(Woodridge, IL) — Murder charges were being prepared against a suspect who allegedly strangled a 41-year-old US-based Ghanaian woman living in Woodridge , whose body was found stuffed into a suitcase in Chicago.
Authorities say victim Vida McCree was probably killed in her home town of Woodridge.
Police continued to work with state’s attorney’s office representatives to prepare charges against a man suspected in her strangulation.
The woman, whose death marks the first homicide in Woodridge in more than three years, was identified as Vida McCree, 41, of 7233 Woodward Av. in the western suburb, according to a Woodridge police news release.
A friend reported McCree missing on Thursday, and Woodridge police were contacted Friday around 8 p.m. to identify the body, the release said.
McCree’s body was discovered at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in a green suitcase in a dumpster behind the factory of Rome Metal Manufacturing Inc., at 4612 W. Ohio St., Chicago police News Affairs Officer JoAnn Taylor said.
An Onyx Waste Services employee found the body, which was clad in only a white nightgown, and notified Chicago police immediately, she said.
The woman was pronounced dead on the scene at 2:40 p.m. that day, a Cook County medical examiner’s office spokesman said.
An autopsy determined she died by strangulation in a homicide, according to office reports.
The case was transferred from the Chicago Police Department to Woodridge police because the crime was apparently committed in the western suburb, though the woman’s body was found in the Garfield Park neighborhood, according to a Harrison Area detective and police News Affairs Officer Carlos Herrera.
Police arrested the suspect Saturday afternoon, and since then have been working with officials from the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office to obtain search warrants and gather evidence, Woodridge Public Information Officer Carrie Noe said. Details about the man’s arrest were not available.
Noe said the man and McCree “were not strangers to each other,” but declined to provide further details.
Representatives from the state’s attorney’s office and the DuPage County Felony Investigative Assistance Team were expected to join Woodridge police at about noon Sunday to prepare charges against the man in custody, Noe said.
No charges had been filed against the suspect in custody as of 11 p.m., a Woodridge police representative said.
Source: GhanaWeb
