Natalia Chi
CHICAGO—Almost 18 months after an armed robber shot and killed a woman behind a Logan Square grocery store, prosecutors on Thursday claimed the defendant’s DNA was found in the victim’s car in the case. prosecuted.
Chicago resident Darryl McKinley, 20, was held without bond during a bail hearing by Judge Barbara Dawkins on Thursday.
On Dec. 8, 2021 at approximately 9:45 p.m., a 22-year-old woman exited the Dill Pickles Foods Co-op at 2746 North Milwaukee and walked to the car where she shopped.
As she climbed into her car, an SUV blocked her entry and two men emerged from the passenger side. Prosecutors said Thursday that McKinley opened the passenger door of the woman’s car while another robber shot her left arm and demanded her property.
McKinley stole the woman’s groceries and backpack before the two men fled in an SUV.
Surveillance video captured the robbery, but Assistant State Attorney Sarah Dale Schmidt said the footage did not reveal the SUV’s license plate and could not identify the robber.
But a Chicago police evidence technician swabbed the woman’s passenger door, and a DNA test on the swab yielded results consistent with McKinley, Dale Schmidt said. She did not disclose how investigators obtained McKinley’s DNA for comparison or how they determined that McKinley had not touched her car on another occasion. I didn’t.
Police have been trying to arrest McKinley since January, and a fugitive arrest team caught him this week, Dale Schmidt said.
His career includes a juvenile trial last year for possession of a stolen vehicle.
His public defender opposed holding McKinley without bail, saying the state’s evidence did not meet legal standards. He said no one had identified McKinley as the robber, none of the victim’s property had been recovered, and his face was not seen on the surveillance video.
But Judge Dawkins disagreed and granted the state’s motion without bail. McKinley has been charged with armed robbery with a firearm and illegal vehicle entry.
