[Traci Todd] Boyfriend is guilty in grisly death
Anne Warfield
Boyfriend is guilty in grisly death
Williams faces 60-year sentence in 2000 slaying
By Jeff Coen
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 27, 2003
By September 2000, the bubbly flight attendant and the Chicago real
estate developer her family sometimes called "Mr. Wonderful" had gone
shopping for a ring.
Traci Todd and Kevin Williams were an attractive and seemingly happy
couple who appeared to be planning a future together. But Williams had
a secret he'd kept from Todd and all but his closest friends: He had
been married to someone else since the middle of that July.
It was not a secret he could keep forever, and prosecutors said the
unraveling of Williams' double life led to murder.
A jury agreed late Wednesday, finding that Williams killed his
girlfriend, dismembered her body and buried the remains in a forest
preserve. He was visibly stunned by the verdict, but Todd's family
celebrated, saying they knew their Traci would see justice done.
"She made sure he didn't get away with it," said her mother, Gloria
Todd. "She always was the one to get the last word."
As prosecutors argued their circumstantial case this month, they had
asked jurors to ask themselves who would have a reason to murder and
dismember Traci Todd. The panel of nine men and three women said they
voted unanimously that Williams was guilty in their first straw poll.
"All the evidence in its totality pointed to him," said juror Clark
McCain, 35, of Chicago. "We were very specific. We went through the
timeline."
In the summer of 2000, Traci Todd, 34, was an international flight
attendant for United Airlines, living in a 7th-floor apartment on
Plymouth Court in the South Loop. She had a vibrant personality,
earning nicknames like "Giggles" and "The Magnet."
Todd had met Kevin Williams two years earlier at a jazz social event
at the Shedd Aquarium, when he was married to another woman, and he'd
had holiday dinners with her family. Both were Chicago natives who had
gone to Catholic grade schools and high schools.
Williams had studied criminal justice at Northern Illinois University,
and after being laid off as a CHA police officer and working as a
paralegal, he was earning much of his income buying, rehabbing and
selling Chicago properties. He also worked part-time as a security
guard for Oprah Winfrey's television show.
In July 1999, he divorced his first wife, but a year later he married
Rita Hearn--telling neither Todd nor anyone close to her. For several
weeks, he played down suspicions, even after someone at a party
mistakenly congratulated him and Todd on their marriage.
Debra Bozeman-Wynter, a fellow flight attendant, testified during
Williams' trial that she finally said something to Todd in late August
2000. "I told her somebody told me that he had gotten married," she
said. Prosecutors said phone records show Todd tried to call Williams'
cell phone dozens of times over seven hours on Sept. 13, and a piece
of paper later found in her apartment had notes she apparently had
written after learning about Williams' first marriage through public
records.
Williams worked a taping of Winfrey's show that morning but has
testified that he called Todd that evening and planned a date with her
at a downtown steakhouse.
Admits being drunk
Williams and Todd ate together at the now-defunct State Room and then
walked to Jilly's Piano Bar on Rush Street for drinks the night of
Sept. 13. A credit card receipt traced to Williams shows he paid for
two cranberry martinis.
Williams' version of events was that he became drunk after meeting his
friends Ivan Duncan and Jammie Ford there, and that those men were the
last to be in the company of Todd that night. He told jurors he was
dropped off at his grandfather's home and that Duncan and Ford wound
up at Todd's, where he claimed Ford raped and killed her.
Records of phone calls between Williams and Todd--and when they
stopped--proved significant as prosecutors built the mostly
circumstantial case against Williams.
Calls from Williams' cell phone to Traci Todd's apartment around 4:30
a.m. on Sept. 14 suggest Todd had kicked Williams out and he was
trying to talk his way back in, they told jurors.
Around 7 a.m., calls began coming from Rita Williams' home to Kevin
Williams' cell phone every minute or two, which prosecutors said
suggests she was looking for him. And even though Kevin Williams
testified he was at his grandfather's house, Rita Williams placed a
three-minute call there, then continued calling her husband's cell
phone.
Marcellous Henderson woke up at 7 a.m. and heard "a heated argument"
next door. After his shower, he told jurors he heard a loud crash, the
sound of breaking glass, and a thud against his wall that was so
strong it knocked a picture down.
"I heard screaming, crying," Henderson testified. He called 911 at
7:36 a.m. to report the fight, but by the time he left for work a
short time later police had not responded.
That morning, Duncan's wife, Latasha Wilson, said she received a phone
call, which her Caller ID showed came from Traci Todd's number. But
the voice on the line was Kevin Williams, looking for her husband.
Another call that morning went from Todd's apartment to Williams'
grandfather's home, records show. Williams claimed the calls were Ford
calling for a ride from Todd's apartment, but Duncan testified they
were something else.
Shortly before 10 a.m., Duncan said he took a call on his cell phone
while driving his CTA bus. It was a desperate Williams, Duncan told
jurors.
"He said, `Dude, I [screwed] up,'" Duncan testified. "He said, `Traci
found out I was married.' He said she took his day planner, his
wedding ring and his car keys."
"He needed my help. He didn't know what to do," Duncan said. "I asked
what was Traci going to do, but he said she was gone. I said, `Where,
to go tell [your wife] on you?'"
"He said, `No, she's gone.'"
At 11:50 a.m., Williams' Range Rover was ticketed outside Traci Todd's
apartment. Around noon, Gloria Todd arrived for a planned shopping
trip, buzzing her daughter's apartment and getting no response.
Sometime that day, Williams used his American Express card to buy a
military-grade sleeping bag from a local Army surplus store, spending
$135. And at 12:39 p.m., Williams' credit card was used at a gas
station where a bottle of Evian water was purchased.
Williams and Duncan met that evening at a building the men owned
together. Williams allegedly told his friend that he had argued with
his girlfriend, and things had gotten out of control. Williams had
rolled her body out of the building in a sleeping bag, said Duncan,
who told jurors he argued with his friend that it was not too late to
go to authorities and explain that it was all an accident. "But he
said nobody would buy it because he was a married man having an
affair," Duncan said. "He said right now the case was a missing
person. He said, `No body, no crime.'"
Missing items
The following day, Sept. 15, 2000, records show Williams reported a
burglary at a building he was rehabbing at 64th Street and Maryland
Avenue. Among the items he reported stolen was a saw and a sleeping
bag, and he told the responding officer the bag was worth $135.
On Sept. 16, Duncan said he and Ford met with Williams and talked
about doing "an insurance job," burning Williams' Range Rover for some
quick cash. But Ford said Williams changed his mind, telling Ford he
instead wanted to burn a garage that he owned.
The same day, concerned friends of Todd were able to get into her
apartment.
Bozeman-Wynter noticed a few things inside were askew. Most notable to
her was that Todd's travel suitcase was on her bed, even though flight
attendants know how dirty the bags get being dragged through airports.
Among the more ominous clues was that the asthma medication Todd
needed to keep her condition under control had been left inside the
bag.
On Sept. 17, witnesses said they saw Kevin Williams and his
grandfather at Williams' garage in the 1100 block of East 82nd Place.
David Gordon rented a home from Williams there, but not the bungalow's
detached garage, where prosecutors believe Todd's body was cut up for
final disposal.
Williams' Ford pickup was parked nearby with a city garbage can in its
bed, Gordon said. "[Williams] said he was doing some work in the
garage," Gordon said. His son testified that he saw Williams later,
using a strong chemical to clean its walls and floor.
Later that night, Ford said he and Williams burned the garage to the
ground. Ford told jurors he kicked over a 5-gallon drum of gasoline
and was burned when he threw a flaming roll of toilet paper toward the
garage's side door.
The fire and Ford's burns eventually would lead back to Williams as
the investigation into Todd's disappearance progressed.
On Sept. 19, Williams called his supervisor at Harpo Studios and took
the week off, saying he had inhaled some fumes.
Two days later, a missing-person report was filed on Todd. Her sister,
Lisa Todd, met a Chicago police officer at the apartment.
Her sister's tapes and CDs were in disarray, she told the jury, the
pillows on her couch were not arranged in their normal way and a large
black and white rug was missing. There were glasses in the sink, and a
bottle of Evian water left on the kitchen counter.
Within days, FBI investigators swept the apartment. Agents found that
a bloodstain had been cleaned from an area of the carpet near the
apartment's entryway. When they pulled the carpet up, they found a
heavier stain on the carpet padding and on the concrete underneath.
Investigators began collecting evidence, going as far as cutting out
pieces of drywall where they found latent fingerprints, taking Todd's
toothbrush and pulling sink traps to look for hair that could yield
clues. Even though Williams had dated Todd for some time, only a
single fingerprint of his was found--on a bottle of carpet cleaner.
All the while, Todd's family members said Williams never called them
to express any worry over Todd's disappearance, and they began
spreading fliers with Todd's picture on it.
Though he was fired from his Harpo Studios job during the police
investigation, Williams continued to rehab and sell his properties,
with records showing he even closed on one with Duncan on Sept. 22.
Prosecutors alleged that the circumstantial evidence against him was
growing. Although in the weeks before Todd disappeared Williams had
called her many dozens of times on his cellular phone, all of those
calls ended on Sept. 14. Meanwhile, on Sept. 25, evidence shows
Williams paid all of the parking tickets on his Range Rover, including
the one from outside Todd's apartment, and others that were two years
old.
On Sept. 29, he traded in the Ford pickup that prosecutors suspect he
used to transport Todd's remains from place to place. Investigators
processed mountains of physical evidence looking for links to Williams
and eventually convinced Duncan and Ford to cooperate.
On Nov. 25 that year, Chicago Police Detective Thomas Budz got a call
at 8:30 a.m. telling him that a man walking his dog had found a human
skull in Beaubien Woods. Someone had used a blowtorch or a similar
instrument to melt away most of its teeth, but porcelain dental work
revealed it was Todd's.
Within days, three shallow graves filled with 80 bones were discovered
nearby. Forensic examination showed the body's head, arms and lower
legs were removed, and its spine severed. Todd's hands were never
recovered. Williams was arrested and charged with Todd's murder within
days. During December 2000, authorities executed more search warrants
at some of his properties, including his office on South Ingleside
Avenue, where they collected tools and torches from his workshop like
those that would have been used in Todd's dismemberment.
Finally answering questions about Todd's death under oath this week,
Williams acknowledged he never told police or called Todd's family to
help them find her. "No, I didn't, and it was the biggest mistake of
my life," said Williams, who now faces up to 60 years in prison when
he is sentenced Dec. 23.
Assistant State's Atty. Mark Shlifka disagreed Wednesday as he made
his closing argument in the trial.
"Killing Traci Todd and thinking he could get away with it was the
biggest mistake of his life," he said. "And we all know we have to pay
for our mistakes."
Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0311270112nov27,1,4739022.story?coll=chi-news-hed
--
Anne Warfield
indigoace at goodsol period com
http://www.goodsol.com/cats/
Mark Fenster
> Finally answering questions about Todd's death under oath this week,
> Williams acknowledged he never told police or called Todd's family to
> help them find her. "No, I didn't, and it was the biggest mistake of
> my life," said Williams, who now faces up to 60 years in prison when
> he is sentenced Dec. 23.
>
> Assistant State's Atty. Mark Shlifka disagreed Wednesday as he made
> his closing argument in the trial.
>
> "Killing Traci Todd and thinking he could get away with it was the
> biggest mistake of his life," he said. "And we all know we have to pay
> for our mistakes."
>
> Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0311270112nov27,1,4739022.story?coll=chi-news-hed
After getting convicted for murder, it won't be a happy Thanksgiving
for Mr. Kevin Williams. Due to the lack of any physical evidence in
the case, I was at least a bit skeptical of Mr. Williams' guilt. But
the jury showed absolutely no skepticism, unanimously concluding
Williams was guilty in their first straw poll. I will go with the
jury's decision over my own skepticism in this case.
Fenster
Anne Warfield
Fenster) wrote:
>After getting convicted for murder, it won't be a happy Thanksgiving
>for Mr. Kevin Williams. Due to the lack of any physical evidence in
>the case, I was at least a bit skeptical of Mr. Williams' guilt. But
>the jury showed absolutely no skepticism, unanimously concluding
>Williams was guilty in their first straw poll. I will go with the
>jury's decision over my own skepticism in this case.
>
>Fenster
It's true that there was no physical evidence tying him directly to
the murder, but the circumstancial evidence was very strong, I
thought. I'd have voted guilty as well.
Child
"Anne Warfield" <indi...@aolxxx.com> wrote in message
news:3fc699e3...@news.prodigy.net...
> On 27 Nov 2003 11:37:31 -0800, Fenster_2...@hotmail.com (Mark
> Fenster) wrote:
>
> >After getting convicted for murder, it won't be a happy Thanksgiving
> >for Mr. Kevin Williams. Due to the lack of any physical evidence in
> >the case, I was at least a bit skeptical of Mr. Williams' guilt. But
> >the jury showed absolutely no skepticism, unanimously concluding
> >Williams was guilty in their first straw poll. I will go with the
> >jury's decision over my own skepticism in this case.
> >
> >Fenster
>
> It's true that there was no physical evidence tying him directly to
> the murder, but the circumstancial evidence was very strong, I
> thought. I'd have voted guilty as well.
Hm. Now, from my armchair jurors point of view, I am pretty sure the guy
did it. i don't know if i would have convicted the man if i were on the
real jury, though. I would be very hesitant to convict if i wasn't super
duper sure. I couldn't live with myself if i had any doubt.
but the guy sounds like a scumbag to me.
Anne Warfield
<be...@NOT-SO-bad-dawgs-in-ak.com> wrote:
>> It's true that there was no physical evidence tying him directly to
>> the murder, but the circumstancial evidence was very strong, I
>> thought. I'd have voted guilty as well.
>
>
>Hm. Now, from my armchair jurors point of view, I am pretty sure the guy
>did it. i don't know if i would have convicted the man if i were on the
>real jury, though. I would be very hesitant to convict if i wasn't super
>duper sure. I couldn't live with myself if i had any doubt.
>
>but the guy sounds like a scumbag to me.
His own testimony was the nail in the coffin to me. He didn't do
anything, it was all these two other guys. So why doesn't he say
something during all the searching & everything leading to his arrest?