Madeline Buckley

Madeline Buckley is a criminal justice reporter for the Chicago Tribune covering courts and the legal system. She covers courthouses across Cook County but is usually found at "26th and Cal."

Chicago police Detective Richard Zuley talks to people at Argyle Street and North Broadway on Jan. 25, 1990, in Chicago where he was working on a 1988 murder case. (George Thompson/Chicago Tribune)

Former CPD detective who spent time at Guantanamo denied coercing suspects: ‘Interrogation doesn’t work’

February 18, 2026 at 5:51 p.m.

Former Chicago police Detective Richard Zuley once spent time on a special assignment at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, but on the witness stand on Wednesday, the retired investigator took...

Hong Li Yang leaves the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago after Alvin Thomas was sentenced in a double homicide Feb. 11, 2026. Yang's husband at the time was one of the victims. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

‘Ripped away from us by a gunshot’: Man gets life sentence in Chinatown double homicide

February 11, 2026 at 4:56 p.m.

The sentencing hearing unfolded almost exactly six years after the slaying that rattled the tight-knit Chinatown community just a month before much of the world shut down at the beginning...

Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks at the Choose Chicago gathering at the Hyatt Regency Chicago on Feb. 10, 2026. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Mayor Brandon Johnson says he won’t have say in charging ICE agents after prosecutor pushback

February 10, 2026 at 5:28 p.m.

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday said he will not refer alleged cases of misconduct by federal immigration agents to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Four-year-old Josiah, with his grandmother Mariely Rivera, and great-grandfather, Carlos Rivera, visit the grave of his mother, Stephanie Gutiérrez, who was killed in 2022, at Fairview Memorial Park in Northlake, Jan. 15, 2026. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)

‘I feel like there’s no help’: Mother, family members question lack of charges in woman’s 2022 shooting death

February 10, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Stephanie Gutierrez was found fatally shot on a Chicago sidewalk in 2022, launching her family on a quest for justice in a case police consider cleared because detectives submitted it...

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said Mayor Brandon Johnson's executive order about federal immigration agents' alleged misconduct would politicize investigations.

Mayor Johnson’s ICE executive order would compromise investigations of immigration agents, state’s attorney says

February 8, 2026 at 8:27 a.m.

In a memo sent to employees on Friday, the policy chief for Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke said the city's "ICE on notice" executive order compromises potential prosecutions...

Rose pedals float in DuSable Harbor in Chicago as loved ones of Nabil “Capt. Bill” Abzal are reflected in the water following a private memorial for the charter boat captain on Sept. 6, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Man charged with murder in drowning death of Chicago charter boat captain at DuSable Harbor

February 5, 2026 at 4:30 p.m.

Cook County prosecutors have charged a man with murder in the August drowning death of a beloved Chicago charter boat captain, alleging that the man trespassed onto the DuSable Harbor...

Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson holds a news conference at City Hall on Jan. 27, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Cook County state’s attorney’s office reviewing legality of mayor’s immigration executive order

February 2, 2026 at 7:06 p.m.

The Cook County state’s attorney’s office on Monday said “a thorough analysis is being conducted” to assess the legality of a mayoral executive order that directs Chicago police to investigate...

Police officers wear T-shirts with a picture of Officer Krystal Rivera during a prayer vigil in her memory at the 6th District station on June 11, 2025, in Chicago. Rivera was fatally shot June 5 by her partner, Officer Carlos Baker,.as they responded to a call. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Illinois appeals court to review order sealing video in Krystal Rivera shooting

February 2, 2026 at 1:28 p.m.

An Illinois appeals court may soon decide whether to undo a controversial order by a Cook County judge that kept video footage and other records sealed related to the slaying...

An image from police body camera shows federal agent Adam Saracco speaking with Brookfield police before he was charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly battering a man who tried to take video of him while the agent pumped gas on Dec. 27, 2025. The alleged victim has publicly claimed he was thrown to the ground in the exchange. (Brookfield Police Department)

‘I tried to grab his phone’: Body camera footage sheds light on immigration agent’s gas station confrontation with protester

January 30, 2026 at 8:09 p.m.

An immigration agent facing criminal charges in Cook County told Brookfield police officers that he tried to grab the phone of an individual who was filming him at a gas...

An electronic monitoring device is placed on a detainee before he is released inside the electronic monitoring discharge facility at Cook County Jail in Chicago on April 12, 2018. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

Cook County chief judge makes electronic monitoring changes

January 29, 2026 at 3:53 p.m.

The Cook County chief judge’s office has toughened protocols around its electronic monitoring program, making changes in the wake of high-profile incidents and as the office’s monitored population swells.

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