Deceased/Not Found IL - Keith Crawford, 36, West Dundee, 9 Aug 2014 *G. Bennett guilty*

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http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20140814/news/140819172/

Keith K. Crawford, of the 100 block of Mary Court, left his home about 9 p.m. Saturday, police said. Authorities believe he was last seen not far from a party near the Fox River Shores Forest Preserve in unincorporated Kane County.

Crawford stands 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 230 pounds with a mustache.

He was wearing blue jeans, a tan jacket, black gym shoes, and a black baseball hat.
 
Lots of unanswered questions here. Who did he attend the party with? Have police interviewed those at the party?
Looking at a map, it looks like a better chance of getting lost in the woods rather than falling into the Fox River.

Praying Keith comes home safely soon.
 
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20161026/news/161029004/

Gary M. Bennett, 38, of Denver and formerly of Algonquin, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Crawford, a father of five who was last seen leaving a party Aug. 10, 2014 in West Dundee.

Bennett goes on trial in February and faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted. Bennett and another man -- Joan Sebastian Vado-Bonilla, 29, formerly of Lake in the Hills and now of West Dundee -- were charged in connection with Crawford's death in August 2015.

Vado-Bonilla, who faces up to five years in prison if convicted of felony concealment of a homicide, missed his court appearance and authorities issued an arrest warrant, records show. He made it to court later that day and was not jailed, records show.
 
Jury selection begins in 2014 killing of Bartlett man

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/news/ct-ecn-bartlett-murder-trial-st-0222-20170221-story.html

Attorneys on Tuesday morning began jury selection in the 2014 killing of a Bartlett man whose disappearance prompted a year-long investigation that led prosecutors to charge a former Algonquin man with the killing.

Gary Bennett, 38, has pleaded not guilty to murder, armed robbery and concealment of a homicide charges in the death of Keith Crawford.

Prosecutors allege Bennett shot Crawford as they drove in vehicle on Route 31 in West Dundee after leaving a party in August 2014. Bennett then stole drugs and money from Crawford before disposing of his body in Elgin, according to court documents.
 
Trial begins in murder of Bartlett man missing since 2014

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20170222/news/170229593/

According to Assistant State's Attorney Joe Cullen, Bennett wanted more cocaine from his drug dealer, Keith K. Crawford. But Crawford, a 36-year-old father of five who lived in Bartlett, refused because Bennett still owed him money.

So the next day, Cullen alleged in his opening argument, Bennett and a friend lured Crawford from an Aug. 10, 2014, party in West Dundee into a car with the promise of going to get money from Bennett's cousin in an unincorporated area near St. Charles.

And on the way there, with Bennett's friend driving and Crawford in the front seat, Bennett fatally shot Crawford in the back of the head, wrapped his body in a roll of carpet and threw it into a dumpster at an Elgin apartment complex, Cullen said.

Bennett, 38, formerly of Algonquin, was arrested in August 2015 in Denver and brought back to Illinois to face charges that he murdered Crawford, whose body has not been found.

Bennett's friend, Sabastian Joan Vado-Bonilla, 29, also was charged with felony concealment of a homicide.

Cullen said Vado-Bonilla cut a deal with prosecutors to testify against Bennett in the case.
 
Witness testifies Bartlett man was shot on Route 31

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/news/ct-ecn-bartlett-murder-trial-st-0224-20170223-story.html

After Gary Bennett shot Keith Crawford, of Bartlett, in the back of the head, he began wrapping the dead man's head in plastic to stop blood from spilling in the car, a witness testified on Thursday.

On the night of Crawford's disappearance, Crawford and Vado had gone to a party in Lake in the Hills, Vado testified. Vado left the party and found Bennett at home. Bennett asked Vado to take him back to the party and called Crawford's cellphone asking them to meet up outside the party, Vado said.

Before Crawford came out, Bennett got into the back seat, telling Crawford they were going to go get cash to pay off his drug debt, Vado said.

On Route 31, somewhere between a West Dundee church and Boncosky Road, Bennett shot Crawford, Vado said. It was between 1 and 1:30 a.m., Vado said, and Bennett dropped the passenger seat back to conceal the body.

Bennett directed Vado to get off Route 31 and take Interstate 90 east to the Route 25 exit. On the exit ramp, he told Vado to pull over so he could pull the lifeless body into the back seat, Vado said.

He then directed Vado to the property of a "cousin" near the Valley View area, Vado said. Once there, he rifled through Crawford's pockets, taking his wallet, cash, and drugs.

Crawford had a "golf-ball-sized" plastic bag of cocaine powder and crack cocaine, which Bennett and the cousin used, Vado said. They were at the farm for more than two hours, he said, but the cousin wouldn't allow them to dispose of the body.

The duo — now with Crawford's body in the trunk wrapped in a carpet — drove to an Elgin apartment complex at Big Timber Road and dumped the body in a Dumpster there, Vado said. Bennett, he said, climbed into the Dumpster to cover the body with garbage.
 
Defense attorney says witness in murder trial changed story to police

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/news/ct-ecn-bartlett-murder-trial-st-0226-20170224-story.html

Gary Bennett's attorney spent much of Friday cross examining Joan Sebastian Vado-Bonilla, working to discredit his testimony to police where he accused Bennett of shooting a Bartlett man in the head.

When Vado first took police on what he called the route the two had taken — from the northern Kane County party to a Valley View residence and then to an Elgin apartment complex to dispose of the body — he didn't take police on the correct route.

While Vado said on the stand Thursday that they had gone onto Interstate 90 and exited on Route 25 on their way to Valley View, Vado instead took police down Route 31 and crossed Elgin on Chicago Street.

But, Richards said, police had records showing the Pacifica had a toll violation that indicated the Interstate 90 route.

Neither did Vado drive away when they stopped on the Route 25 exit ramp to move Crawford's body into the back seat, or any other time during the night, Richards noted during cross examination.

He also questioned Vado's immigration status and the plea deal he took in exchange for his testimony.

As he is married to a U.S. citizen and has a child with the woman, Richards accused Vado of not being concerned about deportment.

Vado said that no, he was not concerned. West Dundee police also got a waiver from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow Vado to remain in the U.S., legally, while the murder case was pending.
 
Blood in car matches missing Bartlett man: FBI official

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/news/ct-ecn-bartlett-murder-trial-st-0228-20170227-story.html

Prosecutors believe Keith Crawford is dead — shot in the head by Gary Bennett in the early morning hours of Aug. 10, 2014.

His body has never been found, however, and is believed to be in one of two Illinois landfills, prosecutors said.

Officials from the waste management company Groot and those two landfills testified Monday about how Crawford's body — allegedly left in an Elgin apartment complex Dumpster — may have ended up in those landfills, and why the body would likely never be found.

Even without a body, however, a forensics specialist from the FBI in Quantico, Va., was able to pull a DNA profile for Crawford. Using four baseball caps owned by the man, Jeremy Fletcher of the FBI was able to find a DNA profile that corresponded with Crawford's mother.

Stains — likely blood — were found soaked into the front passenger seat and on the back passenger area carpeting, according to prosecutors.

Those blood stains were matched to Crawford, according to Fletcher.

Court ended Monday with another man — Reuben Balleno — who was called to testify about activity at Bennett's Algonquin home the evening before Crawford disappeared. However, when Balleno got on the stand he pled the fifth and refused to testify.
 
Bennett claims was home night Crawford disappeared

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/news/ct-ecn-bartlett-murder-trial-st-0301-20170228-story.html

Police, including Elgin Police Detective Chris Hughes, interviewed Bennett at a Denver police station while other officers conducted search warrants on Bennett's home and car.

The jury on Tuesday heard the first two hours of Bennett's interview with police.

At first, Bennett believed he was being picked up on a McHenry County warrant for a bad check. Vado- Bonilla — who told police he was driving the car when Bennett shot Crawford — was also being prosecuted for charges in the same case.

Hughes and a second investigator told Bennett they were there as a favor to Bartlett investigators who were still looking into Crawford's disappearance.

As the interview went into its second hour, the officer began pushing the Crawford case harder, asking Bennett about his cell phone use that night. Bennett told police that while Vado-Bonilla and Crawford headed to the party off Route 31, he stayed home, sick on the couch, downing cold medication and sleeping.

But when confronted with cell tower records showing Bennett's phone pinged off towers going south on Route 31 and later at the Valley View-area home of a friend, Jeff Quagliano, Bennett claimed he never left the house and did not remember ever going to Quagliano's home that night.

Police also interviewed Quagliano and that conversation is expected to be played in court Wednesday. Quagliano died in July 2016.
 
Man accused in Bartlett man's murder said he hoped victim was 'OK' in police interview

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/news/ct-ecn-bartlett-murder-trial-st-0302-20170301-story.html

On Wednesday, the seventh day of Bennett's trial on charges he murdered and robbed Crawford, of Bartlett, in August 2014, prosecutors played the final portion of the former Algonquin man's statement to investigators. Jurors followed along with printed transcripts of the exchange, but occasionally looked up at a big-screen TV showing the video during which Bennett said he was at home "passed the f--- out" from a combination of cold medicine and marijuana during the time frame prosecutors allege he killed Crawford.

In the video, Bennett denies being at the party and suggests Vado had his phone to explain why it was tracked to various cell towers in Kane County when he claimed to be at his Algonquin townhouse.

"I don't remember being there. I sure as f--- don't remember seeing Keith," Bennett said on the video after commenting earlier, "I hope everything is OK with the guy."

Prosecutors turned to a second recording Wednesday for details from a man who bought cocaine from Bennett before and after Crawford's disappearance, and also attended the party. Ruben Balleno was interviewed by a West Dundee detective in September 2016 after being arrested on a drug charge in Crystal Lake. Balleno, who had spoken with Bartlett police during their initial missing person investigation for Crawford, had been described by some as the last person to see Crawford at the large gathering on Lathrop Lane. However, his testimony Wednesday and previous statements — including the recorded one — appeared to slightly differ.
 
Prosecution rests case in slaying trial

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/news/ct-ecn-bartlett-murder-trial-st-0303-20170302-story.html

Keith Crawford called Gary Bennett 14 times and sent him 11 text messages in the hours before his disappearance.

Crawford's flurry of phone activity on Aug. 9 and the early morning hours of Aug. 10, 2014, stood in contrast to a seemingly abrupt end after he sent two final texts from an area near Spring Hill Mall. Phone record experts on Thursday said Crawford's phone — after combining to initiate 215 calls and texts between Aug. 8 and 2:19 a.m. Aug. 10 — never made another outgoing call or message.

"There's no activity on that phone," said Steven Prosser, a U.S. Marshals inspector. "That phone appears to stop (moving) somewhere near the highway, (Interstate) 90."

Prosecutors used a trail of phone records to close out their case against Bennett in the 2014 slaying of Crawford, of Bartlett.
 
Defense suggests others involved in Crawford's disappearance

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/news/ct-ecn-bartlett-murder-trial-st-0305-20170303-story.html

When Bartlett police began looking for Keith Crawford after he was reported missing in August 2014, they had his cellphone provider "ping" the phone to find a location.

That phone pinged back twice on Aug. 14 — four days after he was reported missing and, according to prosecutors, four days after he was killed.

The defense attorney for Gary Bennett — accused of shooting Crawford, a Bartlett resident, in the head and dumping the body in an Elgin dumpster over a drug debt, according to court records — used the information about the pings to draw the jury's attention to another possible suspect in Crawford's disappearance.

Defense attorney Stephen Richards also worked to tie another man to Crawford's disappearance. Chance Cager, of Hanover Park, was interviewed during the search for Crawford. He told police initially that he and another man followed Crawford from a Hanover Park gas station to the large house party off Route 31 in an unincorporated area near West Dundee.

Later, Cager told police he drove with Crawford to the party but that he lost the other man and ended up getting a ride home later from a Carpentersville-area friend.

Crawford, Cager told police, told him he had to leave the party at some point to "take care of some businesses."
 
Defense rests in Bennett trial, deliberations set to begin Tuesday

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/news/ct-ecn-bartlett-murder-trial-st-0307-20170306-story.html

Kane County Judge John Barsanti sent the jury home early on Monday — after the 12 jurors and four alternates heard just 20 minutes of testimony in Gary Bennett's murder trial.

The jurors — including four alternates — are expected back in court at 9 a.m. Tuesday to hear closing arguments before they begin deliberations on the case.

Monday's proceedings were delayed nearly two hours as Bennett's attorney, Stephen Richards, first hoped some of the people he'd subpoenaed to testify would arrive. With those people not at the Kane County Judicial Center, prosecutors agreed to stipulate to what those people's testimony would have included.
 
Bennett found guilty of murder, concealment of homicide

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/news/ct-ecn-bartlett-murder-trial-st-0308-20170307-story.html

Gary Bennett was found guilty of first degree murder and concealment of a homicide, but not guilty on two charges of armed robbery in the Aug. 10, 2014, death of Keith Crawford.

A Kane County jury deliberated for under three hours before announcing the verdict.

Bennett, 38, showed no emotion as the verdict was read, other than leaning back in his seat at one point.

Kane County Judge John Barsanti set an April 20 date for post-trial motions. Bennett's sentencing hearing will be set at that time, Barsanti said.

He could face life in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
 
Key witness in Gary Bennett's murder trial sentenced

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/news/ct-ecn-bartlett-vado-sentence-st-0407-20170406-story.html

Joan Sebastian Vado-Bonilla's testimony proved to be a key part of the prosecution's case at Gary Bennett's recent murder trial.

On Friday, Vado-Bonilla officially pleaded guilty to concealment of a homicidal death and received 30 months of probation to finalize the agreement he made with prosecutors in December 2015 in exchange for his testimony. He was also sentenced to 180 days in Kane County Jail, but he was given day-for-day credit for time served, according to court records.

Jurors needed less than three hours to convict Bennett, 38, who was living in Colorado at the time of his 2015 arrest. He is scheduled to return to court April 20 when his sentencing date is expected to be set.
 

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