Police investigating Trenton Cornell-Duranleau murder say they are
closing in on Somerville’s Andrew Warren and US academic.
An Oxford University college has urged one of its employees to hand
himself in as police investigating a murder in the US say they are closing in
on him and an American academic also suspected of involvement.
Officers in Illinois said their search for Somerville College’s senior
treasury assistant, Andrew Warren, and Wyndham Lathem, a microbiology professor
at Northwestern University in Illinois, was “intensifying”. The men are
suspected of stabbing to death a 26-year-old man, Trenton Cornell-Duranleau, in
Lathem’s Chicago apartment.
The call came as the victim’s mother, Charlotte Cornell, spoke out about
her son’s murder. “Our family is deeply saddened by the death of our son. It is
our hope that the person or persons responsible for his death are brought to
justice,” she told the Associated Press from her home in Michigan, where
Cornell-Duranleau grew up.
Warren’s colleagues at Somerville urged him to get in touch with the
local authorities, regardless of the circumstances, “in the best interests of
everyone concerned”. A spokesman said they were “shocked to learn of the case”.
Writing on the college’s website on Thursday its principal, Alice
Prochaska, said staff were only recently made aware of the case, which she said
was “clearly extremely worrying”. She added: “We and the university authorities
will liaise with the investigating authorities and provide any assistance that
is required. This comes as upsetting news to all of us.”
Local police believe they have an “idea of their whereabouts”. Anthony
Guglielmi, a spokesman, said: “Our primary focus is to facilitate a safe
surrender and we strongly encourage Professor Lathem and Mr Warren to do the
right thing.”
Local media also reported that the two men drove about 80 miles (129km)
north-west of Chicago after the murder and donated $1,000 (£761) in the
victim’s name to the Lake Geneva public library.
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According to the Associated Press another police spokesman, Frank
Giancamilli, characterised the attack as “domestic in nature”, but declined to
discuss the possible motive in further detail. The attack was so violent that
the blade of the knife believed to have been used to kill Cornell-Duranleau was
broken, Guglielmi added.
Warren, 56, oversaw pensions and payrolls at Somerville. Chicago police
believe he was visiting the US from his home in England for the first time and
arrived recently. Lathem, 42, is believed to have known the victim, though it
is not known how.
The police have placed restrictions on both men’s passports that prevent
them from leaving the US and have said they are “to be considered armed and
extremely dangerous”. The two men were last seen getting into a grey 2007
Hyundai.
Officers said the victim, who lived in Chicago, was found with multiple
stab wounds in the 10th-floor apartment near the city centre at about 8.30pm on
27 July. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Court files give Warren’s address as the Oxford college but he says on
Facebook that he lives in Swindon, Wiltshire, and is a former cashier and
driver for Stagecoach.
Lathem has worked at Northwestern since 2007 and specialises in the
bacteria that caused the bubonic plague. The university said he had been placed
on leave and banned from entering the campus.
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