Oak Park Murder?

[marysol_21]

Cops probe death of man in Oak Park

June 23, 2005

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A death investigation is under way after authorities were summoned Wednesday afternoon to a west suburban home where they found a 42-year-old man unconscious and bleeding from the head.

About 5:30 p.m., Oak Park police received word of an incident in the 1100 block of South Harvey. When officers arrived, they found a man lying in the front yard of the home.

Peter D'Agostino, of the 1100 block of Cuyler in that suburb, was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he died.

"He appears to have suffered some kind of head trauma," said Oak Park Police Sgt. Dan Silva.

Silva offered few other details about the case.

An autopsy on D'Agostino was to be conducted today by the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Lisa Donovan
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-dead23.html

[marysol_21]

Authorities: UIC professor shot to death

Tribune staff reports
Published June 23, 2005, 9:46 AM CDT


A university professor who was found mortally wounded Wednesday evening in the front yard of an Oak Park home had been shot to death, WGN-Ch. 9 reported.

Peter D'Agostino, an associate professor in history and Catholic studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was found lying on his back on a front lawn of a residence in the 1100 block of South Harvey Avenue, authorities said.

The home's owner, Blake Hayner, said he and his wife found D'Agostino lying on his back with a briefcase at his side, bleeding from a massive head wound, WGN reported.

Hayner told CLTV he thought he heard yelling and then the slamming of a car door. When he looked outside, he saw a man lying in his yard.

"I didn't know it was a gunshot. It looked like somebody walked up to him and hit him with a baseball bat," Hayner said. "My wife's a nurse, and she ran out and sat down beside him and held his hand to feel his pulse."

Police received a 911 call about a man down about 5:30 p.m., Oak Park Police Sgt. Dan Silva said.

D'Agostino, of the 1100 block of South Cuyler Avenue in the western suburb, was found bloodied, unconscious and suffering from "head trauma," Silva said. The victim was taken to Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, where he was pronounced dead.

The Cook County medical examiner's office confirmed the man died of a gunshot wound, WGN reported. Oak Park police were disclosing little about the incident this morning other to say they were conducting a death investigation.

A published author, D'Agostino had taught at UIC for about four years, WGN reported. He was married and had a 1 ½-year-old daughter. His wife is a history professor at Lake Forest College, CLTV reported.

"Peter was an extremely dedicated person in everything he did," Eric Arnesen, professor of history and friend of the victim, told WGN.

"He was an incredibly dedicated teacher," Arnesen said. "He was an incredibly productive, original and dedicated scholar. He took everything he did seriously, yet he also brought a sense of humor to what it was that he did."

Colleagues described D'Agostino as an expert in religious and Chicago history. He received a doctorate in 1993 from the University of Chicago's Divinity School.

Tribune wire services contributed to this story.

[shrugger]

Police pursue tips in slaying
Berwyn man tells of being followed

By Ted Gregory, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Brett McNeil contributed to this report

July 1, 2005

More than 100 callers have contacted Oak Park police since a composite of a "person of interest" in the June 22 murder of a University of Illinois at Chicago associate professor was released earlier this week, and investigators continue to work the southeast Oak Park neighborhood where the killing occurred.

Among the incidents police are examining is a report from a 22-year-old Berwyn man who said he was followed by someone resembling the "person of interest" shortly before Peter D'Agostino was beaten to death less than three blocks from his home.

Police interviewed the Berwyn man June 23 in his home after he contacted them, he said. The man was walking home from his workplace on Lake Street in Oak Park after 4:30 p.m. June 22, he said Thursday.

"About halfway home, I noticed somebody was following me," said the man, who asked that his name not be made public. "I noticed right away that he was carrying something."

Police have told him not to disclose what the man was carrying, he said, but it made him nervous.

"When I walked over a block, he started gaining on me," he said. "I'm young and really tall and walk pretty fast. For this guy to be gaining on me, he was speed walking."

The pursuer was about 7 feet behind himwhen the Berwyn man reached Carroll Playground, where a baseball game was in progress, he said.

"I took off running," he said. "As soon as I got through the park, I turned around and didn't see him."

The pursuer was dressed in white, which matches the description of clothes worn by the "person of interest." But the Berwyn man said he "never felt that I got that good of a look" at his pursuer and never saw him in a car. Oak Park police are saying the man they are seeking was believed to be driving a mid-sized, older model passenger vehicle, turquoise or light blue, with a maroon or dark-colored front passenger side fender.

Also, the chase reported by the Berwyn man occurred about 14 blocks west of where D'Agostino was found.

On Thursday, Oak Park spokesman David Powers declined to comment on the pursuit, but he dismissed a reported battery that occurred almost the same time as the murder and less than three blocks away.

The report of the battery incident states that a male juvenile was struck with a stick or tree limb between 5:45 p.m. and 7:23 p.m. June 22 at the southwest corner of Cuyler Avenue and Harvard Street. The juvenile suffered injuries on his left eye, head, left shoulder, lip, chest, neck and face, the report states.

D'Agostino, 42, was found unconscious and bleeding from head trauma on the 1100 block of South Harvey, at 5:30 p.m. June 22.

The battery probably was a scuffle among boys, Powers said, adding: "This was totally unrelated."

But the similarities have fueled an already anxious atmosphere in south Oak Park.

"I just wish that the police would give us enough information so that we could make our own risk assessments," said Manning Peterson, who has lived in the area about four years.

Powers said police are focused on investigating the crime and are concerned that too much information circulating among the public might be detrimental.

Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune

[ruffian]

"too much information circulating among the public might be detrimental."

what the ..... ?

This reminds me of the movie Jaws ... when they tried to convince the Mayor to close the beaches.  There is a way to provide good information and ask citizens to be the extended eyes and ears of the police.  Suggestions like ... don't walk alone, stay in groups till the RAT is found might help.  Report any and all persons that match description ...... offer reward for information.

With the way they wrote that article ... I woudn't be one of the first to walk around in Oak Park alone.

[chandasz]

There have been undercover cops all over the place. My daughter's daycare is in OP and I'm seeing them everywhere

[markberwyn]

Clearly they haven't been doing a good job with the "undercover" part.

[chandasz]

Sightings reported in prof death
Oak Park cops tell of more tips in killing

By Ted Gregory
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 8, 2005


About 150 people who crowded the Oak Park Conservatory on Thursday night received chilling news that a "person of interest" in the June 22 murder of a University of Illinois at Chicago associate professor had been seen four times in the neighborhood shortly before the killing.

Police Chief Rick Tanksley, accompanied by three deputy chiefs and several village officials, told the group that sightings of the man emerged from the 144 tips police received since Peter D'Agostino, 42, was found beaten to death.

One man was chased while walking home from work about 4:30 p.m. A woman watering her grass saw someone resembling the man shortly after that. Both residents reported that the man they saw was carrying a hammer. Police have not said what kind of weapon was used in the killing.

Another man, also watering his lawn that afternoon, spoke briefly with the "person of interest," Tanksley said.

Another woman, reported seeing someone resembling the man get out of a car and walk south on Harvey Avenue, the street where D'Agostino was killed. The woman walked toward the car to write down the license plate number, but retreated when the man turned back, Tanksley said.

The reported sightings were among several revelations Tanksley shared with the residents in a two-hour meeting that was part informational session and part rally to help police find the suspect.

"We all came here with a heavy heart and are shocked, as the rest of the community is shocked at the senseless nature of this crime," Village President David Pope said.

Pope urged the audience to view the crime as "an opportunity and a moment to come together and support one another."

The questions for Tanksley started almost immediately after a moment of silence for D'Agostino. One man wanted to know if the criminal might be a serial killer. Tanksley said he doubted that.

Another man asked if D'Agostino had been robbed. Tanksley said he had not been and that police have not established a motive.

When a woman asked Tanksley whether D'Agostino's killing had been random, Tanksley declined to speculate.

Residents called for the meeting to ease anxiety in an area of Oak Park bordered by the Eisenhower Expressway, Roosevelt Road, Austin Boulevard and Harlem Avenue.

D'Agostino, an associate professor in the department of history and Catholic studies program at UIC and an award-winning author, was found unconscious and bleeding from a severe head wound about 5:30 p.m. June 22 in the 1100 block of South Harvey Avenue. He was pronounced dead at 6 p.m. at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood.

D'Agostino was less than three blocks from his home when he was attacked. He was not robbed, and his briefcase was upright on the sidewalk a few feet from his body. Atop the case were his glasses, neatly folded.

Police have suggested they have few solid leads, although they have received many tips after releasing on June 27 a computer-generated composite of a "person of interest" who may have been in the neighborhood at the time of the killing.

The man is described as a 25- to 35-year-old African-American with a slight to medium build. He stands between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet 2 inches tall, police said, and was believed to be driving a turquoise or light blue, mid-size, older passenger vehicle with a dark-colored front passenger side fender.