Man sought in wife's slaying in Portage Park was charged in previous attack against her
A man who fatally stabbing his wife Tuesday afternoon in Portage Park had already been facing charges for allegedly choking and attempting to kidnap her last month, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.An off-duty detective witnessed the stabbing about 2:25 p.m. in the 5600 block of West Leland Avenue and suffered a gunshot wound while trying to intervene, according to a preliminary statement from Chicago police. The suspect, 57, remains at large. He was identified by law enforcement sources, but the Sun-Times isn’t naming him because he hasn’t been charged in the attack,The Area 4 detective fired shots in the suspect’s direction and suffered a graze wound while trying to stop him, police said. The woman, 54, died at the scene. She has not been formally identified by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.The detective was being treated at Lutheran General Hospital for injuries that weren’t thought to be life-threatening, according to the police statement and sources. It wasn’t immediately clear if the wound was self-inflicted.The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates police shootings, said it responded to the scene and opened a probe. Related Ex-boyfriend sought in shooting death of mother of 3 on Southwest Side Domestic violence deaths spiked 110% in Illinois last year, adding to calls for passage of Karina’s Bill The man was previously charged in a separate attack against his wife on Oct. 9 — the same day he was served with an emergency order of protection she had sought, court records show.Prosecutors filed a petition that day to have him held in Cook County Jail pending trial, but it was denied by Judge Thomas E. Nowinski. Nowinski instead released the suspect on electronic monitoring, ordered him to refrain from possessing weapons and forbade him from visiting his wife’s home, work or school.According to her petition for the protective order, the second she had sought against her husband this year, she said he grabbed her as she was walking to the bus, tried to cover her mouth to stop her from screaming and attempted to knock her unconscious.“Someone heard me and began to call police,” she wrote in the petition. “He got in the car and drove off. As he was driving off he threatened me saying ‘[I’ll] do it, you don’t believe that I will do it’ as he was pointing a black object.”He pleaded not guilty Monday to felony counts of aggravated domestic battery involving strangling, aggravated battery, attempted kidnapping and unlawful restraint, court records show.His wife previously filed another petition for a protective order against the husband on Jan. 8, saying they had been separated since September 2023 and had three adult children together.She alleged that the suspect was drinking at his home and asked her to leave during an argument, then grabbed her and dragged her into a bathroom. He then allegedly punched, slapped and kicked her while berating her.“I can kill you now and put you in a bag and take you to the lake,” she recalled him saying. “I can get a gun and kill all of you and you don’t know. I don’t care if the police take me because you left me.”The physical and verbal abuse continued for eight hours, the woman wrote in the petition. When she finally escaped, he chased her but she was able to get away.She noted that he had “been physically and emotionally” abusive throughout their long relationship and would send menacing messages. “You know how easy it is to kill someone?” She recalled him asking.“I took this as a threat from the [suspect] because my grandfather killed my grandmother and then killed himself,” she wrote.An emergency order of protection was granted on the same day as her petition, which noted that she had filed a police report for domestic battery. Her husband apparently wasn’t charged, and a previous battery case filed in 2002 was dropped.The emergency order was vacated on March 25, when the woman and her husband agreed to a so-called no contact order. Among other things, the suspect agreed not to “harass, intimidate, physically abuse, stalk, or interfere with the personal liberty” of his wife.Judge Nowinski, who allowed the husband to remain free while awaiting trial, previously declined to authorize an emergency order of protection against Crosetti Brand earlier this year. The convicted felon had allegedly sent threatening text messages to an ex-girlfriend and came to her apartment after he was released from prison.Because Brand had been taken back into custody, Nowinski ruled that the woman’s case didn’t amount to an emergency and set a later hearing for March 13.Brand showed up at the home again that morning and allegedly stabbed the pregnant woman and killed her 11-year-old son.
A man who fatally stabbing his wife Tuesday afternoon in Portage Park had already been facing charges for allegedly choking and attempting to kidnap her last month, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
An off-duty detective witnessed the stabbing about 2:25 p.m. in the 5600 block of West Leland Avenue and suffered a gunshot wound while trying to intervene, according to a preliminary statement from Chicago police. The suspect, 57, remains at large.
He was identified by law enforcement sources, but the Sun-Times isn’t naming him because he hasn’t been charged in the attack,
The Area 4 detective fired shots in the suspect’s direction and suffered a graze wound while trying to stop him, police said. The woman, 54, died at the scene. She has not been formally identified by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The detective was being treated at Lutheran General Hospital for injuries that weren’t thought to be life-threatening, according to the police statement and sources. It wasn’t immediately clear if the wound was self-inflicted.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates police shootings, said it responded to the scene and opened a probe.
The man was previously charged in a separate attack against his wife on Oct. 9 — the same day he was served with an emergency order of protection she had sought, court records show.
Prosecutors filed a petition that day to have him held in Cook County Jail pending trial, but it was denied by Judge Thomas E. Nowinski. Nowinski instead released the suspect on electronic monitoring, ordered him to refrain from possessing weapons and forbade him from visiting his wife’s home, work or school.
According to her petition for the protective order, the second she had sought against her husband this year, she said he grabbed her as she was walking to the bus, tried to cover her mouth to stop her from screaming and attempted to knock her unconscious.
“Someone heard me and began to call police,” she wrote in the petition. “He got in the car and drove off. As he was driving off he threatened me saying ‘[I’ll] do it, you don’t believe that I will do it’ as he was pointing a black object.”
He pleaded not guilty Monday to felony counts of aggravated domestic battery involving strangling, aggravated battery, attempted kidnapping and unlawful restraint, court records show.
His wife previously filed another petition for a protective order against the husband on Jan. 8, saying they had been separated since September 2023 and had three adult children together.
She alleged that the suspect was drinking at his home and asked her to leave during an argument, then grabbed her and dragged her into a bathroom. He then allegedly punched, slapped and kicked her while berating her.
“I can kill you now and put you in a bag and take you to the lake,” she recalled him saying. “I can get a gun and kill all of you and you don’t know. I don’t care if the police take me because you left me.”
The physical and verbal abuse continued for eight hours, the woman wrote in the petition. When she finally escaped, he chased her but she was able to get away.
She noted that he had “been physically and emotionally” abusive throughout their long relationship and would send menacing messages. “You know how easy it is to kill someone?” She recalled him asking.
“I took this as a threat from the [suspect] because my grandfather killed my grandmother and then killed himself,” she wrote.
An emergency order of protection was granted on the same day as her petition, which noted that she had filed a police report for domestic battery. Her husband apparently wasn’t charged, and a previous battery case filed in 2002 was dropped.
The emergency order was vacated on March 25, when the woman and her husband agreed to a so-called no contact order. Among other things, the suspect agreed not to “harass, intimidate, physically abuse, stalk, or interfere with the personal liberty” of his wife.
Judge Nowinski, who allowed the husband to remain free while awaiting trial, previously declined to authorize an emergency order of protection against Crosetti Brand earlier this year. The convicted felon had allegedly sent threatening text messages to an ex-girlfriend and came to her apartment after he was released from prison.
Because Brand had been taken back into custody, Nowinski ruled that the woman’s case didn’t amount to an emergency and set a later hearing for March 13.
Brand showed up at the home again that morning and allegedly stabbed the pregnant woman and killed her 11-year-old son.
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