A Cicero man will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing a 46-year-old woman and her 8-year-old granddaughter nearly 19 years ago in Cicero.
Cook County Judge Thomas Tucker sentenced William Dukes, 44, to life on Monday in a brief, unemotional hearing at the Maywood courthouse. He had been convicted by a jury in December of the murders of Marilyn Williams and her granddaughter, Bridget Cannady.
“It’s a long time to get to this point,” said Jamie Ocampo, of Chicago, the son of Marilyn Williams. “At least it’s done.”
During the trial, Lucy Rhynes, the mother of Cannady and daughter of Williams, testified about how she and Dukes had a brief relationship during summer 1993. Dukes wanted to keep seeing her, but she refused and went on to marry another man.
On Aug. 28, 1993, Rhynes dropped her daughter and 2-year-old son, Dustin, at her mother’s for baby-sitting while she worked overnight. When she returned the next morning, she found the bodies of her mother and daughter in the tub. Bridget had also been raped. Dustin was unharmed.
Rhynes, who now lives downstate, did not attend Monday’s sentencing. Ocampo said his sister did not want to have to see Dukes again.
But she did write a victim impact statement. In it she called Dukes the “devil in disguise” and described the horror of the crime and how much she misses her mother and daughter. She also noted how her son’s life was affected because he grew up remembering his sister’s last cries for help as she was being assaulted and strangled. Williams was beaten and suffocated.
During the trial, DNA evidence linked Dukes to the crime scene, along with the testimony of an accomplice, Marko Tomazovich.
Tomazovich was arrested in 1998 and later pleaded guilty to home invasion. He is awaiting sentencing.
But Dukes was not arrested until 2004. While awaiting trial, he was also convicted on drug charges and sentenced to 15 years in prison for activities reported by an undercover police officer investigating the murders.
