(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A tenant renting a room at a Northwest Side home killed her landlord and dismembered her body before storing several of the landlord’s body parts in a freezer, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.
Frances Walker’s head, arms and legs were discovered in a kitchen freezer during a police search, but the 63-year-old’s torso is still missing, Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord Rodgers said in court.
Sandra Kolalou, who prosecutors said Walker was moving to evict from her home, faces counts of murder, concealment of a homicidal death and aggravated battery with a weapon in connection with the killing and a bizarre series of alleged events that led to her arrest.
An assistant public defender for Kolalou called the prosecutor’s case “largely circumstantial” and said Kolalou, who works in marketing, “maintains her innocence.”
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Kolalou, 36, was renting a room on the first floor of the single-family home in the 5900 block of North Washtenaw Avenue, where Walker also lived, prosecutors said.
Other tenants rented rooms on the home’s second floor and basement, but each level had its own shared bathrooms and kitchens.
Due to complaints from other tenants regarding Kolalou’s behavior while living at the home, Walker had recently changed several locks and this week posted an eviction notice on Kolalou’s door, prosecutors said.
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Early Monday, tenants in the building said they heard Kolalou and Walker arguing and moving around on the first floor, as well as the sound of a plate smashing — and then they stopped hearing Walker’s voice, prosecutors said.
Throughout the early morning hours, the other tenants reported hearing a person pacing on the first floor and what sounded like furniture being moved.
But around 6 a.m., they were alarmed by a series of “extremely unusual” text messages sent from Walker’s phone, including a message saying that Kolalou would be taking care of Walker’s dog and to give Kolalou their keys if they moved out, prosecutors said.
The other tenants were concerned enough to call police and report Walker missing, prosecutors said.
Police responded at the home, but left after talking to Kolalou, prosecutors said. Officers then were called back to the home about 5:40 p.m. when a second tenant reported Walker missing, prosecutors said.
At that time, the officer knocked on windows on the first floor but got no response, according to prosecutors, who said Kolalou called for a tow truck driver to pick her up from the home and take her to her car — which was parked at Foster Beach — about the same time.
Officers stopped Kolalou when she left the house with a large, black garbage bag and allowed them to search her bedroom, prosecutors said. During that time, a witness allegedly looked inside the garbage bag and found papers and several smaller, white garbage bags inside.
A tenant warned the tow truck driver to be careful and remained in communication with the driver at the beach, where the driver saw Kolalou take the black garbage bag to a trash can, prosecutors said.
Several people from the home then drove to the beach and waited for the tow driver to leave with Kolalou for a mechanic’s shop, prosecutors said. Inside the trash can, they allegedly saw multiple white garbage bags.
Officers arrived to remove the bags from the trash and allegedly saw pooled blood and bloody rags inside.
Officers next went to the mechanic shop, where they spoke to and released Kolalou again, prosecutors said. Due to the police involvement, the mechanic refused to work on her vehicle, and the tow truck driver took Kolalou and the car to the area of Western and Estes avenues, where she paid him with Walker’s credit card, prosecutors said.
When Kolalou asked to be driven to another location, he declined and said she pulled out a knife and began to threaten him with it, prosecutors said. The driver yelled for police, who were in the area, and they responded and took her into custody and recovered a black garbage bag from the rear of the truck, prosecutors said.
After getting a search warrant, police found Walker’s remains, as well as blood throughout the home, including two knives, though tests to determine whether it was Walker’s blood were still pending Thursday, prosecutors said.
Kolalou was expected back in court Oct. 31.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire & Chicago Sun-Times 2022. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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