[Harris] House cleaner charged in suburban double slaying
Anne W.
House cleaner charged in suburban double slaying
By Mary Ann Fergus
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 21, 2005, 11:32 AM CDT
A 44-year-old Chicago man has been charged with the murders of a
Lutheran minister and his daughter, who were slain after they
discovered the man allegedly burglarizing their home in northwest
suburban Buffalo Grove.
Russell H. Sedelmaier, of the 5600 block of North Mason Avenue, was
charged with first-degree murder, home invasion and aggravated arson,
authorities said at a news conference this morning to announce the
man's arrest.
He is accused of the June 29 slayings of Rev. Ivon Harris, 65, a
pastor at a Chicago church, and Sarah Harris, 24. The suspect had
worked as a house cleaner for the family for the last five or six
years, police said.
"This was not a random act," Police Chief Steve S. Balinski said.
"Buffalo Grove remains a safe community."
Sedelmaier is in police custody pending an afternoon bond hearing in
the Rolling Meadows branch of Cook County Circuit Court.
Investigators linked the suspect to the slayings after matching
evidence from the crime scene to the suspect, police said.
Police sources said investigators zeroed in on Sedelmaier late
Wednesday afternoon after learning the Northern Illinois Crime
Laboratory had matched DNA samples taken from 15 cigarette butts found
at the crime scene with DNA taken from a cheek swab from Sedelmaier.
Additionally, fingerprints from the crime scene matched the suspect's,
sources said.
Police Cmdr. Steve Husak said Sedelmaier "acknowledged his
involvement" in the crime to investigators in a videotaped interview.
Sarah Harris arrived home the afternoon of June 29 to find Sedelmaier
in her house, in the 800 block of Saxon Place, Husak said.
"There appears to have been some kind of struggle. She ended up bound
with duct tape," Husak said. "Sometime after that, Mr. Harris came
home. There was a struggle, and blunt trauma occurred."
Sedelmaier then set fire to the family's two-story home to cover the
crime and fled, Husak said.
Harris' wife, Eileen, arrived home about 8 p.m. to find smoke
billowing from the dwelling. Firefighters later discovered the
bludgeoned bodies of Sarah and Ivon Harris in the ground-floor family
room.
Autopsies showed the father and daughter died of smoke inhalation.
They also suffered blunt trauma and multiple stab wounds, and at least
one victim's throat was slashed.
Ivon Harris was pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, at 5106 N. La
Crosse Ave. on Chicago's Northwest Side. Sarah Harris received a
degree in elementary education from Bradley University last year and
had worked as a teacher's aide at Ivy Hall Elementary School, Buffalo
Grove.
Police said Sedelmaier appears to have known the Harrises through the
cleaning company he worked for, not through their church or other
personal contacts.
The break in the case came after three weeks of investigative work by
five detectives from the Buffalo Grove Police Department and about 30
detectives and several evidence technicians from the Lake County Major
Crime Task Force. In recent days, investigators were re-interviewing
people to confirm alibis, Husak said in an interview Wednesday.
DNA samples and fingerprints had been taken from some of those
questioned in connection with the deaths, and DNA evidence and
fingerprints from the crime scene were being tested at the Northern
Illinois Police Lab.
Investigators have followed up on more than 200 tips from the public,
neighbors, friends and family members as they search for clues in a
case that bewildered those who knew the pastor and his daughter.
Freelance writer Mark Shuman contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-050721homicides,1,3097453.story?coll=chi-news-hed
--
Anne W.
indigoace at goodsol period com
http://www.goodsol.com/cats/
EnEss
> From the Chicago Tribune--
>
> House cleaner charged in suburban double slaying
>
> By Mary Ann Fergus
> Tribune staff reporter
> Published July 21, 2005, 11:32 AM CDT
>
> A 44-year-old Chicago man has been charged with the murders of a
> Lutheran minister and his daughter, who were slain after they
> discovered the man allegedly burglarizing their home in northwest
> suburban Buffalo Grove.
I tried posting a follow-up to my early morning post around midday. It had a
lot of the details in this report, only this one has even more, following
the arraignment. For whatever reason, it wouldn't post to the thread. I
tried again, but still nothing.
This one really has me floored. Based on the pure brutality and extreme
violence of the murders, the last thing I would've expected is that it would
be something like this...a guy who knows the family, surprised in a burglary
and he reacts this way....so over the top. I thought for sure it had to be
the earlier rumor...some psycho ex stalker of the daughter acting in
revenge. The murders seem to be so full of intense rage and hatred. Who
could believe someone would go to such lengths in a petty burglary? Such a
waste...
It's also hard to believe the jerk worked for the family for 5 years. I
wonder if he was strung out on drugs and tried to toss the place to support
his habit. I've read that certain kinds of drugs can make people psychotic
and really violent.
Those poor people. What an appalling death. Unfathomable.
NS
(add sbc before global to email)
E/C Annie
Anne W. wrote:
> From the Chicago Tribune--
>
> House cleaner charged in suburban double slaying
>
This site has photos of family and the horrid house cleaner. Sure
doesn't look like anyone I'd want in my house - for any reason - maybe
he cleans up well. annie
Anne W.
>This one really has me floored. Based on the pure brutality and extreme
>violence of the murders, the last thing I would've expected is that it would
>be something like this...a guy who knows the family, surprised in a burglary
>and he reacts this way....so over the top. I thought for sure it had to be
>the earlier rumor...some psycho ex stalker of the daughter acting in
>revenge. The murders seem to be so full of intense rage and hatred. Who
>could believe someone would go to such lengths in a petty burglary? Such a
>waste...
It reminds of the Elizabeth Willding murder--she was stabbed to death
when a neighbor who had burgled her house earlier went back for more.
Here's this morning's article: From the Chicago Tribune--
Housecleaner held in double slaying
Pastor, daughter killed during theft, cops say
By Mary Ann Fergus and John Keilman
Tribune staff reporters
Published July 22, 2005
Caught stealing clothes and cash, a house cleaner brutally attacked a
Lutheran minister and his daughter in their Buffalo Grove home,
beating them with chairs, slashing their throats, then setting a fire
that killed them, authorities said Thursday.
Russell H. Sedelmaier, 44, of the Northwest Side was charged in the
slayings of Rev. Ivon Harris, 65, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in
Chicago, and Sarah Harris, 24, a 5th-grade teacher. He confessed to
the crimes during a videotaped interrogation, prosecutors said.
The charges closed an exhaustive three-week inquiry in which
investigators interviewed dozens of people and logged 300 pieces of
physical evidence. Prosecutors said fingerprint and DNA matches, along
with a witness' identification and the alleged confession, make them
confident that they have their man.
"We believe the totality of the evidence will allow us to provide a
very solid case in court," said Cook County State's Atty. Richard
Devine.
For more than five years, Sedelmaier had cleaned the Harrises' home on
a tranquil cul-de-sac in the 800 block of Saxon Place. But on June 29,
a day he was not scheduled to work, he entered the house in a burglary
attempt, police said.
Sedelmaier had a side job selling trinkets at flea markets and
apparently was planning to hawk the family's clothing, said Don Meadie
of the Lake County Major Crime Task Force, the agency that led the
investigation.
He had stuffed numerous bags with clothes--enough to fill the mini-van
he had parked outside--and was lining them up in the garage and near
the front door when Sarah Harris walked in, authorities said.
Assistant State's Atty. Bob Milan said Sedelmaier attacked her,
binding her with duct tape, gagging her and covering her eyes with a
bandanna.
When Ivon Harris, a large man who recently had health problems,
arrived home a short time later, Sedelmaier pushed him down a
staircase into the basement, Milan said. Sedelmaier beat both father
and daughter with chairs and slashed their throats and hands with a
knife, Milan said.
Sedelmaier gathered flammable material in the basement and set it on
fire to try to cover up the crime, Milan said. That was the final,
fatal blow: Although Ivon and Sarah Harris had other grave wounds, the
Cook County medical examiner found the primary cause of their deaths
to be smoke inhalation.
Ivon Harris' wife, Eileen, arrived home at 8 that night to find thick
smoke pouring from the house. Police and firefighters responding to
the blaze found the bodies inside.
The bags of clothes were still there too. Police said the only thing
Sedelmaier stole was about $100 in cash.
Early in the investigation, police talked to Sedelmaier at the office
of his employer, Upstairs Downstairs, a cleaning business in Wheeling,
Meadie said. It was a routine interview--authorities were talking to
and taking DNA samples from all workers who had access to the
house--but physical evidence later prompted authorities to zero in on
the house cleaner, officials said.
Technicians discovered fingerprints on a latex glove found in the
house and on a trash can lid covered with Ivon Harris' blood, Milan
said. The prints matched Sedelmaier's from an arrest for driving under
the influence, Meadie said.
With that evidence, police tracked down Sedelmaier Monday and found
him about 5 p.m. in his apartment in the 5600 block of North Mason
Avenue in Chicago. Gale Nicholson, 39, who lives on the first floor of
the two-flat, said officers with the Lake County Sheriff's Department
showed up with guns drawn, asking for Sedelmaier.
After she told them that he was upstairs, they shouted at her to take
her children and leave. She ran to a neighbor's house, and about 30
minutes later they led Sedelmaier away in handcuffs, she said.
Milan said a witness picked Sedelmaier out of a lineup as the man who
was walking between a mini-van and the Harrises' house on the day of
the slayings. And Wednesday night, the Northern Illinois Crime Lab
determined that DNA found on about 15 cigarettes scattered about the
house belonged to Sedelmaier, police said.
At a bond hearing Thursday afternoon, Milan said Sedelmaier made a
videotaped confession to the burglary, the beatings and the arson. He
was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of
aggravated arson and one count of home invasion.
Sedelmaier appeared in court wearing shorts, a white sleeveless
T-shirt and a pair of blue sneakers.
He kept his head bowed and showed no emotion during the 20-minute
hearing as Judge Karen Thompson Tobin ordered him held without bail.
He is due back in court Aug. 12.
Several Harris family members attended the hearing, including Eileen
Harris and Nathan Harris, the couple's 31-year-old son.
Nathan Harris, of Rolling Meadows, gave a brief statement offering
"deep gratitude and appreciation" to all who worked on the case.
Sedelmaier, described by neighbors as a quiet man, was born in
Michigan in 1961. He began working at age 11 and never attended high
school, said Public Defender Barry Lloyd. His parents are dead, and he
doesn't know where any of his three siblings live, Lloyd said.
Though Sedelmaier lived within 2 miles of Ivon Harris' church, a
pastor there said he was not a member.
Neighbors said Sedelmaier shared his apartment with a girlfriend who
also worked in the cleaning business.
A woman who responded to a knock on the door declined to comment.
Sedelmaier has a minor criminal record, including a 1980 case for
contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a 1997 arrest for
shoplifting at a grocery and a 2000 ticket for DUI, according to court
files and prosecutors.
Announcing the arrests Thursday morning, Buffalo Grove Police Chief
Steve Balinski tried to soothe rattled nerves in the northwest suburb,
saying the killings were not random.
On Saxon Place, Tanya Edelstein said she felt a final surge of relief
Thursday when police officers took down the yellow crime-scene ribbon
that had surrounded the Harrises' house.
"The police tape, it would remind me about the murder," she said.
"Everything I see, the broken window, a lot of glass in the back yard
[reminded me of the crime]. I am more than happy that they found this
person. I just hope for the justice."
Tribune staff reporters Kayce T. Ataiyero, Jamie Francisco, Michael
Higgins and Mickey Ciokajlo and freelance reporter Mark Shuman
contributed to this report.
----------
mfergus;@tribune.com
jkeilman;@tribune.com
Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0507220233jul22,1,6967239.story?coll=chi-news-hed