GUILTY IL - Trenton Cornell-Duranleau, 26, stabbed to death, Chicago, 27 Jul 2017 *graphic* *Arrests*

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meanmaryjean said:
Former NU professor accused of murder sought freedom to help with COVID-19 research

Well, you sort of knew this was coming...
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That is clearly the degree to which this guy is a psychopath. Competently able to process the news and maneuver himself for a special release by emphasizing his ability to help with research. No thanks, Bundy II. (Every photo of him reminds me of Bundy.)

I'd love to hear what grad students thought of working with him or if they ever had problems with him as a bit of a manipulator, liar, or threatening person. I also agree this CAN'T have been his first crime ever. I lived in Chicago when this crime occurred and spent a few weeks reading about it. I only just now thought to come check for a thread on it. I'm shocked more hasn't been revealed about his history. It's baffling.
 
Manwel said:
That is clearly the degree to which this guy is a psychopath. Competently able to process the news and maneuver himself for a special release by emphasizing his ability to help with research. No thanks, Bundy II. (Every photo of him reminds me of Bundy.)

I'd love to hear what grad students thought of working with him or if they ever had problems with him as a bit of a manipulator, liar, or threatening person. I also agree this CAN'T have been his first crime ever. I lived in Chicago when this crime occurred and spent a few weeks reading about it. I only just now thought to come check for a thread on it. I'm shocked more hasn't been revealed about his history. It's baffling.
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100% agree it was not his first rodeo. The accomplice - maybe. But not the professor.
 
Satchie said:
It doesn't seem impossible to me, anymore, that a man who held this type of violent secret fantasies, and who was able to bury them in his youth, might begin to explore them after he'd followed a straight path. Possibly, the internet encourages that. Or some kind of 'mid-life crisis', and a desire to take risks, who knows. ETA, or maybe the fantasies only emerge in midlife, and some have suggested pharmaceuticals might trigger some cases.
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Wasn't there initially a claim that Lathem had taken drugs prior to committing the crime? Or was it just the victim who had meth in his system?
 
Manwel said:
Wasn't there initially a claim that Lathem had taken drugs prior to committing the crime? Or was it just the victim who had meth in his system?
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Not sure...he was unlikely to have been high during the apparently prolonged period of discussing this online, and buying the accomplice's plane ticket and hotel reservations.

My skepticism about L having committed murders before is because of how he made no effort to cover this one up....The victim was his partner and he left him in his own bed, even phoned the building manager to go into the apartment so he'd find the remains and call the police.

If he'd killed before and gotten away with it, what happened this time to make him such an incompetent serial killer, who appears to have utterly freaked out with what he'd done and just run away?
 
Satchie said:
Not sure...he was unlikely to have been high during the apparently prolonged period of discussing this online, and buying the accomplice's plane ticket and hotel reservations.

My skepticism about L having committed murders before is because of how he made no effort to cover this one up....The victim was his partner and he left him in his own bed, even phoned the building manager to go into the apartment so he'd find the remains and call the police.

If he'd killed before and gotten away with it, what happened this time to make him such an incompetent serial killer, who appears to have utterly freaked out with what he'd done and just run away?
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I wasn't asking about drugs in system in terms of motivation/inspiration to kill. Just curious if he was doing meth regularly while working in immunology for Northwestern! Ha.

But I totally agree, that's a really good point about this guy. Everything about this was messy messy messy. That would suggest first kill. But, that goes back to the "This one will really stump the psych people" because he doesn't fit their profile. I mean, this is like Scream only Stu and Billy freak out with remorse, go on a road trip, and Stu turns into a witness against Billy after they donate money to a library in honor of Drew Barrymore. Like, huh?
 
Manwel said:
I wasn't asking about drugs in system in terms of motivation/inspiration to kill. Just curious if he was doing meth regularly while working in immunology for Northwestern! Ha.

But I totally agree, that's a really good point about this guy. Everything about this was messy messy messy. That would suggest first kill. But, that goes back to the "This one will really stump the psych people" because he doesn't fit their profile. I mean, this is like Scream only Stu and Billy freak out with remorse, go on a road trip, and Stu turns into a witness against Billy after they donate money to a library in honor of Drew Barrymore. Like, huh?
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Just to clarify, my earlier reference to 'pharmacueticals' was more to the possibilty that medically prescribed drugs could bring on personality changes including violence. We know about 'roid rage, there's also some suggestions that antidepressants, pain killers, possibly others may have a rare side-effect in some individuals. It's not a defense, but there have been these suggestions.
 
Satchie said:
Just to clarify, my earlier reference to 'pharmacueticals' was more to the possibilty that medically prescribed drugs could bring on personality changes including violence. We know about 'roid rage, there's also some suggestions that antidepressants, pain killers, possibly others may have a rare side-effect in some individuals. It's not a defense, but there have been these suggestions.
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That's very true. And honestly his eyes always struck me as kind of not right. Plus I know at least two people who struggled with depression who went on to have significant personality changes after taking MDMA and hallucinogenics.

Interestingly about victim, there was evidence of dramatic weight loss based on photos of the victim provided in the media. Makes you wonder if he was doing meth for weight loss? (Don't do drugs, kids. Have people not seen Breaking Bad?)
 
I can't believe I missed this trial. I was keeping a periodic eye on it.

Why would Warren agree to a 45-year sentence?

Well, this is an interesting article.... I wonder if the French had a clue Lathem was nefarious. They must have decided he couldn't be trusted with pathogens. He had got as far as making plans to move his lab, but his clearance was removed at the last moment. His security clearance. France knew something..... maybe they got a tip. I would think it would have had to be a very strong tip for them to make a denial...

NU professor lost out on job in Paris before killing - North
 
There was a prior attempt?
Man says professor accused of murder asked if he could pull out knife during sex

And a separate weird tidbit from trial (selected):

Days after his boyfriend’s slaying, Dr. Andrea Hall, who oversees lab safety at Northwestern University, testified she received an email purportedly from Lathem promising he hadn’t done anything improper with the samples of bacterium he was studying
 
RickshawFan said:
Why would Warren agree to a 45-year sentence?
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RSBM

According to the article posted above, about the sentencing, it seems to me Warren wasn't persuaded to plead guilty and testify in exchange for a deal, he pled guilty when he walked into the police station. I think the arrangement was: Warren would tell the truth, Lathem would commit suicide. Lathem failed to commit suicide, so instead he turned himself in, and then tried to go free by pinning it all on Warren.

Sort of like how Lathem brought Warren to Chicago so they could kill each other. But, failing in that, they killed the one person who didn't want to commit suicide. The one person who actually wanted to live. Also, the one person who didn't want to kill anyone else.

IMO, this kind of sums of life, and the kinds of people we are up against.

IMO it would have been much more satisfactory if either Lathem or Warren had killed themselves, or both had killed the other, or one had killed the other and then went to jail for it. Whatever. Just, if you want to die and/or you want to kill, keep it within your own little group. Don't drag innocent people into it.

This is the thing about true crime: you can't make this stuff up.
 
Manwel said:
I wasn't asking about drugs in system in terms of motivation/inspiration to kill. Just curious if he was doing meth regularly while working in immunology for Northwestern! Ha.

But I totally agree, that's a really good point about this guy. Everything about this was messy messy messy. That would suggest first kill. But, that goes back to the "This one will really stump the psych people" because he doesn't fit their profile. I mean, this is like Scream only Stu and Billy freak out with remorse, go on a road trip, and Stu turns into a witness against Billy after they donate money to a library in honor of Drew Barrymore. Like, huh?
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The mess might have been the point. Perhaps that was the arousal source: how difficult the killing was, the struggle of the victim, the blood, the different methods of killing him, etc.
 
RickshawFan said:
Did we ever find out why Lathem failed a background check at the Pasteur Institute prior to the murder?
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I don't think they would ever publicly reveal why someone failed a background check, especially not French, outside US legal jurisdiction.

Interesting though, that they did flag something about him. Quite rightly. I don't think his drug taking, online pickups, S&M fantasies were something new, that only happened after he failed the background check.

They often interview a lot of people, as well as checking up on everything about you in any database anywhere. Perhaps a complaint was made to police, but no charges laid. Or a work colleague was concerned about things he'd said or did. Perhaps there'd been complaints from neighbours that his condo manager knew about...

JMO
 
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