Sheriff: Man Killed Pregnant Woman; Didn't Want To Be Dad
UPDATED 04/29/11 11:28 a.m.
MARKHAM, Ill. (CBS/WBBM) -- A pregnant teen from Alsip was murdered by the slain unborn baby's father and his longtime girlfriend, authorities said Friday.
Authorities said the motive was that the killer didn't want to father the baby.
Bond was denied for Minkens and set at $3 million for Thomas.
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Outside the courthouse Friday morning, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart called the murders both cold and calculated.
"I don't know how to describe it other than tragedy in its worst way. Here you have a mother-to-be – someone who is due to give birth within a week, her first child," Dart said. "Her mother and her have been preparing for the arrival, and instead, the father of the child conspired with his girlfriend to kill her."
Prosecutors said on Saturday, Minkens took Newman to dinner while Thomas hid in the front of the car. After the dinner, as Minkens drove Newman home, he allegedly played a song--"I Hate You" by the Sick Puppies--over and over again in the car.
"I hate you when you're gone; I hate you, turn me on; I hate the way I need you when I don't know where you are. I love it even more when I find you on the floor. I know you think you hate me but I will always hate you more," the song's lyrics go.
The sheriff said when the plan was when the song stopped, Thomas would pop out of the trunk and strangle Newman with a cell phone charger cord
Newman's family reported her missing after she failed to return home, Cook County Sheriff's office spokesman Steve Patterson said. But her body was found Sunday morning by a man walking his dog in a forest preserve near Calumet City.
Dart said Newman had been beaten and strangled with a cell phone cord, both inside the car and at the forest preserve.
"The victim valiantly fought; tried very hard to survive. She struggled. The cord broke," Dart said. "They then beat her. They kept her locked in the car; strangled her some more until she was unconscious."
Dart said Minkens' motive in killing Newman was that he didn't want to father the baby.
