Crime & Safety
No Trial Date in Sight for Three Accused of River Forest Murder
Information gathering, exchange continuing, status hearing Aug. 27.
More than a year has passed since three men - one a former North Chicago cop - were with plotting and killing a 29-year-old Chicago woman in the River Forest parking lot.
But don't expect a trial date to be set soon in the case against Devin Bickham Sr., his son Devin Ardvell Bickham Jr. and Cardell Taylor.
Both sides are going through the pre-trial discovery phase, which includes the gathering and exchanging information. The Cook County State's Attorney's Office is nowhere near getting a trial date, a spokesman said.
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A status hearing is set for 9 a.m. Aug. 27 in Room 105 of the Cook County Courthouse in Maybrook.
The three are still being held without bond in Cook County Jail.
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Devin Bickham Sr., 39, and his son Devin Arvdell Bickham, 20 of Chicago and Blue Island resident Cardell Taylor, 35 are accused of plotting the murder of Chervon Monique Alexander in a parking lot in Priory Park on July 11, 2011.
The three were charged on July 14.
Authorities said Bickham Sr., a former North Chicago police officer, offered Taylor $400 if he would kill Alexander. During a , Cook County State's Attorney Maureen O'Brien told the court the older Bickham had been planning the crime for some time as a way of getting out his relationship with her.
O'Brien told the court that the older Bickham and Alexander drove to a parking lot at the northeast corner of Division Street and Bonnie Brae Place, a spot they'd been to before. His alleged accomplices were in another car a block away. After getting a text message from the older Bickham, Taylor came to the car and shot Alexander several times.
After the shooting, which took place around 10:20 p.m. in a darkened parking lot shared by River Forest and Dominican University's Priory Campus, the older Bickham called police and pretended to be a witness to the shooting, O'Brien said.
The younger Bickham and Taylor were apprehended by Forest Park police roughly a mile from the crime scene. Alexander died around 11 p.m. at Loyola University Medical Center.
