Police are investigating the beating of an elderly couple in their Roseland home over the weekend that has left them hospitalized in critical condition, authorities said Sunday.
Hasting Outlaw, 79, and Amatine Outlaw, 80, of the 10400 block of South Prairie Avenue were in stable condition with severe head injuries in the University of Chicago Hospitals Sunday, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Hasting Outlaw had to have emergency brain surgery, and Amatine Outlaw had additional abdominal trauma, the spokeswoman said.
A nephew found the couple in their bed around 11 a.m. Saturday, said Officer Thomas Donegan, a police spokesman.
“The father was beat in the face, it was like a balloon. The mother was all bruised up,” said Desie Jenkins, 73, who lives next door to the Outlaws. Neighbors said the Outlaws have lived with their son in the neighborhood for more than 30 years. Hasting Outlaw is retired from the U.S. Steel mill in Chicago, said Louis Jenkins. His health was failing and he had had two broken hips before, he said.
“They pretty much stayed in the house there, they didn’t go out much,” he said.
Desie Jenkins said she rarely had trouble getting Amatine Outlaw to come outside if she was making a trip to the grocery store.
“She loves to go to the store like I do,” she said. The Outlaws’ son, Darren, 33, a security guard, is the only one who drives, Louis Jenkins said. Police said they had no one in custody but are questioning several people and plan to interview the Outlaws when they are well enough to speak.
