Man Charged With Killing Calumet City Teen, Dumping Body In Hammond
CALUMET CITY, Ill. (CBS) -- A 27-year-old man has been charged with murder, for allegedly killing a teenage girl and leaving her body in a Dumpster in Hammond, Ind.
Jessica Tetter, 16, vanished from her Calumet City home on Wednesday. Thursday morning, Hammond police found her body found her body in a Dumpster at 5945 Hyslop St.
An autopsy by the Lake County (Ind.) Coroner's Office determined she died of trauma to the head and body.
On Sunday, Calumet City police said they had charged 27-year-old John Hurt with first-degree murder and concealment of a homicide in Tetter's death.
Assistant Police Chief Dante Zorzi said Hurt was the onetime boyfriend of Tetter's mother.
Hurt allegedly killed Tetter in her Calumet City home by beating and strangling her, before taking her body to Hammond, according to Zorzi.
Hurt was scheduled to appear in bond court in Markham on Sunday, but court information was not immediately available.
CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports about 200 people gathered at Thornton Fractional North High School in Calumet City on Saturday for a vigil in Tetter's memory. Friends and classmates called her a "petite powerhouse," because she loved sports and life.
Track coach Moses Hulbert said, "I believe that Jessica now is an angel above in heaven, smiling on us."
The track was a fitting place to honor Tetter.
Her friend, Kathryne Sneed, said, "She's funny … She took boxing for six years, and she was on the track team. So she would use that to her advantage, and people thought that was so funny, because she was so small."
Neighbor Elton Cross said she was a "Nice looking young lady, stayed to herself, and in school, doing what she needed to do. It shouldn't have happened. It really shouldn't have happened."
"It's just sad to see something like this happen so close to somebody you're used to seeing daily in and out the building," Neighbor Lanesha Sibley said. "It's just hurtful for a mother to have to go through something like this."
