CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The trial of a former Northwestern University professor accused in a grisly murder in a River North apartment in 2017 is expected to start today.
Jury selection and opening statements are expected to begin in the trial of 47-year-old Wyndham Lathem, a renowned Northwestern University microbiologist who is accused of murdering his boyfriend.
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
Prosecutors said the plot was part of a violent sexual fantasy that was supposed to end with the two men killing each other.
The body of 26-year-old Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau was found inside Lathem's apartment in 2017. Prosecutors said he was stabbed nearly 70 times by Lathem and former Oxford University financial officer Andrew Warren.
Cook County prosecutors previously said Lathem and Warren hatched the plan as part of a violent sexual fantasy that was supposed to end with the two men killing each other, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Both were the subject of a nationwide manhunt that ended when they were arrested in the San Francisco Bay area.
Warren, who pleaded guilty in 2019 and was sentenced to 45 years in prison, is expected to testify against Lathem, according to the Sun-Times.
Known for his research on the bubonic plague, Lathem had previously been granted “select agent” clearance by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Sun-Times has reported.
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