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Police find St. Clair County Jail inmate in Dallas; other inmate charged with aiding his escape

News-Democrat

Police have found a St. Clair County Jail inmate who was mistakenly released in Texas on Wednesday.

St. Clair County Sheriff Mearl Justus said at about 5 p.m. Wednesday that the Dallas Police Department have in custody Elijah Muhammad, a 60-year-old St. Louis man who was mistakenly released Monday after he donned another inmate's shirt and posted bond using the man's name.

Muhammad was taken into custody after a traffic stop in Dallas, Justus said.

Elijah Muhammad - Provided/BND

Darrlyn K. Byrd

Metro-east police search for St. Clair County Jail inmate who was released by mistake

Elijah Muhammad
D.O.B. 08/17/1949
6 Feet 0 inches
220 Pounds
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Gray

Charge: Home Invasion / Aggravated Battery

News-Democrat

Police are searching for a St. Clair County Jail detainee who posed as another inmate, and was released by mistake.

"We released the wrong guy," Jail Superintendent Maj. Phillip McLaurin said. "This was a mistake made by an individual officer and we did not classify it as an escape."

McLaurin said the jail mistakenly released 60-year-old Elijah Muhammad, who was last seen wearing a dark blue V-neck short-sleeved jersey with the words "Curt Smith" on the front. Muhammad is a black man with a medium build, about 6-feet-tall and 220 pounds.

Police look for three men accused in home invasion near Cahokia

News-Democrat

Police are looking for three armed men who were involved in a home invasion in unincorporated Cahokia last week.

According to the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department police report, three armed men broke into an apartment at 2900 Camp Jackson Road around 1:30 a.m. Aug. 15 and demanded money from the two women who were there.

The two women were sleeping on the couch in the living room of the apartment when three men wearing ski masks broke into the apartment. The women's four children -- ages 2, 4, 6, and 9 -- were sleeping on the floor in the living room when the three men broke in, according to the police report.

Teen arrested for fight outside St. Clair County jail

News-Democrat

If the police can't get to you to help stop a fight, take the fight to the police.

 

Donnie Helms, 18, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor resisting arrest after he and two other individuals showed up at the St. Clair County Jail in Belleville around 2 p.m. Monday while engaged in a fistfight. An address for Helms was not given.

 

Lt. Kurt Eversman and a member of the St. Clair County Drug Tactical Unit were in the St. Clair County Jail when they heard a woman outside the building screaming for help, according to Capt. Steve Johnson, chief investigator for the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department.

 

When the two officers got outside, they saw Helms hanging from the outside window of a white Dodge pickup and struggling with another man inside the truck. The woman was outside the truck screaming for help and the man inside the pickup was bleeding.

 

Eversman and the second officer were able to separate Helms and the other man, who said he had been punched in the face by Helms. When officers told Helms to place his hand on the truck, he refused and appeared to be ready to punch Eversman, according to the report. The officers took Helms to the ground in an attempt to subdue him as he continued flailing and fighting with officers. The two officers were able to subdue him and take him into custody.

 

According to the three individuals, all of them were riding in the truck when they drove by the St. Clair County Courthouse and the fight erupted within the truck. The driver of the truck, whose name was not released because he was not charged with a crime, drove from the courthouse to the St. Clair County Jail while Helms beat him inside the truck.

 

The victim declined to press any charges against Helms, and Helms was seen by medical staff at the county jail for a bloody nose.

 

Helms' bail was set at $2,500. He posted bond Wednesday and was released from the St. Clair County Jail.

 

© 2007 Belleville News-Democrat and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.belleville.com

Does serial killer hold key to 23-year-old murder mystery in Summerfield?

Body was found near Summerfield

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - and Beth Hundsdorfer

Her final resting place is not a grave in Palo Alto, Calif., where she grew up, nor a cemetery in Summerfield, where her strangled and mutilated body was found in a cornfield almost 23 years ago.

The remains of 27-year-old Eulalia Mylia Chavez, or "Lolly" as her friends knew her, are not actually buried. Instead, they are stored in archival box 07-14 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where her skeleton is kept for anthropological study. No one was ever charged with her murder.

But Chavez, who was found on Sept. 6, 1986, but not identified until an FBI fingerprint match in January 2008, has not been forgotten.

Mother charged in heat-related death of 1-year-old

News-Democrat

A 22-year-old Collinsville woman was charged today in the heat-related death Wednesday of her 1-year-old daughter.

Jennifer Gomez, who also goes by the surname Carballo, of 119 Rear Wing Ave., was charged with one felony count of endangering the life or health of a child, a class 3 felony. St. Clair County Circuit Judge Jan Fiss set Gomez' bail at $75,000. She is expected to be arraigned Saturday.

The charge filed by the St. Clair County State's Attorney Friday alleges Gomez "willfully caused the life of Giselle Gomez ... to be endangered ... in that the defendent left Giselle Gomez ... unattended in a motor vehicle for more than 10 minutes, while the temperature outside the vehicle was in excess of 85 degrees, thereby proximately causing the death of Giselle Gomez."

Jennifer Gomez, Giselle Gomez - Provided/BND

Mother charged with Endangering the life or health of a child

The St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office has charged today the below person with ENDANGERING THE LIFE OR HEALTH OF A CHILD, a class 3 criminal felony.  St. Clair County Judge Jan Fiss issued a $75,000.00 bond on the below individual.  The below individual is the mother of the deceased victim.

The mother is currently in custody at the St. Clair County Jail and will possibly be arraigned tomorrow.

All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.  Because of the sensitive nature of this investigation please forward any further questions to the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Capt. Steve Johnson

Chief Investigator

Major Case identifies East St. Louis shooting victim as Missouri man, 17

News-Democrat

Police have identified the body of a shooting victim found Tuesday night in East St. Louis as a 17-year-old Missouri man, and are asking the public's help as they pursue leads and suspects.

Alexander McKinnies was found about 8 p.m. Tuesday near the corner of Trendley Avenue and 4th Street in East St. Louis.

An autopsy Wednesday showed McKinnies died of a gunshot wound, said St. Clair County Sheriff's Department Master Sgt. George Mokriakow, a supervisor with the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis. Mokriakow declined to discuss the location of the gunshot wound or whether McKinnies suffered more than one gunshot wound. East St. Louis Police Chief Lenzie Stewart has said McKinnies was shot multiple times.

East St. Louis man charged for gun, shoving deputy, trying to flee

News-Democrat

An East St. Louis man with a prior conviction was charged Monday with felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon after he tried to run away from deputies during a traffic stop, and police later found a revolver in his car.

St. Clair County Sheriff's Department Deputy Dan Hill stopped Jarod W. Van, 28, of East St. Louis at about 7:13 a.m. Sunday for disobeying a stop sign at the intersection of 25th Street and Louisiana Boulevard in East St. Louis, Sgt. William Kenny stated in a news release.

Police said Van, of 2013 N. 44th St., exited his Mercury Sable, shoved the deputy and ran away.

Hill chased Van through an alley to the 400 block of 25th Street, and was able to take Van into custody. Hill was not injured.

Deputies searched Van's vehicle and found a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver between the driver and passenger seats.

Van has a previous felony conviction for unlawful possession of a controlled substance. He is being held in the county jail in lieu of $40,000 bail.

St. Clair County man accused of drunken lawnmower driving

 

News-Democrat

Although his driver's license had already been revoked due to a driving under the influence conviction, a St. Clair County man drove up to the local gas station to buy more beer any way, police said.

On his yellow 2007 Cub Cadet lawnmower.

Dennis D. Cretton, 49, of 29 Dianne Drive near Belleville, was arrested and charged with felony aggravated driving under the influence after neighbors reported he was driving the lawnmower down Dianne Drive about 9 p.m. Friday. St. Clair County Sheriff's deputies had received several complaints in the past about Cretton driving his mower while drunk but were never able to catch him driving it.