Feb. 26--A fourth person has been charged in connection with the fatal beating of a 64-year-old man with a frying pan last year in the Rogers Park neighborhood, officials said Thursday.
Armani Bearden, 18, of the 1400 block of North Sedgwick Street was ordered held in lieu of $1 million bail Thursday by Criminal Court Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. He was charged with first-degree murder, according to prosecutors and police.
Bearden is the latest person to be accused of the Dec. 10 beating death of Cary "Mike" Silverstein, 64, on Dec. 10 at Silverstein's apartment in the 6500 block of North Hoyne Avenue, according to prosecutors.
Bearden was 17 years old at the time of the killing.
Also charged was Shawndre Lehmann, who was 16 at the time, Alexander Robinson, 28, and Shatara Lehmann, 25. While the three others were charged with the murder, Shatara Lehmann was charged with felony concealing a homicide, prosecutors said.
Silverstein's body has not been found.
Prosecutors allege that the fatal beating happened at Silverstein's home where the man was hosting a birthday party.
According to prosecutors, Robinson and Shatara Lehmann were at the party when Silverstein go into an argument with Robinson because the host was saying derogatory things about Shatara Lehmann, who was Robinson's girlfriend.
Robinson then allegedly punched Silverstein in the face and then left the party to "cool off" but returned a short time later, prosecutors said in court. Berden and Shawndre Lehmann then arrived at the party.
At that point, Bearden, Shawndre Lehmann and Robinson then began arguing with Silverstein and began punching and kicking him. Bearden, Shawndre Lehmann and Robinson then grabbed a frying pan and beat him to death with it, prosecutors said.
After killing Silverstein, they made a plan to dispose of his body and enlisted Shatara Lehmann to participate in the plan by cleaning his blood with water and bleach and cleaned the pan, prosecutors said.
They stripped the man of his clothing, tried to clean up his body in a bathroom and put his body in a "makeshift body bag consisting of two large garbage bags taped together," prosecutors said.
Shatara Lehmann threw away Silverstein's clothes in one trash bin, while Shawndre Lehmann put the body in another as Bearden and Robinson "acted as lookouts," according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors did not make clear how the killing was discovered, but said a missing person report was filed Dec. 16 after Silverstein's sister -- who would talk with him almost daily -- didn't hear from him. Silverstein also missed meetings he had scheduled for Dec. 11 and Dec. 13.
A representative of Flood Brothers Disposal, which handles the trash for Silverstein's building, told investigators the garbage would initially have gone to Maywood, then on to landfills in Rochelle or Rockford, each of which receive millions of pounds of garbage a day.
After they began looking into Silverstein's disappearance, investigators were able to find what were believed to be traces of blood in his kitchen and bathroom, prosecutors said. They also found out who had been living with Silverstein before he disappeared, and a witness told them about the beating and Silverstein's killing.
Bearden admitted to being at the party and witnessing the others beat the victim, prosecutors said. He said he acted as a lookout while the others disposed of the body and admitted to helping clean up the blood, according to prosecutors.
