47-year prison term for fatal attack on Chicago’s ‘Walking Man’

The man accused of setting Chicago’s beloved “Walking Man” on fire as he slept defenseless on a city street will serve nearly 50 years in prison after admitting his guilt in the unprovoked fatal attack, prosecutors confirmed Thursday.

Joseph Guardia had a trial tentatively set to begin this week in the slaying of Joseph Kromelis, but the 30-year-old Melrose Park man instead accepted a plea deal Wednesday on first-degree murder charges.

Guardia must serve 100% of his 47-year prison term and would be in his 70s before he could be freed. He will receive credit, though, for the 881 days he has spent in jail since his arrest.

Kromelis, a distinctively dapper dresser often seen strolling alone along the streets of downtown Chicago, was attacked before 3 a.m. May 25, 2022, while he slept on the pavement in the 400 block of North Lower Wabash Avenue.

He died several months later at age 75.

During this week’s court hearing, prosecutors read a victim-impact statement from Kromelis’ sister. The woman, Erika “Ricky” Singree, of Alaska, died Sunday just days after her 80th birthday. She had been Kromelis’ only living sibling.

Her daughter, Jami, who also lives in Alaska and attended the Cook County court hearing via videoconference, said she often told her mother stories about Kromelis’ impact on Chicagoans.

“My heart is broken,” the elder Singree wrote in her statement. “My brother just loved Chicago. He had his routine of walking the streets. He wanted to be left alone. He never hurt anyone. He was an angel with wings.”

Kromelis, a former street peddler who preferred to keep to himself, walked the city every day and in every kind of weather. When a bat-wielding man attacked him in May 2016, the incident inspired more than $30,000 in donations and a charity T-shirt drive that raised another $6,000 to help Kromelis get back on his feet.

The final, haunting assault on Kromelis in 2022 was captured on video by a nearby hotel security surveillance system. Authorities released video stills of his attacker showing a large dollar sign tattooed on his cheek, and police arrested Guardia two days later. They said he was wearing the same clothing seen in the video.

Guardia told police in a recorded interview that he had found a cup filled with gasoline and set a pile of blankets on fire, according to court records. Guardia said he was not aware that a person was under the blankets, but prosecutors said Kromelis’ head and lower legs were visible.

As for motive, Guardia said only that he was “an angry person.”

Many of the court proceedings since his arrest have focused on Guardia’s past hospitalizations and his mental health.

A Tribune review of public records found Guardia had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was frequently hospitalized for suicidal thoughts. He had more than two dozen arrests in three states related to allegations of battery, burglary, robbery, reckless conduct and retail theft.

In a statement, his attorney with the Cook County public defender’s office said Guardia had sought a “guilty but mentally ill” plea but lawyers were unable to reach an agreement.

“Mr. Guardia suffers from mental illness and has been receiving treatment off-and-on since the age of 15,” the statement said. “He is currently receiving appropriate medication at the jail and hopes to continue his treatment in (prison).”

Guardia did not make a statement during his sentencing, his attorney said.

The Tribune interviewed Ricky Singree last year as part of a lengthy story on Kromelis’ life and his final weeks. Closest to him in age among his siblings, Singree described her brother as kind, soft-spoken and intelligent. She hadn’t seen much of him since she moved to Alaska in 1974, but Singree described him as too proud to ask for help.

In her posthumous victim-impact statement, she spoke directly to Guardia.

“I hope you can live with yourself (for) what you have done,” she wrote. “There was no reason to hurt an innocent man that wanted to rest. My brother wanted peace, to wake up the next day to go on living his life. But you made a choice and took that from him.

“There will be no more stories of Joseph Kromelis walking the streets of Chicago. My beloved brother: rest in peace.”

Guardia entered the plea in front of Judge Timothy Joyce at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.

cmgutowski@chicagotribune.com