Police have arrested a Northwestern University professor and a University of Oxford employee both in connection with the fatal stabbing last month of Trenton Cornell-Duranleau, a 26-year-old Chicago hairstylist.
Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi announced the arrests Friday of Wyndham Lathem and Andrew Warren, ending a weeklong nationwide manhunt launched after authorities found Cornell-Duranleau’s “savagely murdered” body inside Mr. Lathem’s Chicago apartment July 27.
Surveillance cameras recorded both suspects leaving Cornell-Duranleau’s upscale apartment shortly after the murder, according to police, and authorities issued warrants for their arrest on Wednesday.
Mr. Lathem, a 42-year-old associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Northwestern, surrendered Friday evening to authorities in Oakland, California, and Mr. Warren, a 56-year-old Oxford employee, turned himself in to police in San Francisco, the spokesman said.
Both are expected to be arraigned on first-degree murder charges and extradited to Illinois, CBS News reported.
“Both individuals will be held accountable for their actions and we hope today’s arrest brings some comfort for the victim’s family,” the Chicago Police Department said in a statement.
“We are also thankful both men are safely in custody and this did not end in further tragedy,” the statement said.
Mr. Lathem and Cornell-Duranleau were involved in a relationship at one point and had “some type of falling out,” the police spokesman told the Chicago Tribune. The Northwestern professor subsequently sent a video to friends and family following the murder “apologizing for his involvement,” the spokesman added.
“The contents of the video message are integral to any future interrogation efforts; therefore, we can not disclose the video at this time,” he said.
Mr. Warren arrived in the U.S. three days before Cornell-Duranleau’s death, CBS News reported. It was not immediately clear if he if he knew either Mr. Lathem or their alleged victim prior to last week’s fatal stabbing.
Mr. Lathem “has been placed on administrative leave and banned from entering the Northwestern University campuses,” the school said in a statement this week. He had worked there since 2007 and spoke at multiple conferences on the topic of disease.
“This is now a criminal matter under investigation by the appropriate authorities, and Northwestern University is cooperating in that investigation,” its statement said.
Mr. Warren had been working at University of Oxford in the U.K. processing paychecks and pensions, The Washington Post reported.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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