Missing mom’s remains driven around the city for days before thrown in a dumpster, prosecutors say

Marvin Bailey stuffed Chaunti Bryla’s body in a blue container after he killed her and traveled around the city with her remains for nearly a week before placing them in a dumpster on the Far South Side, Cook County prosecutors said Wednesday.

Bryla was last seen March 14 when a taxi driver dropped her off at her home in the 8500 block of South Bennett Avenue.

It is believed 43-year-old was killed between that afternoon and three days later. Her body has yet to be found, despite an extensive search at an Indiana landfill. Still, authorities said they had collected enough evidence, including Bailey’s DNA on the blue container, to charge the parolee with Bryla’s murder.

Detectives also found blood inside Bailey’s green van and in a motel room where Bailey had checked in around the time of Bryla’s disappearance, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said.

There was also a “significant amount” of blood residue discovered inside Bryla’s apartment, Murphy said.

Bailey, the half-brother of Bryla’s 10-year-old son, was ordered held without bail Wednesday.

Bailey was paroled in November 2018 after less than four years behind bars for striking his girlfriend with a hammer and setting her on fire.

The 34-year-old, who was arrested Monday, moved into Bryla’s home in February and was living there until Bryla got into an argument with Bailey’s girlfriend and told him to move out, prosecutors said.

Kathy Chaney/Sun-Times.

After Bryla went missing, detectives used surveillance cameras, cellphone and rideshare records to track Bailey and a second person — a potential co-defendant — as they drove around the city, purchasing bungee cords, ties and a dolly. They allegedly paid for the items using cash withdrawals they made with Bryla’s debit card.

On March 16, after the pair called a Lyft to Bryla’s apartment, they carried the “large and heavy” blue container from the building to that Lyft, prosecutors said. Eventually, they put the container into Bailey’s van. A caretaker at a “mostly vacant” apartment building in South Shore, said the duo was seen using a dolly to carry the container, prosecutors said.

The following day, the two were detained when they tried to run away as Chicago police officers stopped to check Bailey’s van while it was parked in a vacant lot, prosecutors said. Bailey and his cohort told the officers they were on their way to Home Depot to purchase a chain saw — statements that were recorded on the officers’ body cameras, prosecutors said. However, both were let go without receiving a citation and the van wasn’t searched at the time.

Bailey and his companion took a Lyft to the King’s Inn at 128th Street and Ashland Avenue, where Bailey checked in. On the ride to the motel, Bailey allegedly told the driver the blue container held “his meats,” since he was recently evicted and had to take all of his belongings with him.

Chicago police

An employee at the King’s Inn told police that because the elevator was inoperable, the pair walked up three flights of stairs, struggling as they carried the container.

Surveillance video showed Bailey using the dolly to throw the blue bin in a dumpster in a nearby strip mall. He was then seen leaving with the empty dolly, prosecutors said. A worker at a business in the strip mall later reported seeing the blue container and what appeared to be a heavy, black bag inside the dumpster.

In addition to traces of Bailey’s DNA on the blue container, a police-trained dog alerted investigators that the scent of human remains was detected on it and inside the motel room and at the dumpster. The black bag seen by the strip mall employee was never recovered.

Assistant public defender, Marijane Placek, called prosecutors’ case “absurd,” saying that she didn’t believe anyone smelled a “rotting” body as it was being carried around in the container.

“The smell of death, when you smell it, is unforgettable,” Placek said, arguing that prosecutors based their case on a series of “coincidences.”

But Judge Charles Beach II noted “the number of coincidences is an overwhelming amount” before issuing his no bail order.

Bryla’s family felt “sick to their stomach” listening to the allegations presented in court, community activist Andrew Holmes told reporters after Wednesday’s bond hearing. Bryla’s relatives, who spent hours passing out flyers after she disappeared, declined to comment.

Holmes said they continue to hold out hope that her body might be recovered so that she could be laid to rest and for the benefit of her son.

“They just want to bring their loved one home,” Holmes said.