Man held without bail for allegedly murdering sex worker at River North hotel

A 24-year-old man strangled a sex worker at a River North hotel, then used her cellphone to collect cash from her clients looking to set up a rendezvous for several days after her death, Cook County prosecutors said Monday.

Lavarius McFadden used a messaging app to set up a meeting with Elizabeth Long at the SpringHill Suites by Marriott on March 14, but claimed he was unaware that she was a prostitute, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said during a bond hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.

When McFadden arrived at Long’s room, she demanded $100 in payment, then later allowed McFadden to feel parts of her body while continually demanding payment, Murphy said.

McFadden pushed Long, 22, several times, then strangled her “until her eyes were in the back of her head,” Murphy said. McFadden told investigators that Long had been reaching for a knife, and that he killed her as he struggled to keep her from reaching the weapon, Murphy said.

Chicago police

McFadden left the room and hotel with Long’s knife and cellphone, which was tracked to a location in The Island neighborhood on the West Side, then to McFadden’s girlfriend’s house in DuPage County, Murphy said.

A friend of Long’s called the hotel, at 410 N. Dearborn St., and sent hotel employees to her room to check on her about an hour after McFadden left. They found Long’s body partially naked, bruised and turning blue. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s ruling on the manner of Long’s death was delayed due to an influx of COVID-19 cases, Murphy said.

Police searched McFadden’s girlfriend’s house over the weekend and McFadden was arrested shortly after. He’d been using the victim’s phone to collect “several hundred dollars” over the past month from those trying to contact her for prostitution services, Murphy said.

Security camera footage showed McFadden entering the SpringHill Suites at 4:37 p.m. and leaving at 5:07 p.m. the night Long was killed, Murphy said.

McFadden has no prior convictions and was taking college classes before the coronavirus pandemic halted them, Assistant Public Defender Lorne Gorelick said.

Judge Susana Ortiz ordered McFadden held without bail for first-degree murder.