A 9-year-old boy has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly beating a 14-month-old baby to death. According to police in Cahokia, Illinois, the two boys – who are believed by authorities to possibly be related – were sharing a bedroom at the time the 9-year-old allegedly beat the baby to death. The baby, Taquan Willis, was ... read more »

After first being reported missing over two years ago, a Washington Park, Illinois, teen escaped from the home where she was allegedly being held by a man and his mother. The girl, who was 15 when she disappeared, was reported as a missing or runaway juvenile in April 2010, by St. Louis, Missouri, police. According to ... read more »

A former Illinois high school math teacher from Niles North High School has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor sex charge after encouraging two cheerleaders to play a game of strip poker with him. DuPage County prosecutors said the 30-year-old teacher, Jeffrey Tackes (of Bensenville, Illinois) admitted to sexual exploitation of a child. He was was sentenced to probation along with 250 hours of ... read more »

A 40-year-old woman from Steger,Illinois who allegedly drove over her child on Wednesday evening was booked at the Will County Adult Detention Facility today on two counts of aggravated DUI. Yvette Y. Guerrero-Silva is charged with the class two felony of aggravated DUI leading to the death of another and the class 4 felony of aggravated DUI causing injury ... read more »

The death of a 4-month-old baby girl who was apparently injured at an unlicensed day care facility has sparked an investigation by police and Illinois child welfare authorities. They are investigating allegations of abuse at the facility, according to officials. The Cook County medical examiner’s office reported that Anna Belle Chung, of Mount Prospect, Illinois, was ... read more »

  An unnamed dean at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois is being investigated for allegedly sending a student inappropriate text messages, according to Lincolnshire police Chief Peter Kinsey. The chief said that the texts have been examined by police, who then forwarded information to the Lake County state’s attorney’s office for further review. He added that there ... read more »

Parents of a kindergarten class are unhappy after their kids were locked up in jail as part of a field trip. The class at Sunnyside Elementary School in the west suburban Chicago suburb of Berkeley were supposed to be taking an “educational field trip” to the town’s public library and village hall. But what parents ... read more »

Police in Troy, Ill., went on red alert after a stranger gave a boy five bucks. A fifth-grader was waiting for the school bus on Friday morning in the southwestern Illinois town, when a man approached him, handed him a five dollar bill, and walked off. According to the Belleville News Democrat, now officers are ... read more »

A 25-year-old man from Frankfort Square, Illinois has been charged with one count of traveling to meet a minor and two counts of indecent solicitation of a child. The charges are the result of a two-month-long investigation, as reported by Will and Cook County sheriff’s police today. Bond was set for Brandon J. Bergthold at $750,000. He is ... read more »

Bail was set at $3 million today for Steven Paul Lengyel, 22, of Rogers Park, Illinois, who is charged with murder after authorities accused him of beating his father so badly on Tuesday that the 55-year-old man died after two days in the hospital. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office reported that Lengyel was booked into Cook County Jail ... read more »

Melissa Calusinski, who was convicted on November 16 for the killing of a toddler at a  day care center in Lincolnshire, Illinois, has requested a new trial, claiming that she was falsely accused. She is comparing her case to another Lake County murder conviction that has been overturned by an appellate court. On November 16th, the jury found Calusinski, 25, ... read more »

Two students at a high school in Illinois have found a way to force their fellow classmates to give more to charity — torture them with Justin Bieber. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Charlotte Runzel and Jesse Chatz at Evanston High School wanted to raise $1,000 for a nearby cafe and arts center, so they ... read more »

A teacher accused of causing a student’s eye injury by spraying him in the face with Lysol has resigned. The math and science teacher at Rolling Meadows High School in Illinois reportedly sprayed the student because he had not put his safety goggles on during a science experiment. According to police reports obtained by the ... read more »

A pair of Illinois siblings are facing domestic battery charges after police say they assaulted their mother after she threw out their beer. Lindell K. Ferguson, 18, and Brittany M. Ferguson, 20, of Fayetteville, Illinois, were arrested and taken to St. Clair County Jail after a domestic disturbance call. Police say they found their mother ... read more »

A former day care worker in Illinois has been found guilty of murdering an infant in 2009. Melissa Calusinski, from Carpentersville, Illinois, worked at a Minee Subee day care center in Lincolnshire, and after “having issues” with some of the children, she lost her temper and threw 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan to the ground. The boy ... read more »