May 03--A 40-year-old Oklahoma man has been charged with murder in the strangulation of a Chicago man in 1999.
Santos Crespo, was arrested Thursday at Area North police headquarters after being extradited from Oklahoma, according to court documents. In bond court Saturday, Judge Peggy Chiampas ordered Crespo held without bail in the July 12, 1999, slaying of Julian Baez.
Police discovered Baez, 37, dead in his Belmont Gardens neighborhood home in the 2900 block of North Lowell Avenue, according to court documents. Baez's body was found at the bottom of his basement stairs with his hands and feet bound with electrical cords.
An autopsy revealed he had been severely beaten and strangled, prosecutors said.
The second-floor bedroom of the house had been ransacked and the front door of the house left ajar. The front windows of the bedroom were open, though police were informed by Baez's friends that his windows were always shut.
A scale commonly used to weigh drugs was found in Baez's kitchen, but no drugs were found in the home, prosecutors said. Baez's girlfriend and her brother told police he made his living selling drugs, but was paranoid his apartment would be invaded, fearing he'd be set up by rival dealers. Police at the time of his death said that Baez was thought to have made his living buying and selling buildings, and that an employee had found him dead.
DNA from blood samples taken from the first-floor bathroom, the top of the stairs from the basement and the living room was submitted for a new analysis in 2014, and they all positively matched Crespo's DNA profile, according to prosecutors.
A first-degree murder warrant was issued for Crespo in Cook County on March 10, and he was arrested March 11 at his home in 10100 block of East 22nd Street in Tulsa, according to court records.
Crespo previously served time in prison. In December 2000, Crespo was convicted of an armed robbery in Chicago and got 15 years in prison, although he is no longer on parole, according to records.
In the 2000 robbery, Crespo attacked people at a house in the 1400 block of North Hamlin Avenue. Crespo and two others tied up the residents and forced them to turn over hidden drugs, according to court records. Crespo then left the house with an unspecified amount of cocaine.
Crespo's next court appearance is scheduled for May 4.
meltagouri@tribpub.com
