Park Forest, IL—(ENEWSPF)— An 84-year-old woman was drifting off to sleep recently when an alleged home invader pushed her face down with one hand and wrapped the other hand around her throat. She might have been strangled had her son not heard his mother’s muffled cries for help.
Police were dispatched to a house in the 200 block of Rich Rd. on October 23 to investigate a report of a home invasion in progress. While en route, SouthCom Dispatch advised responding officers that the offenders had fled the scene in an unknown direction. Corporal Boulden and Officers Butler, Houcek, Kush and Shulman responded.
On arrival, officers spoke with a resident who stated that he was sitting in his office, located on the main floor, when he heard his elderly mother making a “muffled noise.” Believing that his mother had either fallen out of bed or was having a health related emergency, he ran up the stairs yelling, "Mom!" As he reached the top of the stairs, he turned to go into his mother’s room when he was allegedly punched in his left eye by an unknown subject, causing him to fall backwards down the stairs.
As he fell down the stairs, his head struck a picture frame causing the glass to break and cut his head in multiple spots. The subject that punched him then tried to run down the stairs to exit the residence, but the resident grabbed hold of the subject. He stated the subject began to shed the jacket he was holding onto and pushed the resident to the ground with the jacket over his head.
The resident said he does not know how many offenders were inside the house.
He related that the offender who struck him is a black male approximately 5’ 7”, 165 pounds, and 18 to 25 years of age.
Immediately after the suspects fled the residence, a doorbell rang. The resident answered the door and observed an individual, later identified as Marvin Williams (a.k.a. "Red"), 26, last known address 33 E. Rocket Circle, Park Forest, standing at the door.
The resident answered the door and Red asked him for a cigarette. The resident told Red to go away and not come back, according to the report. As the resident answered the door for Red, he noticed two motion detector lights near the south side door were not on. The resident screwed in one of the light bulbs and discovered that apparently both bulbs had been unscrewed to prevent them from working. The resident advised police that approximately 4 months prior, he had allowed Red to live at his residence and occupied the garage when Red was down on his luck. Red was asked to leave because he was allegedly caught stealing food from inside the residence. Nothing was reported taken from the residence.
Officer Schulman interviewed the resident’s 84-year-old mother. She stated that she was just about to fall asleep when an unknown subject placed his hands on the right side of her face, forcefully pushing her face to the left in order to hold her down and conceal his identity. The subject then begin to wrap his hand around her throat, strangling her, and cutting off her airway. The subject stated, "Where’s the money? Give me the f—ing money."
She related that she saw an additional offender standing at the foot of the bed crouched down. She said she was unable to lock the back door before she went to bed and thought her son would do so. She offered descriptions of the subject who was allegedly choking her and the other subject. She believed that her son startled the subjects, causing them to leave her alone.
Upon checking the home for evidence, Corporal Boulden located a brown leather jacket, a black front zipper hooded sweatshirt, a black knit hat with white writing, and a pack of Newport cigarettes lying on the ground on the staircase.
Officer Schulman requested that the Park Forest Paramedics respond to the scene.
Corporal Boulden contacted Officer Sweitzer and K-9 Aron and advised them to respond to the scene. Detective Varga was also dispatched to the home.
Officer Schulman observed several small cuts on top of the son’s head and on the right side of his face, and observed redness on the right side of the mother’s face and on her neck. Schulman also observed two picture frames that had fallen from the wall, lying on the floor in the staircase. He also observed a picture frame with broken glass, and glass on the floor in the staircase. Additionally, he observed mud footprints throughout the house, up the stairs, on the wall of the staircase, and in the mother’s bedroom.
Paramedics arrived and treated both mother and son. Both declined to be transported to the hospital for further treatment.
Shortly after 2 a.m., Officer Houcek responded to this incident and searched south of the residence on East Rocket Circle. He observed three subjects, two men and one woman, standing on the porch of a house in the 0 – 100 block of East Rocket Circle. Officers Butler and Kush also responded to the residence.
One of the men was Marvin C. Williams. When approached, Williams and the woman immediately put their hands in the air without prompting by police. When questioned, the three stated that they had just stepped onto the porch to smoke cigarettes. However, none of the three offered any reason as to why they put their hands over their heads when they saw police.
All three were immediately separated and questioned by officers. Officer Butler noted in his report that there were some discrepancies in the stories the three were telling.
So far, only Marvin Williams has been charged with home invasion in relation to this incident. The other two were released pending the results of a DNA Buccal Swab taken from one of the suspects. One of the suspects did leave a coat behind.
Source: PFPD Police reports.
