Pedestrian killed by truck in Gurnee
A pedestrian was struck and killed by a truck Wednesday night in Gurnee, according to police.
The victim, a 33-year-old woman, was hit around 8 p.m. near the intersection of Delany Road and Sunset Avenue. She was unresponsive when officers arrived, Gurnee police said.
The driver of the Ford E-450 box truck remained on the scene and cooperated with police.
The identity of the victim has not yet been released.
The incident remains under investigation by the Major Crash Assistance Team and Gurnee police. The roadway was closed for several hours as police and technicians processed the scene.
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Miami Herald
a day ago
- Miami Herald
‘Brazen' 688-year-old murder of medieval priest solved. ‘Thirst for vengeance'
In 1337, a priest named John Forde walked down a busy street in London where he was ambushed and killed in broad daylight as crowds milled about. Now, researchers at the University of Cambridge have solved the brazen murder, believed to have been carried out at the request of Ela Fitzpayne, an English noblewoman with a 'thirst for revenge,' according to a study published June 6 in the peer-reviewed journal Criminal Law Forum. Researchers called Westcheap, where Forde was killed, London's 'commercial and ceremonial heart.' It was also 'London's most prominent homicide hotspot,' researchers said, adding that Forde's killing ranks among 'one of the most extraordinary events' to take place there. On May 3, 1337, Forde ran into a fellow priest who 'distracted' him with friendly conversation before four men, all with connections to Ela Fitzpayne, attacked him, according to a June 5 news release from the University of Cambridge. One slit his throat with 12-inch dagger and two others stabbed him 'in the belly with long fighting knives,' according to the study. Researchers said Forde's murder was instigated Fitzpayne who had been publicly denounced by the Archbishop of Canterbury for having 'sexual affairs 'with knights and others, single and married, and even with clerics in holy orders,'' including Forde, while she was married, according to the study. Forde's complicated connections to Fitzpayne Records suggest Forde, who was also accused of being in a gang with Fitzpayne and her husband, may have been the one to inform the archbishop of her dalliances, experts said. Forde 'went from being in Ela Fitzpayne's crime gang and possibly her bed, to a player in her denouncement,' according to the release. 'The archbishop imposed heavy, shameful public penance on Ela, which she seems not to have complied with, but may have sparked a thirst for vengeance,' researcher Manuel Eisner said, per the release. 'Not least as John Forde appears to have escaped punishment by the church.' In an effort to 'publicly humiliate' Fitzpayne for her supposed affairs, she was ordered to take 'barefoot walks of shame across Salisbury Cathedral,' and pay large sums of money to the clergy and the poor, experts said. Experts said 'the brutal show of strength' on Westcheap that day may have served to remind 'the clergy of the power of the nobility, and that Ela Fitzpayne doesn't forget or forgive,' according to the news release. 'A woman in 14th century England who raided priories, openly defied the Archbishop of Canterbury, and planned the assassination of a priest,' Eisner said, summing up Fitzpayne's legacy. 'Ela Fitzpayne appears to have been many things, including an extraordinary person,' he said. Ford's was one of 355 unsolved homicides documented by the Medieval Murder Maps project — a database created by the University of Cambridge that visualizes spatial patterns of 14th-century killings in London, Oxford and York, according to the study. The Cambridge news release and the Medieval Murder Maps project lists the year of Forde's killing as 1337, while the study says it occurred in 1336.
Newsweek
a day ago
- Newsweek
Brutal 14th Century Revenge Murder Finally Solved
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A new investigation by a Cambridge University criminologist has revealed evidence of a 14th-century murder entangled in betrayal, scandal, and power struggles. Professor Manuel Eisner, head of the Medieval Murder Maps project at the University's Institute of Criminology uncovered what appears to be a revenge killing orchestrated by a noblewoman, following a scandal involving sex, crime and church politics. The killing of priest John Forde in 1337—his throat cut in broad daylight on a busy London street—has been brought to light 688 years later. "We are looking at a murder commissioned by a leading figure of the English aristocracy," said Eisner. "It is planned and cold-blooded, with a family member and close associates carrying it out, all of which suggests a revenge motive." Records indicate that Forde was once a lover and criminal accomplice of Ela Fitzpayne, an aristocrat punished publicly by the Church for adultery. A 1332 letter from Archbishop Simon Mepham accused her of affairs "with knights and others, single and married, and even with clerics in holy orders," including Forde, and ordered her to undergo a degrading punishment. Location of the murder of John Forde, taken from the Medieval Murder Maps. University of Cambridge's Institute of Criminology and the Historic Towns Trust. Location of the murder of John Forde, taken from the Medieval Murder Maps. University of Cambridge's Institute of Criminology and the Historic Towns Trust. Medieval Murder Maps. University of Cambridge's Institute of Criminology and the Historic Towns Trust That punishment included a barefoot walk of shame through Salisbury Cathedral—every fall, for seven years. "The archbishop imposed heavy, shameful public penance on Ela, which she seems not to have complied with, but may have sparked a thirst for vengeance," said Eisner. "Not least as John Forde appears to have escaped punishment by the church." The murder took place near St Paul's Cathedral on May 3, 1337. According to coroners' rolls, Forde was walking along Cheapside when fellow priest Hasculph Neville distracted him "with pleasant conversation." Suddenly, four men attacked: Hugh Lovell, Ela Fitzpayne's brother, slit Forde's throat with a 12-inch dagger while Hugh Colne and John Strong, both recently in Fitzpayne's service, stabbed him in the belly. "Despite naming the killers and clear knowledge of the instigator, when it comes to pursuing the perpetrators the jury turn a blind eye," said Eisner. "A household of the highest nobility, and apparently no one knows where they are to bring them to trial. They claim Ela's brother has no belongings to confiscate. All implausible. This was typical of the class-based justice of the day." Only Colne was eventually indicted and imprisoned, five years later. Image of the Archbishop of Canterbury's letters to the Bishop of Winchester on the subject of Ela Fitzpayne, from the register of John de Stratford. Reproduced with permission of Hampshire Archives and Hampshire County Council. Image of the Archbishop of Canterbury's letters to the Bishop of Winchester on the subject of Ela Fitzpayne, from the register of John de Stratford. Reproduced with permission of Hampshire Archives and Hampshire County Council. Register of John de Stratford. Reproduced with permission of Hampshire Archives and Hampshire County Council. The case is one of hundreds in the Medieval Murder Maps database, which uses coroners' rolls to track real cases of unnatural death in 14th-century England—now mapped across cities like London, Oxford, and York. Forde's case was unusual: it had 33 jurors—"one of the highest in all murders mapped by the project," said Eisner. The area of Westcheap, where Forde died, was "London's most prominent medieval homicide 'hotspot,'" featuring markets, guilds, and frequent violence, Eisner explained. He added: "As a setting for public rituals of punishment, this appears to have included extrajudicial killings." A full account of the case, with digitized records and coroner reports, is now available on the University's website. An academic paper detailing the case appears in the Criminal Law Forum, and a podcast series explores Forde's murder and other medieval cases. "Taken together, these records suggest a tale of shakedowns, sex and vengeance that expose tensions between the church and England's elites, culminating in a mafia-style assassination of a fallen man of god by a gang of medieval hitmen," said Eisner. Newsweek reached out to Professor Manuel Eisner via Cambridge University for comment. Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about criminology? Let us know via science@ Reference Eisner, M., Brown, S. E., Eisner, N., & Eisner, R. S. (2025). Spatial dynamics of homicide in medieval English cities: the Medieval Murder Map project. Criminal Law Forum.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Medieval cold case is a salacious tale of sex, power, and mayhem
Researchers have uncovered handwritten letters, court documents, and a coroner's report related to the nearly 700-year-old cold case murder of a medieval priest. Published on June 5 in the journal Criminal Law Forum, the investigation draws on direct archival evidence from Cambridge University that is helping fill in the gaps to a high-profile true crime scandal that would make headlines even today. But despite a mountain of firsthand accounts, the murder's masterminds never saw justice. On Friday, May 3, 1337, Anglican priest John Forde began a walk along downtown London's Cheapside street after vespers (evening prayers) shortly before sunset. At one point, a clergyman familiar to Forde by the name of Hasculph Neville approached him to begin a 'pleasant conversation.' As the pair neared St. Paul's Cathedral, four men ambushed the priest. One of the attackers then proceeded to slit Forde's throat using a 12-inch dagger as two other assailants stabbed him in the stomach in front of onlookers. The vicious crime wasn't a brazen robbery or politically motivated attack. It was likely a premeditated murder orchestrated by Ela Fitzpayne, a noblewoman, London crime syndicate leader—and potentially Forde's lover. 'We are looking at a murder commissioned by a leading figure of the English aristocracy. It is planned and cold-blooded, with a family member and close associates carrying it out, all of which suggests a revenge motive,' Cambridge University criminology professor Manuel Eisner explained in a statement. To understand how such a brutal killing could take place in daylight on a busy London street, it's necessary to backtrack at least five years. In January 1332, the Archbishop of Canterbury sent a letter to the Bishop of Winchester that included a number of reputation-ruining claims surrounding Fitzpayne. In particular, Archbishop Simon Mepham described sexual relationships involving 'knights and others, single and married, and even with clerics in holy orders.' The wide-ranging punishments for such sinful behavior could include a prohibition on wearing gold and other precious jewelry, as well as large tithes to monastic orders and the poor. But the most humiliating atonement often came in the form of a public walk of shame. The act of contrition involved walking barefoot across Salisbury Cathedral—England's longest nave—in order to deliver a handcarried, four-pound wax candle to the church altar. What's more, Archbishop Mepham commanded that Fitzpayne must repeat this penance every autumn for seven years. Fitzpayne was having none of it. According to Mepham's message, the noblewoman chose to continue listening to a 'spirit of pride' (and the devil), and refused to abide by the judgment. A second letter sent by the Archbishop that April also alleged that she had since absconded from her husband, Sir Robert Fitzpayne, and was hiding in London's Rotherhithe district along the Thames River. Due to this, Archbishop Mepham reported that Ela Fitzpayne had been excommunicated from the church. But who tipped the clergy off to her indiscretions? According to Eisner's review of original documents as part of the Cambridge University Institute of Criminology's Medieval Murder Maps project, it was almost certainly her ex-lover, the soon-to-be-murdered John Forde. He was the only alleged lover named in Archbishop Mepham's letters, and served as a church rector in a village located on the Fitzpayne family's estate at the time of the suspected affair. 'The archbishop imposed heavy, shameful public penance on Ela, which she seems not to have complied with, but may have sparked a thirst for vengeance,' Eisner said. 'Not least as John Forde appears to have escaped punishment by the church.' But Forde's relationship with the Fitzpaynes seems to have extended even more illicit activities. In another record reviewed by Eisner, both Ela Fitzpayne and John Forde had been indicted by a Royal Commission in 1322. The crime–assisting in the raid of a Benedictine priory alongside Sir Fitzpayne. They and others reportedly assaulted the priory a year earlier, making off with around 18 oxen, 30 pigs, and 200 sheep. The monastery coincidentally served as a French abbey's outpost amid increasing tensions between France and England in the years leading up to the Hundred Years' War. Archbishop Mepham was almost certainly displeased after hearing about the indictment of one of his own clergy. A strict administrator himself, Mepham 'was keen to enforce moral discipline among the gentry and nobility,' added Eisner. He theorizes that Forde copped to the affair after getting leaned on by superiors, which subsequently led to the campaign to shame Ela Fitzpayne as a means to reassert the Church's authority over English nobility. Forde, unfortunately, was caught between the two sides. 'John Forde may have had split loyalties,' argued Eisner. 'One to the Fitzpayne family, who were likely patrons of his church and granted him the position. And the other to the bishops who had authority over him as a clergy member.' Archbishop Mepham ultimately wouldn't live to see the scandal's full consequences. Fitzpayne never accepted her walk of shame, and the church elder died a year after sending the incriminating letters. Eisner believes the Fitzpaynes greenlit their hit job on Forde only after the dust had seemingly settled. It doesn't help their case three bystanders said the man who slit the rector's throat was none other than Ela Fitzpayne's own brother, Hugh Lovell. They also named two family servants as Forde's other assailants. Anyone waiting for justice in this medieval saga will likely be disappointed. 'Despite naming the killers and clear knowledge of the instigator, when it comes to pursuing the perpetrators, the jury turn[ed] a blind eye,' Eisner said. Eisner explained the circumstances surrounding an initial lack of convictions were simply 'implausible.' No one supposedly could locate the accused to bring to trial, despite the men belonging to one of England's highest nobility houses. Meanwhile, the court claimed Hugh Lovell had no belongings available to confiscate. 'This was typical of the class-based justice of the day,' said Eisner. In the end, the only charge that ever stuck in the murder case was an indictment against one of the family's former servants. Five years after the first trial in 1342, Hugh Colne was convicted of being one of the men to stab Forde in the stomach and sentenced to the notorious Newgate Prison. As dark and sordid as the multiyear medieval drama was, it apparently didn't change much between Ela Fitzpayne and her husband, Sir Robert. She and the baron remained married until his death in 1354—when she subsequently inherited all his property. 'Where rule of law is weak, we see killings committed by the highest ranks in society, who will take power into their own hands, whether it's today or seven centuries ago,' said Eisner. That said, the criminology professor couldn't help but concede that Ela Fitzpayne was an 'extraordinary' individual, regardless of the era. 'A woman in 14th century England who raided priories, openly defied the Archbishop of Canterbury, and planned the assassination of a priest,' he said. 'Ela Fitzpayne appears to have been many things.'
