Tenant faces murder charge in killing, dismembering of Northwest Side boarding house owner

Two days before she was killed, Frances Walker was playing the piano for a class at the Evanston School of Ballet, where she had long worked as an accompanist.

“I have that wonderful memory to cherish,” said Kerry Hubata, co-founder of the school. “Fran was gentle, sweet, generous, kind. I just can’t believe an ending like this.”

Walker’s body was dismembered, but only some of her remains were found in the boarding house she ran in the 5900 block of North Washtenaw Avenue, a law enforcement source told the Sun-Times.

Sandra Kolalou, 36, was taken into custody as police searched the house Monday night. She has been charged with first-degree murder and concealment of a homicide, Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan told reporters Wednesday evening at Chicago Police Department headquarters.

When asked about a possible motive for the attack, Deenihan said Walker had presented Kolalou with an eviction notice “as recently as Saturday.” That could have been what “escalated” the situation, he said.

Deenihan said it appeared a large butcher knife was used to dismember the body.

Kolalou possibly tossed evidence into Lake Michigan, the law enforcement source said. Bloody towels were found in a garbage can at Foster Beach.

Walker, 69, was last seen Sunday walking through her Northwest Side neighborhood. Residents said they heard screaming inside the house early Monday morning, Deenihan said. One of the tenants reported Walker missing that night, noting it was unusual not to see her for more than a day.

The person also warned police about a resident “that the other tenants were afraid of,” Deenihan said. That woman had recently hauled a “large plastic bag” to a tow truck and then dumped it in a garbage can at Foster Beach, where the bloody towels were later discovered.

Detectives then searched the home, the source said, and cameras worn by officers captured the grim discovery inside the freezer: a head and several limbs.

Once the remains were discovered, detectives left to obtain a search warrant “to go back in and retrieve all of [the] evidence properly,” Deenihan said. The suspect was taken into custody Monday night when she allegedly pulled a knife on the tow truck driver.

‘Very generous with her time’

Family photo

Arnold Walker, 67, remembered his older sister as a very giving and generous person who cared for others more than she cared for herself and was always doing things for other people.

“She was very generous with her time,” Arnold Walker said. “She had older friends that she kept in touch with who had mobility problems, and she would give them rides around the Chicago area. She took people to church or other occasions, or out to eat.”

Her generosity didn’t just extend to strangers, Arnold Walker said. Their older brother, one of five other siblings, suffers from mental health issues, he said, and Fran spent much of her time taking care of him.

“A big part of her life was watching over the welfare of her brother,” Arnold Walker said. “People are worried about what they’re gonna tell him.”

The family grew up in Downers Grove, Arnold Walker said. Fran Walker loved music and majored in piano as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois. She then got her master’s in music at Northwestern University. She led youth choirs for many years and played the organ at various churches throughout her life, including St. Athanasius in Evanston.

She had been working as an accompanist at the ballet school for decades and also played the organ at various churches throughout her life, including St. Athanasius in Evanston. She had studied piano and organ performance at Northwestern University, where she was also employed.

Hubata said she last saw Walker on Saturday, when she worked with a class and played one of Hubata’s favorite pieces, “The Bohemian Girl” by Michael Willam Balfe. “I’m sick,” she said. “I’ve gotta tell the students and the other accompanists here. It’s just unimaginable.”

‘I cannot imagine her doing that’

Cook County sheriff’s office

Records show the suspect has been charged with low-level violent crimes in multiple cases in Cook County.

Most recently, Kolalou was arrested in January after tackling an 84-year-old woman in the hallway of a condominium building in the 4300 block of North Clarendon Avenue, according to an arrest report. She then tried to force an inhaler into the woman’s mouth while pinning her down, according to the report.

“I can help you,” she allegedly said.

The victim, who declined medical treatment, told police she didn’t want to pursue felony charges, the report states. Kolalou was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery and was found not guilty in a bench trial in July.

Sean Brown, Kolalou’s attorney in her most recent criminal case, said he believed she had previously worked as a certified nursing assistant. He said she didn’t show any clear signs of mental illness or distress in their interactions and insisted she was trying to help the other woman, who he said was having an asthma attack.

In 2012, Kolalou was charged with a misdemeanor count of domestic battery that was dropped, court records show. Later that year, she was accused of two misdemeanor counts of simple battery and pleaded guilty. She was sentenced to 12 months of court supervision.

She also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of theft in 2015 and was sentenced to two days in Cook County Jail, records show.

A YouTube account that appears to belong to Kolalou includes multiple videos that show her rapping, trying on clothes, driving through Wicker Park and posing with a family member. In one video, a person can be seen firing a handgun in a field.

A LinkedIn page apparently belonging to her lists her occupation over the last year as chief executive of “Women Empowering Women of All,” an organization with no clear online presence. The page also claims she earned a bachelor of business administration degree from Northeastern University, an associate of science degree from the University of Southern California and a master of philosophy degree from Southern New Hampshire University.

Kolalou’s ex-husband, who requested anonymity because he’s in the military, said he was shocked to learn of the allegations.

“I cannot imagine her doing that,” he told the Sun-Times.

He said their relationship ended in 2008 after he joined the U.S. Army and moved overseas, leaving her at their home in Greensboro, N.C. She moved back into her family home in High Point, N.C., and eventually relocated to Chicago, he said.

She attended a community college for a time as she tried “to get her life back together,” her ex-husband said, and pursued a career as a certified nursing assistant.

“Based off the time we had in North Carolina, this is what I knew about her,” he said. “But people change over time. People do.”