Honey_Baked_Ham.jpg

‘Motive’ Episode 4: What really happened at the Honey Baked Ham

In February 1993, Eric Morro was shot outside a Honey Baked Ham store in Avondale. In this episode of “Motive,” T.J.’s old friend Larry Tueffel takes Frank Main back to the crime scene to tell him how it all really happened.

Chicago gangs: Real people. Real stories.

It was just after dark on a cold February night in 1993 when Eric Morro was shot to death. He and a friend got into a confrontation with two other kids. They were all standing next to a Honey Baked Ham store at 3018 W. Belmont Ave. when a gun went off. Eric was killed and T.J. was arrested. Larry saw it all.


You can listen to “Motive” wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Spotify, and Stitcher.


Motive extra features

Get a look at the real-life people and places covered in this episode of “Motive.” Meet T.J., his mother Victoria and the family members, friends and lawyers who tell his story.

T.J. after his 1993 arrest

Thaddeus “T.J.” Jimenez was arrested in February 1993 in the murder of Eric Morro outside the Honey Baked Ham store. T.J. was throwing gang signs on Belmont Avenue earlier that day.

Thaddeus “T.J.” Jimenez was arrested in February 1993 in the murder of Eric Morro outside the Honey Baked Ham store. T.J. was throwing gang signs on Belmont Avenue earlier that day.

Chicago police arrest photo

Larry Tueffel

Larry Tueffel, pictured in a still image from a video recorded deposition.

Larry Tueffel, pictured in a still image from a video recorded deposition.

He was with his friend Eric Morro when he was shot to death next to a Honey Baked Ham store in 1993. Tueffel didn’t initially identify Jimenez as the shooter but did after being reinterviewed by the police the next morning. In 2006, he recanted, saying he lied, that Jimenez wasn’t even there at the time of the killing.

The Honey Baked Ham site today

In 2018, construction began on new condos at the place where the Honey Baked Ham once stood at 3018 W. Belmont Ave. The alley is no longer there, but the building with the peaked roof to the right was there in 1993.

In 2018, construction began on new condos at the place where the Honey Baked Ham once stood at 3018 W. Belmont Ave. The alley is no longer there, but the building with the peaked roof to the right was there in 1993.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

The corner where T.J. threw gang signs earlier

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The northwest corner of West Belmont and North Sacramento avenues, where T.J. and his friend Larry Tueffel were throwing gang signs at a bus in 1993.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

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