The two slaying suspects, ages 7 and 8, sat patiently at the defense table, legs dangling above the floor Monday, as prosecutors accused them of fatally bludgeoning an 11-year-old girl to death last month in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.
Despite often-gruesome testimony, the boys, who are now among Chicago’s youngest-ever slaying suspects, seemed mostly oblivious.
The 7-year-old, with a pout on his face and his black hair braided neatly in cornrows ending in blue beads, sat hunched over a yellow legal pad, using a red pen to sketch a house with a smoking chimney below a sky filled with heart-shaped clouds.
“Am I going to jail?” he whispered to Cathy Ferguson, one of his attorneys. In response, she handed him another sheet of drawing paper.
In an adjacent chair sat the 8-year-old, a wide-eyed boy with close-cropped black hair and wearing a red polo shirt and green shorts with a red stripe running down each leg. He played with a package of Skittles candy and smiled at family members, including his parents and grandparents who were seated in the front row of the packed courtroom of Juvenile Court Judge Gerald Winiecki.
The judge referred to the suspects several times as Mister, but they were small even by Juvenile Court standards. At one point, the 8-year-old’s lawyer, Andre Grant, hoisted him up to stand on his chair so a witness could see the boy.
Earlier in the courtroom, Chicago homicide detective Allen Nathaniel had recounted what police believe were the final moments in the life of Ryan Harris. Her body was discovered, nude from the waist down, where it had been dragged into some weeds–
allegedly by the two boys–behind a building at 6636 S. Parnell Ave.
The girl, Nathaniel alleged, had suffered a skull fracture after being hit in the head with a rock by the younger of the boys as she was riding her bicycle. Ryan, he said, died of asphyxiation after her underpants were shoved into her mouth and leaves and grass were jammed into her nostrils.
After allegedly leaving the body behind, the 7-year-old reportedly told police he went to his grandmother’s house to play with a new puppy. The 8-year-old said he went home to watch cartoons, Nathaniel said.
The motive may have been to take the girl’s blue Road Warrior bicycle, a well-kept bike Ryan had had for 18 months. The boys reportedly told police they put the bike in weeds near the body, but it was gone by the time the girl’s body was found.
The boys are both named in juvenile delinquency petitions alleging they murdered Ryan, who was last seen on July 27 riding bicycles with the 8-year-old near Robeson High School, 6835 S. Normal Blvd.
The most visible reaction came when, after two hours of testimony and legal argument, Winiecki ruled there was sufficient evidence to hold the boys in custody.
There were a few whispered words from his lawyers, then the 7-year-old bowed his head and burst into tears, sobbing, his attempts at speech unintelligible.
In the next chair, the 8-year-old lifted the unopened candy package to his mouth to gnaw at the corner but showed no emotion.
Details of the girl’s death and how the two boys came to be arrested emerged in a police briefing Monday in Wentworth Area headquarters, 5101 S. Wentworth Ave., and later, in Winiecki’s courtroom. Yet almost as many questions remained as were answered.
Police believe the slaying was not premeditated. Wentworth homicide Sgt. Stanley Zaborac said the girl was hit by a blunt object, possibly a rock, that the 7-year-old held in his hand. But Nathaniel testified that the 7-year-old admitted throwing a rock that hit Ryan in the head.
Although medical evidence indicated the victim was molested sexually with a foreign object, neither boy was charged with a sex crime.
Grant, attorney for the 8-year-old, contended that he did not believe authorities had presented sufficient evidence.
“Where’s the criminal intent to kill somebody?,” Grant declared. “There is nothing to show intent. There is no evidence. None. Zero. It’s frightening.”
Gesturing toward the 8-year-old, Grant continued, “Why is that boy sitting in that chair? It’s reckless and irresponsible for the state to even bring (the case).”
Following the hearing, Assistant Cook County State’s Atty. Michael Oppenheimer and Michele Simmons declined to elaborate on their case, noting only Winiecki’s ruling that sufficient evidence had been presented to continue the prosecution.
Oppenheimer, asked to describe the oddness of prosecuting boys so young, replied, “It’s a tragedy when you have an 11-year-old murdered. It’s unfortunate when you have a 7- and 8-year-old charged.”
At the police briefing, Zaborac declared, “We are certain we have the right individuals.”
“They gave statements that led us to believe they are the offenders,” he added. “In their statements, there are elements of this case that would only be known to the detectives or the perpetrators.”
The court hearing recessed until Tuesday morning, when Winiecki is to hear arguments about whether the boys should be released to the custody of their families and relatives or be kept in some sort of protective custody.
Grant and Elizabeth Tarzia, another attorney for the 7-year-old, told Winiecki that the pair were good students who had no record of behavioral problems in school. The 8-year-old, Grant said, was on the honor roll in his 2nd-grade class.
Police said that after the girl’s body was found, every detective assigned to the Wentworth station was dispatched to conduct a canvass of homes in Englewood. One of the boys initially provided information suggesting that the girl had gotten into the car of an older man and even gave a description of the automobile, Zaborac said.
When that aspect of the investigation yielded nothing, Zaborac said, police returned to question both boys, who then said a teenage boy had led them to the body about two hours before police came to the scene. Police determined the second scenario also was untrue and brought the pair in Sunday night for questioning as witnesses.
During that questioning, each boy, in a room with two youth officers and three detectives, made statements of admission, Nathaniel said during the hearing.
The 7-year-old, Nathaniel testified, said “himself and (the 8-year-old) were playing . . . pitching rocks back and forth. (The 7-year-old) hit Ryan in the back of the head with a rock.”
The girl fell from her bicycle, according to the 7-year-old’s statement, and the two boys each grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the weeds, Nathaniel said. “Then they began playing with her, very softly, rubbing leaves and foliage over her body.”
Nathaniel quoted the 7-year-old as saying the pair removed the girl’s shorts and underpants and continued “rubbing on her very softly” and then began rubbing leaves around her eyes, mouth and nose.
The 8-year-old’s statement consisted only of his admission that the younger boy hit the girl with a rock and then was “playing with her body,” Nathaniel said. The 8-year-old “said he got on his bike and rode off to go home to watch cartoons.”
In cross-examination, Grant asked, “(The 8-year-old) never told you he tried to kill somebody, did he?”
“That’s correct,” Nathaniel replied.
On Monday morning, Sabrina Harris, the victim’s mother, appeared in Juvenile Court in hope of seeing the two boys. She expressed doubt that such small boys could have overpowered her daughter.
“She had two sisters, one 7 and one 8, and she could run circles around them,” Harris said. “She was a tomboy, she was strong.”
In the Englewood neighborhood, where the 8-year-old lives and the 7-year-old was staying with his grandmother, some residents were skeptical that the boys could have committed such a horrible crime.
“They came over to my yard and played with my grandkids,” said Shirley Blanton, 54, who has lived in the area 12 years. “They were real friendly, playful kids. All of this is not possible.”
