Woman charged with murdering, dismembering landlord in Arcadia Terrace neighborhood home

CHICAGO (CBS) — A woman has been charged with murdering her landlord who was found dismembered in an Arcadia Terrace home.

Sandra Kolalou, 36, is charged with the murder of 59-year-old Frances Walker in the house at 5919 N. Washtenaw Ave.

Walker was known by most of the people on the 5900 block of North Washtenaw Avenue, just north of Thorndale Avenue. Some were friendly with her dogs, while she welcomed others into the neighborhood.

Around 6 or 7 p.m. Monday, police were called for a missing person at the Washtenaw Avenue house, according to Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenhian. At the scene, tenants in the house told responding officers they had not seen Walker in a day and were concerned for their safety.

Many of the tenants also said they were afraid of Kolalou, Deenihan said. They also said they had heard screams in the house around 2:30 a.m. Monday.

When officers arrived at the scene, Kolalou was still there – but was about to get in a tow truck and leave, Deenihan said. Kolalou had used the victim’s credit card for the tow truck, Deenihan said.

CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey spoke to the tow truck driver off camera who said his company was called to pick up a Chevy Equinox from the Washtenaw Avenue address and the owner of the vehicle, who is the suspect, got a ride in his back seat. He said the suspect was behaving strangely, and pulled a knife on him at the end of the ride.

By then, the other tenants had already contacted the tow truck driver to report that Kolalou was dangerous, Deenihan said. The tenants followed the tow truck to Foster Beach and found bloody rags in the garbage can, he said.

Meanwhile, police were still at the Washtenaw Avenue house where when all this was happening, Deenihan said.

Initially, police could not find any sign of blood or foul play at the house. But after learning of the Foster Beach discovery, they went in with the tenants and found additional blood in Kolalou’s room, Deenihan said.

They then found Walker’s gruesome remains in a freezer. The tow truck driver said detectives told him that a human head was found in the freezer. 

Kolalou was arrested in the 7000 block of North Western Avenue in West Rogers Park, where she was found in the tow truck. She is also charged with the aggravated assault of the 24-year-old tow truck driver.

Based on the totality of the evidence, police believe the murder happened in Kolalou’s bedroom and the dismemberment took place on the first floor of the Washtenaw Avenue house, Deenihan said. It appears possibly that large butcher knives could have been used to dismember Walker, Deenihan said.

Walker was in the process of filing eviction papers against Kolalou, her brother told CBS 2’s Charlie De Mar.

There had been previous 911 calls to the house, and some of them may have been because tenants were afraid of Kolalou, Deenihan said.

Kolalou is charged with one felony count each of first-degree murder and concealing a homicidal death, and one misdemeanor count of aggravated assault with the use of a deadly weapon.