Man accused of setting "Walking Man" on fire denied bail; prosecutors say victim not expected to survive

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Melrose Park man accused of setting a homeless man known as "The Walking Man" on fire was ordered held without bail on Monday, as Cook County prosecutors said he is not expected to survive.

Joseph Guardia, 27, is charged with aggravated arson and attempted murder in the attack in the early morning hours of last Wednesday on Lower Wabash Avenue near Trump Tower.

"It takes a special kind of evil to do what the defendant did," Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Danny Hanichak said at Guardia's bond hearing Monday afternoon.

Hanichak said 75-year-old Joseph Kromelis was sleeping on the apron of a parking garage on the 400 block of North Wabash Avenue around 3 a.m. last Wednesday, when Guardia walked past him, holding a cup of gasoline in his hand. 

After first walking past Kromelis to the intersection of Kinzie Street and Wabash Avenue, Hanichak said Guardi then walked back to where Kromelis was sleeping, poured the gasoline on his head, and lit him on fire.

The flames quickly spread to Kromelis' entire upper body, and he was on fire for approximately three minutes before a security officer from a nearby building was able to get a fire extinguisher to put out the flames, according to Hanichak.

"One can only imagine the suffering the victim experienced," Hanichak said.

Kromelis was first taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and later transferred to Stroger Hospital of Cook County, where he remains under sedation as of Monday afternoon, according to Hanichak. Doctors have said his injuries are so severe that he is not expected to survive.

"But for a miracle, this will soon be a first-degree murder case," Hanichak said.

Known for his signature long hair, and mustache, and often seen wearing a sport coat, Kromelis is affectionately called "The Walking Man" by Chicagoans who have seen him frequently roaming the city's streets for decades. Some say he reminds them of George Harrison, others Yanni.

Hanichak said the attack on Kromelis was caught on surveillance video, and Guardia was seen fleeing the scene after the attack, and later boarding Blue Line train, which he rode to O'Hare International Airport, before riding to the other end of the line in Forest Park, where he boarded a Pace bus to Melrose Park.

The day after the attack, after police released a bulletin about the attack with pictures of Guardia, a Melrose Park police officer who had known Guardia since they were children recognized Guardia, and called Chicago police to tell them who he was. The same officer also works as a security guard at a Melrose Park plasma center, and had seen Guardia there before seeing the bulletin.

Security camera footage showed Guardia at the plasma center the day after the attack, wearing the same clothing as when he set Kromelis on fire. Footage also showed him at the plasma center three days before the crime, also wearing the same clothes, Hanichak said.

Two days after the attack on Kromelis, another person in Melrose Park spotted Guardia and recognized him from the bulletin, and called 911. Guardia was later arrested while wearing the same clothes he wore at the time of the attack.

Hanichak said, when Guardia was questioned by police, he identified himself on the surveillance footage of the attack, and said he found the cup of gasoline and decided he was going to set something on fire, because he is an "angry person," but denied knowing Kromelis was sleeping under the blanket when he poured the gasoline and lit it on fire.

However, Hanichak said that claim was "outrageous and a lie," adding that Kromelis' head and legs were clearly visible sticking out from under the blanket he had covered himself with as he slept that night.

"This defendant decided to target the most vulnerable person possible, a 75-year-old homeless man sleeping on the street," Hanichak said.

In ordering Guardia held without bail, a Cook County judge called the attack "exceptionally brutal and heinous," adding Guardia showed a "cold disregard for the sanctity of human life."

At the time of the attack, Guardia had two outstanding arrest warrants on burglary and identity theft charges out of Maywood.

Guardia also has two prior felony convictions; one for retail theft in 2018, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison; and one for robbery in 2016, for which he was sentenced to six months in jail. He also has seven prior misdemeanor convictions, for disorderly conduct, resisting police, trespassing, reckless conduct, and battery. Prosecutors said he's failed to appear in court as required seven times before.

Guardia is due back in court on June 6 at the Skokie Courthouse.

This wasn't the first time Kromelis was targeted in an attack. In 2016, he was beaten and hit with a baseball bat on Lower Wacker Drive. He was hospitalized, but refused to press felony charges against the attacker police identified.