The Champaign County Sherriff’s Office has been working to solve the murder of Holly Marie Cassano, ever since the 22-year-old woman was stabbed to death in her home near Mahomet in November of 2009. On Friday, investigators received a lead on the unresolved case through the help of a genetic genealogy company which then led to the arrest of Michael F.A. Henslick, 30, on Tuesday evening.
Community and law enforcement leaders in Champaign-Urbana hope they’ve successfully appealed to 11 more young people to turn their lives around. The CU Fresh Start Program held its second quarterly "Call-In" Thursday night, with hopes of deterring gun violence. The panel of those with a history of gun-related behaviors came face to face with family members of gun violence victims, like community leader Seon Willams. "When you act in an inhumane way, the suffering is just beginning," he said.
Urbana’s Republican candidate for mayor says he made an honest mistake when he cast a ballot in this week’s Democratic Mayoral primary. Rex Bradfield says he thought signing the form provided by election judges on Tuesday only confirmed his identity, and not that he was affiliated with the Democratic Party. "It never occurred to me that I was putting myself in a position of perjuring myself," he said.
Authorities say a Champaign woman whose remains were found in Clinton Lake last April had been using cocaine days before. Prosecutors revealed the results of an autopsy on the body of Ashley Gibson Monday in Champaign County Circuit Court, where Davion Hedrick, 27, of Champaign pleaded guilty to a count of dismembering a human body.
Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz and opponent and Assistant Public Defender George Vargas found little to agree on during a candidates' forum Thursday. He alleged "incompetence" on the part of her office, referencing the weekend shootings near the University of Illinois, and why suspect Robbie Patton was allowed to spend time in a Corrections boot camp, and was not imprisoned for a prior incident.
