A former Northwestern University professor and an Oxford University employee are back in Chicago to face murder charges.
Wyndham Lathem, 42, and Andrew Warren, 56, arrived in Chicago late Friday night and are accused in the murder of 26-year-old Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau, a Chicago hairstylist.
The two men were flown in from California overnight, and are now at 51st and Wentworth—Area Central for the Chicago Police Department.
Detectives are interrogating the two and both Lathem and Warren will eventually have a court appearance where they will answer to first-degree murder charges.
The two were on the run for eight days— making a 2,100-mile journey across country before turning themselves into police and U.S. Marshals earlier this month in California’s Bay Area.
Warren, the Oxford University employee and U.K. resident, was the first to arrive to the police station just minutes before midnight.
He arrived in an unmarked police car and detectives escorted him inside the station as he was cuffed in the front of his body. He briefly glanced at news cameras as he made his way inside, wearing a white t-shirt and glasses hanging off his shirt.
About an hour later, fired Northwestern University microbiology professor, Lathem, arrived in a separate car, and was walked into the district by detectives. Lathem avoided looking at the camera. He wore his glasses, and the same plaid shirt he was photographed in for his mugshot, two weeks ago in California.
According to an autopsy, Cornell-Duranleau, a Michigan native who moved to Chicago last year, was stabbed nearly 50 times including “mutilations,” to his upper body. Authorities say the attack was so violent the blade of the knife they believe was used was broken.
Cornell-Duranleau was found in Lathem’s River North apartment July 27 after the building’s front desk received an anonymous call that a crime had occurred on the 10th floor.
The CBS Chicago reported Chicago Police Department spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said officers found a “very gruesome” crime scene inside, with the victim “savagely murdered.”
When police found Cornell-Duranleau, he had already been dead for at least 12 hours.
Police said Lathem and Cornell-Duranleau had a relationship and something went wrong in that relationship, just prior to Cornell-Duranleau’s death.
After turning themselves in, in California two weeks ago, both Lathem and Warren waived extradition for their return to Chicago.
After police finish questioning these two men, detectives are expected to hold a news conference to announced their first Cook County court appearance.
That news conference not expected until either Sunday or Monday.
Authorities said the attack on Cornell-Duranleau, a Michigan native who moved to Chicago last year, was so brutal that the blade of the knife investigators believe was used in the stabbing was broken. When police found him, he had already been dead for at least 12 hours.
The Chicago Tribune reports Cornell-Duranleau had methamphetamine in his system. A toxicology examination also found amphetamine, a mood-altering drug sometimes used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the Tribune said. There was also a limited amount of alcohol in his system.
Kenneth H. Wine, an attorney for Lathem, Wyndham Lathem called him a “gentle soul” and said “what he is accused of is totally contrary to the way he has lived his entire life.” Wine said Lathem intends to plead not guilty to the charges.
Andrew Warren was represented by a public defender during a brief appearance in a San Francisco court. She said he is “presumed innocent,” but declined to comment further.
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