Renters at a Northwest Side home repeatedly reached out to police when they became concerned about the wellbeing of their landlord following an argument the building’s owner had with a fellow tenant she was moving to evict, Cook County prosecutors said in court Thursday.
Officers searching the home later made a gruesome discovery when they found 69-year-old Frances Walker’s severed head, arms and legs stuffed into a kitchen freezer, prosecutors said.
More chilling, Walker’s remains weren’t complete; her torso was missing and still hasn’t been found, Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord Rodgers said.
Sandra Kolalou, 36, who prosecutors said was renting a first-floor room at Walker’s single-family home in 5900 block of North Washtenaw Avenue, faces counts of murder, concealment of a homicidal death and aggravated battery with a weapon in connection with the killing and a bizarre series of alleged events that led to her arrest.
An assistant public defender for Kolalou called the prosecutor’s case “largely circumstantial” and said Kolalou, who works in marketing, “maintains her innocence.”
Prosecutors said the tenants’ repeated calls to police led police to have multiple interactions with Kolalou throughout the day.
The tenants were apparently so suspicious of Kolalou, they also later trailed her and identified trash bags of bloody rags they said she placed in a waste container at Foster Beach, prosecutors said.
The other tenants rented rooms on the home’s second floor and basement, but each level had its own shared bathrooms and kitchens.
Due to complaints from other tenants regarding Kolalou’s behavior while living at the home, Walker had recently changed several locks and this week posted an eviction notice on Kolalou’s bedroom door, prosecutors said.
Early Monday, tenants in the building said they heard Kolalou and Walker arguing on the first floor where they both lived, as well as the sound of a dish smashing — and then they stopped hearing Walker’s voice, prosecutors said.
Throughout the early morning hours, the other tenants reported hearing a person pacing on the first floor and what sounded like furniture being moved.
But around 6 a.m., they were alarmed by a series of text messages sent from Walker’s phone, including a message saying that Kolalou would be taking care of Walker’s dog and to give Kolalou their keys if they moved out, prosecutors said.
Given that Walker appeared to be evicting Kolalou, the tenants found those messages “extremely unusual,” prosecutors said.
One tenant was concerned enough to call police and report Walker missing around noon, prosecutors said.
Police responded at the home but left after talking to Kolalou, prosecutors said. Officers then were called back to the home about 5:40 p.m. when a second tenant reported Walker missing, prosecutors said.
At that time, the officers knocked on first-floor windows but got no response, according to prosecutors, who said Kolalou called for a tow truck driver to pick her up from the home and take her to her car — which was parked at Foster Beach — about the same time.
Officers stopped Kolalou as she was leaving the house with a large, black garbage bag and she allowed them to search her bedroom, prosecutors said. During that time, a witness allegedly looked inside the garbage bag, which Kolalou left unattended, and found papers and several smaller, white garbage bags inside, prosecutors said.
Police left again after finding nothing incriminating.
A tenant warned the tow truck driver waiting for Kolalou to be careful and remained in communication with the driver at the beach, where the driver saw Kolalou take the black garbage bag to a trash can, prosecutors said.
Several people from the home then drove to the beach and waited for the tow driver to leave with Kolalou for a mechanic’s shop, prosecutors said. Inside the trash can, they allegedly saw multiple white garbage bags.
Officers arrived to remove the bags from the trash and allegedly saw pooled blood and bloody rags inside.
Officers next went to the mechanic shop, where they spoke to and released Kolalou again, prosecutors said. Due to the police involvement, the mechanic refused to work on her vehicle, and the tow truck driver took Kolalou and the car to the area of Western and Estes avenues, where she paid him with Walker’s credit card, prosecutors said.
When Kolalou asked to be driven to another location, he declined and said she pulled out a knife and began to threaten him with it, prosecutors said. The driver yelled for police, who were in the area, and they responded and took her into custody. They recovered a black garbage bag from the rear of the truck, prosecutors said.
After getting a search warrant, police found Walker’s remains, as well as evidence of blood throughout the home, including on two knives, though tests to determine whether it was Walker’s blood were still pending Thursday, prosecutors said.
Kolalou was expected back in court Oct. 31.
Walker’s family have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for her funeral. It notes that her husband “is a career caregiver to elderly homebound patients, and as such has next to nothing in savings.”
