A murder case is proceeding against a man accused of fatally beating a woman at their Calumet Township trailer park.
Orlando “Maniac” Burgos, 30, was charged last year in connection with the Aug. 24 death of Sheri Richardson, 54.
Since his September arrest, he spent time in prison on an unrelated Illinois parole violation, court records show. He was extradited to Lake County and held without bail, where his case resumed March 22.
He is charged with murder and robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, according to Lake Superior Court records.
Richardson told Gary Police that Burgos — whom she knew as “Maniac” — beat her in front of her trailer at the Colfax Mobile Home Park, 6060 W. 36th Ave., on the morning of Aug. 19, court records state.
Richardson’s fiance filed a missing person’s report at 7 a.m. Aug. 21, court records show. That morning, he went to her trailer and found the door open, her things in disarray and the dogs roaming unattended inside.
She had been taken to Methodist Northlake in Gary before she was transferred to Methodist Southlake’s Neuro ICU unit for brain bleeding, trauma, broken nose, records show. She was initially logged as a “Jane Doe” on Aug. 19 before she was identified Aug. 22 and police were notified.
Richardson was initially able to speak with police.
She told them she went Aug. 19 in the morning to another trailer to ask them for a ride to get a car, then walked back to her trailer. Burgos walked up to her, saying she was “always starting stuff,” the affidavit states.
He punched her in the chest, then went back to his nearby trailer and returned with a gun “wrapped in something red,” she told police, according to the probable cause affidavit. He pistol whipped her across the left side of her face, documents said.
“I should kill you, (expletive),” he said, court documents say.
Richardson called 911 around 8:20 a.m., according to court records.
She refused medical attention, but asked police to stay while she gathered her things to leave.
Later, other residents saw her collapsed on the ground and an ambulance was called, police said.
