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player ready...A Chicago man accused of murdering a woman in her Evanston apartment nearly 24 years ago was found guilty by a Cook County judge Thursday, police announced in a press release.
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Warnick found Jimmie Dunlap, 45, guilty in a bench trial at the Skokie Court House, Evanston police said in a release, with sentencing to take place May 24.
On April 23, 1992, Deondra Dawson was discovered brutally murdered in her apartment in the 600 block of Sherman Avenue from multiple stab wounds, said Cmndr. Joseph Dugan, department spokesperson.
Her 4-year-old son was discovered in the apartment unharmed, he said.
An autopsy later revealed that Dawson had been stabbed at least 34 times and sustained multiple wounds to her head, trunk and extremities, as well as a collapsed lung from a stab wound and multiple brain hemorrhages from head trauma. Dawson also suffered extensive lacerations and abrasions, and a human bite mark on her cheek, according to a press release from the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
The charges against Dunlap were brought as result of an investigation by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Cold Case Unit and the Evanston Police Department.
Detectives had gone over case files numerous times over the years following the murder, police officials said.
In 2010, they took another look at the case based on changes in DNA testing and the homicide’s solvability factors.
This time Dawson’s name came up as a match when the department submitted the swabs to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab.
Police Chief Richard Eddington talked about the case at a 2nd Ward meeting in Evanston Thursday night.
He noted the “exceptional work” of the evidence technicians on the murder scene, singling out Cmndr. Steven Goldenberg, who was the head evidence technician on the case at the time.
Goldenberg’s work, collecting DNA and blood samples from multiple places “got us to these results,” said Eddington following Dunlap’s arrest.
Detective Aaron Wernick also worked diligently to bring closure to the case once the offender was identified, the chief said.
The conviction underscored a “continuing commitment to victims that we take very seriously,” he told those in attendance.
Dunlap was charged with first degree murder on May 29, 2013, he said.
The first names of both Dunlap and Dawson were spelled incorrectly in earlier versions of this story.