Man charged with 2012 Lawndale murder

A Bloomington man has been charged with murder for the death of a woman who was found in an abandoned Lawndale building in 2012.

Melissa Renee Woods, 40, was found in an abandoned building in the 1500 block of South Sawyer about 6 p.m. on May 28, 2012, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office and Chicago Police.

An autopsy revealed that Woods, of Bloomington, died of multiple gunshot wounds and her death was ruled a homicide, the medical examiner’s office said at the time.

Marquelle Palmer, 31, was charged Tuesday with one count of first-degree murder, police said.

Area Central detectives worked with Bloomington police and the Chicago High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force to identify Palmer as the suspect in the murder, police said.

Palmer, of Bloomington, was being held in Oxford, Wis., on unrelated charges and was transferred to the Cook County Department of Corrections after he was charged, police said. It was not immediately known when Palmer will appear in bond court.