Lincoln Park man convicted in killing prostitute at River North hotel

A Lincoln Park man was convicted Friday of stabbing a prostitute to death at a boutique hotel in the River North neighborhood.

The body of Sarai Michaels, a mother of five, was found on an early fall morning at the Hotel Felix, 111 W. Huron Street.

A Cook County jury found Christopher Love, 27, guilty of Michaels’ murder after just two hours of deliberation Friday.

Love faces 20 to 60 years in prison.

Michaels was a former model whose life had unraveled in recent years, her estranged husband Stephen Michaels told the Chicago Sun-Times following her death.

Originally from Minneapolis, Michaels, 31, had modeled for catalogs and in a 7-Up advertisement before she gave birth to her oldest daughter, he added.

The couple also had a son, but when their marriage fell apart, she became involved with a man who beat her and “led her down the wrong path,” he said.

Michaels most recently lived in La Crosse, Wis. Her children had been taken away by the state, according to court testimony.