North Burb Woman Charged In Fatal Hijacking, Kidnapping
GLENVIEW (STMW)-- Police say an 18-year-old north suburban woman was criminally involved in a March 30 hijacking that ended in the death of a man when the vehicle he took at knifepoint from an acquaintance in Glenview crashed into a restaurant wall in Morton Grove.
Crystal Perez, 18, of 87 Park Drive, was charged Wednesday with one count of aggravated kidnapping and one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking. Perez was to remain in police custody until a Thursday bond hearing.
The incident began early March 30 when 20-year-old Christopher Walsh threatened a Glenview man he and Perez knew with a knife, tied him up and forced him into his car near Glenview and Shermer roads, police said.
Walsh and Perez dropped off the victim in Evanston around 1:30 a.m. He alerted Evanston police, who dispatched a radio message to area police departments.
A Skokie officer spotted the vehicle near that village's border with Morton Grove.
When Walsh realized this, he sped away and presumably lost control of the vehicle after it clipped a parked car at Lincoln and Marmora streets.
Walsh was pronounced dead after being transported to the hospital. Perez, who was also injured, was transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The victim did not require medical attention for a minor cut. Police said Wednesday that evidence was recovered that implicated Perez in the hijacking and kidnapping.
