A cable repairman was charged Thursday with the sexual assault and murder of a woman who had let him into her home to repair her Internet service, police said.
The worker, who was questioned by police days after the October slaying, was also named as a suspect in a similar strangulation last week.
That has prompted relatives of the first victim to ask why the worker, Anthony Triplett, was permitted to make house calls for Comcast while under investigation for the unsolved murder.
“I don’t understand how he was allowed to keep doing cable jobs after he was questioned regarding my sister,” said Loretta Shamley, the sister of Janice Ordidge.
Ordidge, 39, was found dead in the bathtub of her Hyde Park apartment Oct. 23.
It wasn’t until Thursday that investigators made a DNA match linking Ordidge’s murder to Triplett, police said.
That DNA match came six days after Urzula Sakowska, 23, was strangled after a cable repairman came to her home to upgrade her Comcast Internet service.
Though Triplett has not been charged with Sakowska’s killing, police have named him as a suspect.
“I don’t even feel safe enough to take out the garbage anymore,” said Latia Warren, who lives two floors above Ordidge. “If I’m alone I won’t let a serviceman into my apartment unless he works for the building and I know him.”
Triplett, 25, worked for Premier Cable Communications, which subcontracts for Comcast. He had no previous criminal record and had passed a criminal background check by Premier, according to a Comcast spokeswoman.
It was not known how long he worked for the company. Premier officials could not be reached for comment.
On Oct. 21, Triplett made a service call to Ordidge’s home, according to police.
Ordidge, who worked in surgical services at Prentice Women’s Hospital, had called Comcast because the Internet on her laptop was running slowly, said co-worker Lara Garcia-Olmos.
She remembered seeing Ordidge on the phone with Comcast, scheduling an appointment, the Friday before she was killed.
The following Saturday, she complained in a phone call to a friend that “the Comcast guy had commented on her nice body,” a source said.
Co-workers called police after she didn’t show up for work on Monday, Oct. 23, the day her badly beaten body was found.
Ordidge’s laptop computer and wallet were missing, as was her iPod, police said.
Police questioned Triplett on Oct. 25 after they discovered he may have been one of the last people to see her alive. Triplett told police Ordidge had had a quarrel with another man, whom he described in detail, according to Cmdr. Patricia Walsh.
Walsh said police determined the man never existed.
Triplett was questioned again two days later. He then provided DNA evidence and fingerprints but declined to give additional statements, police said.
Comcast alerted
Walsh said that Comcast officials were told in October that Triplett was a possible witness in the homicide investigation and had been questioned. But police did not tell Comcast he was a suspect even after his initial story proved to be a lie, police said.
“At that time, there was no probable cause to arrest him and no evidence to link him to this crime,” Walsh said.
As police waited for lab results, Triplett continued making service calls for Comcast.
Last week, Sakowska called Comcast to fix her Internet.
Sakowska had moved to Chicago from Poland four years ago with her fiance, Greg Magiera. The couple planned to marry and have children soon. Sakowska provided child care for a family.
On Dec. 8, a Comcast service worker came to Sakowska’s home in the 6100 block of South McVicker Avenue. Police have not publicly identified that worker as Triplett.
That day, Valerie Almaguer, a neighbor of Sakowska’s, said she saw a white cable van parked in front of Sakowska’s house at 10 a.m., and that it was still there at 11:45 a.m.
Almaguer said the van caused her some concern because she saw no one working on outside lines. But she didn’t think much more of it.
Sakowska’s body was found Friday night in her bathroom.
“She was one of the happiest people I know,” said Magiera, 29. “She loved children, she liked going to the zoo–she loved to live.”
Police brought Triplett back in for questioning on Tuesday.
On Wednesday night, police got a break. A man came forward and told investigators that Triplett had given him an iPod–on it was Ordidge’s name, according to a source.
Then, Thursday morning, a forensic lab reported that the DNA sample Triplett gave in October matched evidence collected from Ordidge’s apartment in the 1600 block of East 50th Street, Walsh said.
In the Ordidge case, Triplett was charged with first degree murder, aggravated criminal sexual assault and residential burglary. He is expected to appear in bond court on Friday.
Detectives are investigating to see if they can link Triplett him to any other crimes, Walsh said. He has not been charged in the Sakowska killing.
Sister critical
While praising Chicago police for arresting the alleged killer, Ordidge’s sister questioned how he was able to keep working for the cable company.
“The police told us they questioned him because he was the last one that saw her alive,” said Shamley, of Memphis. “They had been updating us. We had just been waiting on forensics.”
Nevertheless, his arrest was welcome news.
“It was a big relief, but it will never bring her back,” Shamley said. “Her life was just snuffed away. It’s just senseless. I’m glad that it’s over and we have some closure.
“We’re going to try to remember the good times we had with our sister and try to get rid of this nightmare.”
Police gave Triplett’s address as the 8300 block of South Hermitage Avenue. Neighbors said Triplett had grown up in a small single-family house on the block, but hadn’t lived there for about a year. He stopped by to mow the lawn and pick up mail.
`Average kind of guy’
“He was an average kind of guy. He was one of the ones who would be least suspected,” said neighbor Queisha Smith.
Triplett’s aunt, Jessica Triplett, said her nephew had more recently been working with an auto parts maker and was leaving the cable TV business.
“He’s a good person and never committed a crime,” she said. “They can accuse anybody. We don’t have that in our family.”
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efitzsimmons@tribune.com
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