Chicago man arrested for stabbing HVAC employee; teen’s stays present in fridge

A Chicago man has been arrested in connection to the stabbing loss of life of an HVAC employee — and authorities worry he might be chargeable for different crimes after they uncovered a teen woman’s stays in his fridge.

Brandon Sanders, 33, was arrested on June 29 in reference to the grisly Might 12 killing of 69-year-old HVAC contractor Rasim Katanic within the West Ridge neighborhood, Chicago police data present.

When police searched the suspect’s residence, additionally they found the physique of Iman Al-Sarraj, 18, in his fridge, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. He has not been charged in Al-Sarraj’s loss of life.

“I’m hoping it’s simply these two our bodies,” Katanic’s daughter, Aida Sutardio, stated.

“It’s simply been a devastating loss that we’re nonetheless making an attempt to course of as a household.”

Katanic was engaged on a cooler compressor on the rooftop of Tahoora Sweets & Bakery on Devon Avenue when Sanders ascended to the roof and stabbed him to loss of life together with his personal screwdriver, Sutardio told WLS.

“That’s not how I ever envision my dad to die, was for him to bleed out on prime of a roof,” she informed the outlet.

“My dad was slaughtered.”

“Who does he suppose he’s? Does he know he didn’t simply take one life away? He’s impacted so many individuals from that one life,” she added of the suspect.

Police are actually investigating Sanders’ attainable connection to lacking individuals instances, sources informed the outlet.

The day after Katanic’s loss of life, Sanders allegedly burglarized an residence occupied by two Loyola College Chicago graduates, the Solar Occasions reported.

Sander is believed to have opened the skylight with Katanic’s screwdriver earlier than shaving within the rest room and becoming stolen garments, the outlet stated, citing court docket paperwork.

Katanic’s pockets was left on the desk on the scene, and Sanders’ Timberland boots had been shoved within the oven.

A water jug with the alleged perpetrator’s DNA was additionally discovered on the range, whereas the screwdriver was positioned on a mailbox in entrance of the constructing.

Sanders left the residence round 6 p.m., surveillance footage signifies. He then walked to a furnishings retailer he used to work at on West Devon Avenue, based on the Solar-Occasions.

Sanders’ nephew observed him appearing unusually, and requested the shop proprietor for assist.

When the proprietor arrived, Sanders allegedly stated that he didn’t must pay lease “as a result of his landlord was on the roof and he took care of that,” the outlet continued.

Sanders ultimately ended up in Evanston, the place he requested a police officer for a trip to the hospital.

He was lastly arrested late final month, and charged with first-degree homicide, forcible homicide, armed theft and housebreaking.

On the day Sanders first appeared in court docket, police discovered the crushed stays of Al-Sarraj in his fridge.

“My coronary heart is shattered in one million items. I’ll by no means, ever have a traditional life, particularly after I noticed my daughter’s face and what the monster did to her,” the teenager’s father, Khalil Sarraj, informed the Solar Occasions.

He had not heard from his daughter since final August, when she declined an invite to see her uncle, who was visiting from Israel.

“She misplaced so a few years, however she was doing nicely,” Sarraj stated of the teenager’s turbulent upbringing – which included her mom, initially from Yugoslavia, pulling her out of college round third or fourth grade.

Al-Sarraj ran away final yr, a couple of yr after Sarraj and his spouse enrolled her as a freshman at Schurz Excessive College, the place she joined the Reserve Officer Coaching Corps, he stated.

The Chicago Police Division couldn’t be instantly reached for a touch upon the case.

When investigating Katanic and Al-Sarraj’s deaths, authorities discovered of his Aug. 14, 2019 arrest at a Motel 6 in Nice Falls, Montana, the Solar Occasions stated, citing court docket data.

Sanders was charged with human trafficking and aggravated promotion of prostitution after he was noticed within the car parking zone of the motel whereas his spouse “entertained a number of male visitors” inside, the outlet continued.

Sanders’ spouse later informed police that she met him in 2018, after she traveled to the US from Germany to attend faculty.

She alleged that he inspired her to develop into a intercourse employee, which she did as a result of she was “very naive” and he used “excessive violence” towards her.

She additionally claimed that Sanders launched her to cocaine, which she used to “make it via conferences with shoppers.”

Sanders’ trial, nevertheless, was delayed throughout to COVID-19, as his spouse refused to return to the US resulting from an infection danger.

The costs had been ultimately dropped when the choose refused to permit her to testify just about, the Solar Occasions stated.

“Apart from the pandemic being an enormous purpose for this, I additionally don’t really feel emotionally able to face all of these items in a courtroom,” the lady acknowledged in an e mail to a prosecutor.

“I additionally don’t wish to see Brandon.”

Prosecutor Jochua Racki informed the Solar Occasions that Sanders initially confronted 25 years in jail, although he seemingly would have gotten a lighter sentence of round 10 years.

“I want we’d’ve been capable of get him. However with the choose making that ruling, that’s the place we had been at,” Racki admitted.

Along with the fees in Montana, Chicago police data present that Sanders already had a number of fees for violent crimes in and across the metropolis.

In 2016, he pleaded responsible to hiding at the back of his ex-girlfriend’s automobile and choking her from behind, then sending her threatening messages, the Solar Occasions stated.

On January 1 this yr, he was kicked out of the Electrical Lodge Night time Membership on W Ontario Avenue as a result of he was “irate.”

He was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery after he shoved the supervisor and threatened to get a gun from his automobile.

“I used to be scared s—much less of this man. He was as pissed off as somebody might be,” the supervisor reportedly stated on the time.

The costs, nevertheless, had been dropped later that month.

Within the hours earlier than Katanic’s loss of life, Sanders drew consideration on the Hanmi Financial institution on N Western Avenue, the place he kicked up a fuss whereas making an attempt to open an account.

He known as the FBI’s Nationwide Risk Operations Heart and reported “a plot to overthrow the federal government,” prompting an worker to name the police, the outlet reported.

By the point the police arrived on the scene, Sanders was gone. 

Sutardio thinks the system failed her father and Al-Sarraj.

“I really feel like each step of the best way via the system, [Sanders’] crimes stored getting larger till it ends with two useless folks,” she informed the Solar Occasions.

“And I believe that simply displays how inconsistent our system is and what number of holes there are.”

As of Friday morning, Sanders is being held with out bail.

At his preliminary court docket look, his protection lawyer stated “there are some points with [his] psychological state.”