EDWARDSVILLE • An 85-year-old woman kidnapped in May outside a bingo game in Collinsville and locked into her car trunk was alive when the car burned, a Madison County coroner's jury was told Wednesday.
Three people have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Yoko Cullen of Belleville, who apparently was the victim of a carjacking as she left the Firemen's Hall on Collinsville Road at the west edge of Collinsville.
The car was found burned May 20 near the intersection of 11th Street and Falling Springs Road in East St. Louis. Her remains were discovered after the car had been towed to Andy's Auto Body and Towing in Madison. That's why the inquest was in Madison County even though the charges are in St. Clair County.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_0d3508ae-fa6c-5342-ab36-d58fb8b5367d.html
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EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) — An investigator says an 85-year-old woman whose body was found in the trunk of her car was alive when her suspected carjackers set the vehicle ablaze.
Madison County coroner’s investigator Shane Liley testified during an inquest Wednesday in Edwardsville that Yoko Cullen’s windpipe was coated with soot, meaning she died after her car was torched.
Prosecutors in neighboring St. Clair County have charged three people with first-degree murder.
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/08/17/85-year-old-woman-torched-alive/
Three people have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Yoko Cullen of Belleville, who apparently was the victim of a carjacking as she left the Firemen's Hall on Collinsville Road at the west edge of Collinsville.
The car was found burned May 20 near the intersection of 11th Street and Falling Springs Road in East St. Louis. Her remains were discovered after the car had been towed to Andy's Auto Body and Towing in Madison. That's why the inquest was in Madison County even though the charges are in St. Clair County.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_0d3508ae-fa6c-5342-ab36-d58fb8b5367d.html
____________________________________
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) — An investigator says an 85-year-old woman whose body was found in the trunk of her car was alive when her suspected carjackers set the vehicle ablaze.
Madison County coroner’s investigator Shane Liley testified during an inquest Wednesday in Edwardsville that Yoko Cullen’s windpipe was coated with soot, meaning she died after her car was torched.
Prosecutors in neighboring St. Clair County have charged three people with first-degree murder.
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/08/17/85-year-old-woman-torched-alive/