SNEED: ‘Murder by overkill’ — River North victim stabbed 50 times

Sneed is told 26-year-old murder victim Trenton H. James Cornell-Duranleau — found murdered on July 27 inside a River North apartment — was stabbed nearly 50 times and almost decapitated.

“It was a gruesome murder by overkill — a murder of extreme passion which accounts for blood being found and flung everywhere,” said a source familiar with the police investigation. “The young man obviously was not just stabbed in the back.”

The victim’s body was found in the apartment of Northwestern University professor Wyndham Lathem, 42, who was arrested last week in California after a cross-country manhunt.

Also arrested was University of Oxford employee Andrew Warren, 56, who was visiting the United States for the first time and had arrived in the U.S. several days before the murder. Both men were spotted on video leaving Lathem’s apartment after the murder — and are now in police custody in California.

Police have described Lathem and the murder victim as dating each other. One theory regarding the motive for the crime is that Cornell-Duranleau wanted to break up with Lathem — which could account for why the killing was so vicious and “so personal,” the source said.

“But now that the victims are lawyered up — and fled before the police could interrogate them — they really don’t know yet what and how it all went down,” the source added. “The police have not talked to the offenders yet.”

Asked about the possible motive, Adam Sheppard, one of Lathem’s attorneys, declined to comment.

Contrary to an initial statement from another police source, Cornell-Duranleau’s genitals were not mutilated, that source said.

Well, I’ll be gobsmacked!

News President Donald Trump’s childhood home in Queens, N.Y., is now available for rent on Airbnb — is a far palatial cry from Trump’s presidential pad at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

• Alas, both residences have one special thing in common.

• In the old house, Trump resides in the living room in the form of a giant cutout.

• In the new Trump pad at the White House, most of us are just hoping he cuts whatever he’s doing out.

Ganging up!

Please.

Gimme a break: It should come as no surprise a posse of three Cook County Commissioners composed of Richard Boykin, Tim Schneider and Sean Morrison held a press conference Wednesday attacking their boss, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle — and calling for the repeal of her pop tax.

Why?

• Boykin wants to run against her.

• Schneider is GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner’s handpicked state Republican chairman who voted against the beverage tax and collective bargaining agreements for unionized county workers.

• Morrison is a Cook County Republican chairman and a huge Donald Trump supporter.

So no surprise the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, now run by the Trump ascendancy — which oversees the food stamp program — is the agency that dispatched a letter warning the state that federal money could be withheld because of the beverage tax.

Does Sneed smell a whiff of skulduggery?

Whadda you think?

Sneedlings . . .

Condolences to the family of Kate Rooney, whose beloved father, James C. Rooney, died recently at the age of 83. He left behind seven children, an adoring wife, and a legacy of special gifts. “And the greatest amongst them was his humanity and his ability to be so kind,” said Kate. Blessings. . . . I spy: Brian Campbell, who announced his retirement with the Blackhawks and now works for the their front office, spotted with Blackhawks Executive Vice President Jay Blunk and a half dozen others from the Blackhawks organization at Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse on Kinzie for lunch last week. Oh, to be a mouse under that table. . . . Today’s birthdays: Chris Hemsworth, 34; Hulk Hogan, 64; and Viola Davis, 52, and a belated happy birthday to Idele Light-Kushner, 83.