Trial begins for suspect in Highland Park mass shooting at July Fourth parade
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — Opening statements begin Monday in the trial of the man accused of opening fire at a Fourth of July parade in the affluent Chicago suburb of Highland Park more than two years ago, killing seven people and wounding nearly 50.
Robert 'Bobby' E. Crimo III faces 69 counts of murder and attempted murder stemming from the July 4, 2022, mass shooting. If convicted, he faces life in prison without parole. Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011.
Dressed in black, his face tattooed with the number 47 and more tattoos adorning his neck and hands, Crimo, 24, was present in the Lake County Courthouse last week while jury selection was underway.
From time to time, Crimo watched while his defense attorneys, Lake County Public Defender Gregory Ticsay and Assistant Public Defender Anton Trizna, and the prosecutor, Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart, took turns posing questions to the jury candidates.
But mostly Crimo sat scribbling on a sheet of paper as the pool of jurors was narrowed to the six men and six women picked to serve on the panel.
Before the first juror was seated, prosecutors moved to dismiss an additional 48 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm against Crimo. They gave no immediate explanation. And they got no pushback from Crimo's defense team or from Lake County Circuit Court Judge Victoria Rossetti.
Police said Crimo, an aspiring rapper who used the stage name Awake the Rapper and was described by friends as a music-obsessed loner, spent weeks planning the massacre.
On that July Fourth, Crimo climbed up a fire escape to the rooftop of a building above the parade route and, at 10:14 a.m., began raining down bullets onto the spectators below, police said.
Killed in the attack were Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; Eduardo Uvaldo, 69; Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; and married couple Kevin McCarthy, 37, and Irina McCarthy, 35.
Dozens more were wounded, the youngest of whom was 8-year-old Cooper Roberts, who was left paralyzed from the waist down when a bullet severed his spinal cord.
Also wounded was 63-year-old John Kezdy, who took a bullet to the elbow. Kezdy worked for the Illinois Attorney General's Office and had earlier been the lead singer of Chicago's influential punk rock band The Effigies. He died a year after the attack in a bicycle accident.
Crimo disguised himself by wearing women's clothing during the rampage, police said.
'Following the attack, Crimo exited the roof, dropped his rifle, and he blended in with the crowd and escaped,' Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Chris Covelli said at the time.
Crimo made it home, took his mother's car and drove north to Madison, Wisconsin, where he considered staging another massacre, police said. He was arrested when he returned to Illinois.
'He went into details about what he had done,' Rinehart told reporters after the incident. 'He admitted to what he had done. We don't want to speculate on the motives right now.'
Last June, Crimo was expected to accept a plea deal but surprised the court by suddenly changing his mind and keeping his not-guilty plea.
In late 2023, Crimo fired his public defenders, saying he would represent himself at trial. The next month, he asked a judge to reinstate his public defender.
Meanwhile, Crimo's father, Robert Crimo Jr., pleaded guilty to seven felony counts of reckless conduct and was sentenced to 60 days in prison for agreeing to sponsor his then-19-year-old son's gun license application. He did so even though a relative had reported to police only a few months earlier that Crimo had a collection of knives and had threatened to 'kill everyone.'
Prosecutors have turned over some 10,000 pages of evidence along with a videotaped interrogation during which police say Crimo confessed to the mass shooting.
In December, Rossetti declined an attempt by Crimo's lawyers to throw out statements Crimo made to police when he was arrested. The judge said Crimo willingly gave up his right to remain silent and police did not prevent him from speaking with the lawyer his family had hired to represent him.
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NBC News
05-06-2025
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'Shameful': Washington murder case dismissed after DNA evidence is lost
WASHNGTON — Days before a Washington murder trial was to begin, prosecutors decided the evidence they had against the defendant — who was in custody for more than five years — was not good enough, and the victim's family still wants an explanation. When John Pernell was shot to death on Nelson Place SE in July 2010, witnesses told police the retired protective service officer fought with one of four men trying to rob him and others. Pernell and his friends were setting up their barbecues for a traditional Fourth of July get-together when the men jumped a fence and announced a robbery. The investigation went nowhere until 2019, when a witness told police they should look at a man named Kavon Young. According to a document filed in D.C. Superior Court, police said DNA discovered under Pernell's fingernails matched the DNA profile of Young. The probability the DNA did not belong to Young was one in 3.4 billion in the United States African American population. But that DNA evidence — presented in court as a match in 2019 — suddenly became a mismatch two days before trial. Prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney's Office, the defense attorneys and the private lab that did the original testing will not say why. 'It's shameful. We have a right to know what happened,' said Pernell's daughter, Yolanda Pernell-Vogelson. Two days before the trial was set to begin, Pernell-Vogelson and her sister, Ayana Pernell, say they got a call from Michael Spence, the prosecutor in the case, who told them the initial calculations were wrong. 'To this day, [we] have not been given a full, understandable explanation as to why this has happened,' Ayana Pernell said. 'I mean, we are essentially victims also.' Court records show the private lab that did the testing, Bode Technology Group Inc., lost the evidence and it cannot be retested. The judge told the prosecution and defense that at trial, the jury would be told 'the government's labs and/or agencies negligently lost the DNA extract in this case' just before the trial was set to begin. In an April 9 filing, prosecutors noted again the DNA 'matched the defendant' 'as reported by Bode Technology' — a result prosecutors relied upon for five-and-a-half years until deciding two days before trial it was unreliable. Bode Technology group declined to comment. Young was released in April, and NBC Washington couldn't reach the attorneys who have been representing him. Pernell's daughters said they wrote letters to all lawmakers in the city. 'We extend our condolences to Mr. Pernell's family and friends, including his daughters," Washington Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Lindsey Appiah said in a statement Wednesday. "I've contacted them regarding his case, and we are investigating the matter to see if there is anything additional the District can do to be of assistance to ensure justice.'
Daily Mail
05-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Kelsey Grammer, 70, reveals he has FINALLY visited the site of his sister's brutal 1975 murder for the first time
Kelsey Grammer has revealed he visited the site of his sister's brutal murder for the first time while researching his upcoming book about the crime. In Karen: A Brother Remembers, the 70-year-old actor reflects on the profound toll the 1975 tragedy has taken on his life, including the drugs and alcohol he turned to for comfort. '[I went there] to be with her. And maybe I didn't fully know that at the time, he told The Times. 'But I discovered in the writing and in the journey of this book the idea that I had to be there and do what I wasn't able to do before, which was to hold her as she died.' In an interview with US Weekly, the versatile actor, who had lost his father in 1968, said doing so had helped assuage his feelings of guilt. 'It's been amazing,' he told the outlet. 'I don't carry the self-loathing part anymore. I don't blame myself anymore. I just miss her.' Karen was just two weeks shy of her 19th birthday when she was brutally raped and stabbed to death in Colorado by a man on a killing spree with his accomplices. Grammer, who has previously said he forgives his sister's killer, admits that the pain of losing Karen sent him spiraling into years of cocaine and alcohol addiction. Now, he's confronting that darkness head-on in hopes his story can offer solace to others. 'For a long time, the grief was so dominant that I couldn't access happiness,' he told People on Friday. 'The book helped me get to a new place with that.' Grammer opens the book by reflecting on his and Karen's turbulent childhood, shaped by their parents' 1957 divorce. As young children, they moved with their mother from St. Thomas to New Jersey, while their father stayed behind. A decade later, in 1968, their father was tragically shot and killed by a taxi driver during racial unrest — a killing later ruled the act of someone found not guilty by reason of insanity. Karen's tragic death came shortly after she relocated to Colorado Springs in 1975 to join her boyfriend following a semester in Georgia. Her last conversation with Kelsey was on June 30th, when she told him she planned to come home after the Fourth of July. When he didn't hear from her again, Kelsey contacted the police. Grammer would later learn that just hours after their final conversation, Karen had gone to the Red Lobster where she worked around 11 p.m. to wait for a friend finishing their shift. That night, Freddie Glenn and two accomplices were plotting to rob the restaurant — but when they arrived behind the building, they noticed Karen outside. Pointing a gun at her, they ordered her to come with them. 'For what?' Karen responded, according to Grammer's account of the police report. The men forced Karen into Glenn's car, leaving her there while they entered the Red Lobster. Ultimately, they abandoned the robbery, returning to the car to find Karen tied up beside Glenn. The nightmare didn't end there. The group drove Karen to one of their apartments, where they brutally raped her. Later, they took her to a secluded alley, where Glenn stabbed her 42 times, nearly severing her head. With heartbreaking detail, Grammer shares in the book that Karen, in her final moments, tried to crawl for help — a scene he recounts in an excerpt shared with People. 'In my imaginings, the man who found Karen at his doorstep was a 'good Samaritan' of sorts,' he wrote. 'I stand corrected and disappointed that that man did not attempt to help her but simply called the police after leaving her body as it vacant, staring at the sky, her legs still on the steps, her head on the ground and a clenched fist above her head with a single finger pointing — somewhere or nowhere — just pointing.' He continued, 'She had fallen backward from the trailer door after knocking for help. It was her last hope and disappointment after crawling 400 feet from the place where she had been stabbed. 'In my imaginings, the man who found Karen at his doorstep was a 'good Samaritan' of sorts,' he wrote. 'I stand corrected and disappointed that that man did not attempt to help her but simply called the police after leaving her body as it vacant, staring at the sky, her legs still on the steps, her head on the ground and a clenched fist above her head with a single finger pointing — somewhere or nowhere — just pointing' 'Bloody fingerprints mark the trail of her final moments at exactly 3'6' along the office and walls of the trailer park. She had been on her knees, crawling her way. Seeking help with her last ounce of life. 'The coroner noted that through a gaping wound in her neck, he could see all the way into Karen's lung. I had been right in saying he almost decapitated her. Freddie Glenn punched holes in my sister's body with unimaginable brutality. There were defensive wounds on her hands. What I had hoped were a final, few moments of kindness from some stranger, were nothing of the sort.' Grammer told the outlet 'Things I kind of knew anyway, but the fact that she crawled as far as she did, and staggered as much as she did in those last moments of her life, was really heartbreaking. [It was] very difficult to go through, but it felt like I had to be there. I had to walk those steps with her.' Glenn was found guilty of murdering Karen, along with several others in the area, and is now serving a life sentence behind bars. He's been denied parole four times, with his next chance coming up in 2027. 'His protestations these days are like, "Well, I don't remember raping her,"' Grammer told People. 'Bulls---.' Although Grammer has expressed forgiveness toward Glenn in the past, he makes it clear that doesn't erase accountability. 'You don't want to eat yourself to pieces because you can't forgive somebody,' he explained. 'But it's hard to forgive a person who consciously decided they wanted to murder somebody you love. This wasn't just some temperance issue with him. It was deliberate. I can give you forgiveness, but you're not going to get out of paying for it.' After Karen's murder, the tragedies continued for Grammer. In 1980, his half-brothers Billy and Stephen were killed in what's believed to have been a shark attack while scuba diving in the Virgin Islands. Billy's body was never recovered, while Stephen's was found washed ashore. In his memoir, Grammer talks about the legacy of loss in his family. 'There's a legacy of early death in my family, which is really interesting,' he wrote, per People. 'I pray to break that cycle and give my family longevity.' Grammer shared the completed book with his wife, Kayte Walsh, who was supportive throughout the process. 'She said, "I've missed you,"' he recalled to People. 'I had to step away for a while — there were hours on end when I would just be staring off. 'But she was patient and loving through it. Writing this brought back some of the joy I had lost.' More than just revisiting the tragedy, Grammer's memoir seeks to honor Karen's memory beyond her violent death. He describes his sister as a free spirit — joyful, loving, and full of life. 'I wanted to breathe life into her and welcome her into the world,' he explained. 'We were Kelsey and Karen, brother and sister.'
Daily Mail
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Kelsey Grammar reveals sister Karen's brutal final moments after rape and 42 stab wounds by spree killer
Kelsey Grammer lays bare the harrowing details of his sister's 1975 murder in his new memoir, hoping to help others facing their own journeys through grief. In Karen: A Brother Remembers, the 70-year-old actor reflects on the profound toll the tragedy has taken on his life — one already marked by loss, including the fatal shooting of his father in 1968. Karen was just two weeks shy of her 19th birthday when she was brutally raped and stabbed to death in Colorado by a man on a killing spree with his accomplices. Grammer, who has previously said he forgives his sister's killer, admits that the pain of losing Karen sent him spiraling into years of cocaine and alcohol addiction. Now, he's confronting that darkness head-on in hopes his story can offer solace to others. 'For a long time, the grief was so dominant that I couldn't access happiness,' he told People on Friday. 'The book helped me get to a new place with that.' Grammer opens the book by reflecting on his and Karen's turbulent childhood, shaped by their parents' 1957 divorce. As young children, they moved with their mother from St. Thomas to New Jersey, while their father stayed behind. A decade later, in 1968, their father was tragically shot and killed by a taxi driver during racial unrest — a killing later ruled the act of someone found not guilty by reason of insanity. Karen's tragic death came shortly after she relocated to Colorado Springs in 1975 to join her boyfriend following a semester in Georgia. Her last conversation with Kelsey was on June 30th, when she told him she planned to come home after the Fourth of July. When he didn't hear from her again, Kelsey contacted the police. Grammer would later learn that just hours after their final conversation, Karen had gone to the Red Lobster where she worked around 11 p.m. to wait for a friend finishing their shift. That night, Freddie Glenn and two accomplices were plotting to rob the restaurant — but when they arrived behind the building, they noticed Karen outside. Pointing a gun at her, they ordered her to come with them. 'For what?' Karen responded, according to Grammer's account of the police report. The men forced Karen into Glenn's car, leaving her there while they entered the Red Lobster. Ultimately, they abandoned the robbery, returning to the car to find Karen tied up beside Glenn. The nightmare didn't end there. The group drove Karen to one of their apartments, where they brutally raped her. Later, they took her to a secluded alley, where Glenn stabbed her 42 times, nearly severing her head. With heartbreaking detail, Grammer shares in the book that Karen, in her final moments, tried to crawl for help — a scene he recounts in an excerpt shared with People. 'In my imaginings, the man who found Karen at his doorstep was a 'good Samaritan' of sorts,' he wrote. 'I stand corrected and disappointed that that man did not attempt to help her but simply called the police after leaving her body as it vacant, staring at the sky, her legs still on the steps, her head on the ground and a clenched fist above her head with a single finger pointing — somewhere or nowhere — just pointing.' He continued, 'She had fallen backward from the trailer door after knocking for help. It was her last hope and disappointment after crawling 400 feet from the place where she had been stabbed. 'Bloody fingerprints mark the trail of her final moments at exactly 3'6' along the office and walls of the trailer park. She had been on her knees, crawling her way. Seeking help with her last ounce of life. 'The coroner noted that through a gaping wound in her neck, he could see all the way into Karen's lung. I had been right in saying he almost decapitated her. Freddie Glenn punched holes in my sister's body with unimaginable brutality. There were defensive wounds on her hands. What I had hoped were a final, few moments of kindness from some stranger, were nothing of the sort.' Glenn was found guilty of murdering Karen, along with several others in the area, and is now serving a life sentence behind bars. He's been denied parole four times, with his next chance coming up in 2027. 'His protestations these days are like, "Well, I don't remember raping her,"' Grammer told People. 'Bulls---.' Although Grammer has expressed forgiveness toward Glenn in the past, he makes it clear that doesn't erase accountability. 'You don't want to eat yourself to pieces because you can't forgive somebody,' he explained. 'But it's hard to forgive a person who consciously decided they wanted to murder somebody you love. This wasn't just some temperance issue with him. It was deliberate. I can give you forgiveness, but you're not going to get out of paying for it.' After Karen's murder, the tragedies continued for Grammer. In 1980, his half-brothers Billy and Stephen were killed in what's believed to have been a shark attack while scuba diving in the Virgin Islands. Billy's body was never recovered, while Stephen's was found washed ashore. In his memoir, Grammer talks about the legacy of loss in his family. 'There's a legacy of early death in my family, which is really interesting,' he wrote, per People. 'I pray to break that cycle and give my family longevity.' Grammer shared the completed book with his wife, Kayte Walsh, who was supportive throughout the process. 'She said, "I've missed you,"' he recalled to People. 'I had to step away for a while — there were hours on end when I would just be staring off. 'But she was patient and loving through it. Writing this brought back some of the joy I had lost.' More than just revisiting the tragedy, Grammer's memoir seeks to honor Karen's memory beyond her violent death. He describes his sister as a free spirit — joyful, loving, and full of life. 'I wanted to breathe life into her and welcome her into the world,' he explained. 'We were Kelsey and Karen, brother and sister.'
