A Navy veteran was ordered held without bail Sunday after admitting he fatally shot his mother’s boyfriend at their apartment in La Grange because the man was planning to kill him as part of a “blood sacrifice for the illuminati.”
Deangelo Hughes, 25, is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of 51-year-old Curtis Lee Clark, who Cook County prosecutors said dated Hughes’ mother for more than 20 years and shared an apartment with her and her son.
About 10:20 a.m. Friday, officers responded to an apartment building in the 300 block of Bluff Road when Hughes called 911 and stated he had shot his “stepfather,” prosecutors said. After the shooting, Clark’s son called his father using FaceTime and recognized Hughes when he picked up.
The responding officers detained Hughes outside of the apartment building and found a handgun, a magazine and a pepper spray gun that belonged to Clark, who prosecutors said worked as a security officer.
Clark was ultimately found inside a bedroom with five gunshot wounds to his head and body, prosecutors said. He was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.
After being taken into custody, Hughes admitted to the shooting during a videotaped interview and claimed that Clark and a family member were plotting to kill him and that Clark “wanted him to turn gay,” prosecutors said.
Hughes also told investigators Clark “needed a blood sacrifice for the Illuminati,” a purported cabal of powerful individuals that conspiracy theorists believe has an outsized and secretive influence over world events.
In addition to those seemingly paranoiac comments, prosecutors said family members reported to police that Hughes hadn’t been acting like himself after losing his job at Walmart earlier this month.
Hughes texted a friend two days before the killing, saying he was going to “smoke” Clark, according to prosecutors, who said Hughes has a valid concealed carry license and visited a gun range as recently as July 4.
Patrick Ryan, Hughes’ public defender, said his client graduated from Westinghouse College Prep in East Garfield Park and later served in the U.S. Navy before being honorably discharged. He has no prior criminal history, prosecutors said.
Before denying him bail, Judge Arthur Wesley Willis pointed to the possibility that Hughes may have suffered a “psychotic break.” At the end of the hearing, Willis entered an order for Hughes to undergo a health care evaluation.
Hughes’ next court date was set for Tuesday.
