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Persistence pays off for award-winning officers
n BY DAN CAMPANA
A combination of patience, persistence and partnership helped investigators in Area Four nab a murder suspect who fled the Chi- cago area.
The determination shown by Officers Daniel O’Brien, Larsen Alexander, Nick Lesch and Javier Collazo and Detective Anthony Noradin earned each of them the Chicago Police Memorial Foun- dation’s Officer of the Month award in March.
Following a Dec. 8, 2021, gang-related homicide, Area Four de- tectives worked with gang investigators to develop more informa- tion on the whereabouts of a suspect who had been identified, as well as the vehicle used in the murder.
O’Brien and Alexander got to work tracking down and setting up surveillance at places the suspect frequented. Despite the officers putting in many hours in that effort, the offender wasn’t immedi- ately found — but two Facebook accounts used by the man were identified. Lesch and Collazo wrote up the necessary court docu- ments to get authorization for pen registers to track activity on the two social media accounts. With those secured, the officers began to continuously monitor the man’s use of Facebook for informa- tion.
What turned up, according to officials, was a cell phone number the man provided when he purchased a vehicle a short time be- fore the murder. Lesch received authorization for a pen register on the phone, giving the officers another opportunity to pinpoint the offender’s location. It wasn’t long before investigators determined the man had initially fled to St. Louis and then traveled to Missis- sippi, where he was believed to be staying with family.
Those details were enough to secure an arrest warrant for the man, but the officers’ work wasn’t done yet, as they continued to
monitor the phone and Facebook activity and recognized that the suspect appeared to be heading north from Mississippi back to- ward St. Louis.
Investigators contacted the St. Louis Police Department, the Scott City Sheriff’s Office and the Missouri State Police to share de- tails of the suspect’s travel. Noradin coordinated with those agen- cies on a plan to capture the man, while investigators continued to feed updates on the suspect’s travels to the St. Louis Police Depart- ment’s Intelligence Unit, which, in turn, shared the information with other law enforcement partners.
All that hard work and coordination of efforts culminated at a McDonald’s drive-thru when Scott City sheriff’s deputies spotted the man and arrested him without incident. The deputies also re- covered the vehicle used in the murder.
The suspect was extradited to Chicago and charged with mur- der, while CPD investigators searched the vehicle upon its return to the area to find two semi-automatic handguns and clothing worn by the man at the time of the murder.
With 13 family members serving as first responders, I understand and am grateful for your sacrifices.
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Michael Distasio www.getmadwealth.com michael@getmadwealth.com
773-609-4755
MAD Wealth, LLC is a Registered Investment Adviser. This brochure is solely for informational purpos- es. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where MAD Wealth, LLC and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Investing involves risk and possible loss of principal capital. No advice may be rendered by MAD Wealth, LLC unless a client service agreement is in place.
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