Nicole Townsend, Patricia Dunn, Shaquanta Langley, Sheryl Johnson, Sonja Brandon, and Tommie Dennis. Prosecutors revealed that Crawford presented them with videotaped statements claiming all of the aforementioned murders, for which he was charged.
Despite lack of DNA evidence for the death of Rhonda King, the murder case was charged against Crawford for evidence in a videotaped confession, implying accountability for the murder of King. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has now notified the attorneys for Geralds, informing them of newfound evidence.
Attorneys for Crawford has argued claiming that he suffers mental and emotional impairment as he was a victim of sexual abuse and mistreatment as a child. Young as he was, Crawford has been delivered to foster care after being neglected by his mother for long periods of time and found alone in squalor; however, it was argued that unfortunate upbringing does not merit mercy to an individual who is responsible for brutally killing and sexually assaulting 12 women.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, led by State’s Attorney Richard A. Devine, filed a motion on February 10, 2000, to vacate the conviction of Geralds involving the murder of Rhonda Kings, as well as to vacate his death sentence. New trials for Geralds is being set by prosecutors and attorneys and will be set to appear in court to discuss new judicial proceedings.
Updated: August 23, 2020