IL - David Chereck, 15, abducted & murdered, Skokie, 1 Jan 1992 *Arrest*

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Victim: DAVID CHERECK

DATE OF CRIME: JANUARY 2, 1992

GENDER: MALE

RACE: WHITE

AGE AT TIME OF INCIDENT: 15

LOCATION OF INCIDENT:
LINNE WOODS FOREST PRESERVE
MORTON GROVE, IL

(AREA OF 9136 MCVICKER
MORTON GROVE, IL.)

INFORMATION: ON JANUARY 2, 1992 THE BODY OF 15 YEAR OLD DAVID CHERECK WAS DISCOVERED IN THE LINNE WOODS FOREST PRESERVE IN MORTON GROVE, IL BY A CITIZEN WHO WAS WALKING HIS DOG. THE VICTIM WAS LAST SEEN BY HIS FRIENDS ON JANUARY 1, 1992 AT APPROXIMATELY 10:30PM. THE VICTIM'S FRIEND OBSERVED CHERECK WALKING HOME DOWN HARMS ROAD FROM LINCOLN AVE IN SKOKIE, IL. CHERECK WAS ALONE AT THE TIME AND WITHIN 2 BLOCKS OF HIS RESIDENCE

Anyone with information relative to this case is urged to
contact the Cook County Sheriff's Police Cold Case Unit at: (708) 865-4549
or by email at: Sheriff.Coldcase@cookcountyil.gov
All calls are considered confidential.
*** A reward is offered through Cook County Crime Stoppers ***

http://www.cookcountysheriff.com/sheriffs_police/coldcase/coldCaseDavidChereck_92-000298.html
 
Police Question Strangled Skokie Boy`s Peers Again
January 10, 1992|By John Gorman.

Palacios did not identify the students and would not say whether they were the same ones who were with Chereck on New Year`s night, when he was last seen alive

Chereck, 15, was found strangled with his own scarf the morning of Jan. 2 in the Linne Woods Forest Preserve near Morton Grove, about a mile from his home. He was dressed only in a T-shirt, pants and socks. Palacios said the youth`s gym shoes and jacket are still missing.

Whether the killing was a murder seemed in some doubt Thursday. Palacios said police had not ruled out the possibility that Chereck had died accidentally.
Chereck`s Killing Still A Mystery
March 13, 1992|By David Silverman and Jerry Thomas.

Two detectives are now the lone remnants of the 12-member team assembled shortly after Chereck`s body was discovered Jan. 2, his coat and shoes missing, on a walking path in the Linne Woods Forest Preserve in Morton Grove, a short distance from his Skokie home.

The clues have included the discovery in Wilmette in early February of a high-top tennis shoe similar to the one Chereck was wearing the night of his death and suspects living on the North Shore and the West Coast.

``The Chereck case is dormant,`` said Skokie Police Sgt. Roger Garcia, whose department was the first to enter the case when Chereck`s parents reported him missing shortly before dawn Jan. 2.

``All the leads that they had have been followed up as far as they could go,`` Garcia said. ``There is nothing there anymore.``

Investigators also recently contacted another suspect, a Skokie man who also spends time on the West Coast and allegedly had called police claiming he had information connected with the case, the sources said. The man refused to talk to Palacios when he visited the man out of state earlier this month.
Family's Pain Grows With Time
January 01, 1993|By Jon Hilkevitch.

Palacios' talkative demeanor contrasts sharply with the hush-hush manner of most murder investigators, and he has been telling the news media about his suspect for more than six months now.

He describes the killer as a white male in his 40s who until recently was under house arrest in California on a sexual assault conviction. He said the suspect had been seen in Skokie around the time of Chereck's slaying-possibly at the bowling alley-and was driving a white four-door sedan.

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Palacios, a veteran of the forest preserve police force who started his career as a forest ranger back in the good old days of patronage and rampant corruption in Cook County, said that two days after the crime, a man he believes is the killer phoned authorities offering information and even left a beeper number.

And in one of several gambits to use the media to solicit information from the public, Palacios announced over the summer that the man may introduce himself to potential victims as a member of the clergy.
 
http://skokie.suntimes.com/2014/07/29/los-angeles-man-arrested-in-1992-murder-of-skokie-teen-2/

He was identified as the suspect in the death of David Chereck after sheriff’s police spoke with witnesses and analyzed reports from the investigation, the sheriff’s office said...

Chereck said she is “absolutely” relieved if investigators found the person who strangled her son, David, with his own winter scarf and then left his body in nearby Linne Woods Forest Preserve. Cook County Sheriff’s cold case investigators contacted her Wednesday to inform her of the arrest.
 
Chuck Goudie and the I-Team interviewed Serritella in 1998, during which he provided specific details about the abduction and murder.

"I was traveling down the street there, ah, this boy waved his hand at me, you know? And I was going about 35 miles an hour, I didn't know what he was waving about. So I stopped, I went ahead and stopped. I looked in my rear-view mirror and there was another white car, similar to mine, that this boy jumped into. And as he jumped in, then I took off and they took off, and they passed me," said Serritella in 1998.

http://abc7chicago.com/news/man-arrested-in-1992-murder-of-skokie-teen/215584/
 
The guy is definitely sketchy as hell and seemed to be struggling to keep his story straight. This could be his age showing or it could be that he's a pathological liar as most sociopaths are. If he's guilty why stop in the middle of town to give a 30 minute interview about a crime your suspected of? Maybe his lies have worked for him in the past so he just couldn't help himself from talking to the reporter.

I've wondered if this case might be related to a murder four years prior in Dubuque IA. 14 year old Kenny Johnson was strangled in OCT 87. There is DNA in that case but I'm not sure if Serritella's DNA is in the system even though he was a registered offender from what appears to be a misdemeanor sexual assault charge, and on house arrest up until recently.
 
The guy is definitely sketchy as hell and seemed to be struggling to keep his story straight. This could be his age showing or it could be that he's a pathological liar as most sociopaths are. If he's guilty why stop in the middle of town to give a 30 minute interview about a crime your suspected of? Maybe his lies have worked for him in the past so he just couldn't help himself from talking to the reporter.

I've wondered if this case might be related to a murder four years prior in Dubuque IA. 14 year old Kenny Johnson was strangled in OCT 87. There is DNA in that case but I'm not sure if Serritella's DNA is in the system even though he was a registered offender from what appears to be a misdemeanor sexual assault charge, and on house arrest up until recently.

Maybe he found it thrilling to be talking to this reporter, getting away with his crime. It could have been a high for him; lots of psychopaths get off on that stuff.

There is another murder case that happened 10 years before David Chereck was killed---Bill comeans was also strangled with a scarf, in Columbus. Here's to hoping there are some answers for the Comeans family.
 
http://www.csnchicago.com/article/bail-denied-man-charged-1992-murder-skokie-teen

A man suspected in the cold case murder of a Skokie teenager 22 years ago was denied bail Thursday morning in bond court...

In 2004, Alvarez said a witness came forward and claimed Serritella confided in him that he knew what happened to the teen. The witness said he frequently alternated between speaking in first and third person when describing the offender.

"In a bizarre development in the case," Alvarez said in a statement, "Serritella telephoned the victim’s mother on two occasions in the summer of 2013 telling her that he had witnessed her son get into a vehicle on the night of his murder and that he had a description of the man who had lured him into his car." The call led to an arrest warrant for Serritella, who was returned to Cook County Wednesday from Los Angeles.
 
October 2016:

'Boy exploitation' note can be used against suspect in Skokie teen's murder

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-david-chereck-murder-suspect-past-met-20161018-story.html

A handwritten note titled "Boy profile for exploitation" — allegedly found in the home of a man accused in the 1992 strangulation of a Skokie teenager — can be admitted at the suspect's upcoming murder trial.

A Cook County judge ruled that the evidence, as well as details about some other alleged crimes and misconduct, can be used against Robert Serritella, 73. The former Park Ridge man is charged with killing 15-year-old David Chereck, whose body was found in a Morton Grove forest preserve by a dog-walker.

Prosecutors have for months been arguing that Judge Lauren Gottainer Edidin should allow into evidence proof of "other crimes and bad acts" allegedly committed by Serritella in the years before and after Chereck's death. Authorities say the evidence shows a pattern of Serritella soliciting and committing sex crimes against boys, pointing to his motive for allegedly stalking, abducting and strangling Chereck.

Serritella, who was in court on Monday dressed in a beige jail jumpsuit, did not speak during the hearing. It's not yet clear when he will stand trial, but it appears to be months away, if not longer.
 
The mother of a 15-year-old Skokie boy who was strangled in 1992 testified in court Monday about the last words she spoke to her son before he left home that night. “He came over and kissed me and said ‘I love you,’ and I said ‘I love you too,’ and that was the last thing we said to each other,” said Esther Chereck...

Esther Chereck was one of five people to testify Monday at the Skokie courthouse in the first day of the murder trial of Robert Serritella, 76, of Park Ridge. Serritella is charged with first-degree murder in the death of David Chereck.
Mother, friends of 15-year-old Skokie boy found strangled in 1992 testify in first day of murder trial
 
Robert Serritella Found Guilty Of 1992 Murder Of David Chereck
SKOKIE, IL — After three days of testimony and a last-minute rejected plea deal, a judge found Robert Serritella murdered 15-year-old David Chereck in 1992. Serritella, 76, was charged 22 years after the death of the Niles West High School student — six years after detectives from a cold case unit picked up the the investigation and one year after Serritella picked up the phone and placed a cold call to the mother of the murdered Skokie boy. Ahead of the verdict Thursday, Serritella again rejected a plea deal that could have seen him see just five more years in prison.
 

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