Blood, bullet tie man accused of murder to killing after NYE party: prosecutors

A 28-year-old Gresham man was ordered held without bail Wednesday after prosecutors accused him of killing a man he was seen leaving a party with early New Year’s Day.

Wynton Stewart faces a charge of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Jaquan Reed, whose body was found about 8:50 p.m. Jan. 1 in the Avalon Park neighborhood, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors gave no possible motive for the shooting, but detailed a list of physical evidence linking Stewart to Reed’s killing during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.

Stewart and Reed both attended a New Year’s Eve at the St. Edmund’s Village apartment complex at 6253 S. Michigan Ave., Assistant State’s Attorney David Shin said.

Surveillance cameras recorded the two men greeting each other in the complex’s lobby and then getting into an elevator, Shin said. Several hours later, they were recorded leaving together and getting into Stewarts’s 2008 BMW, which had a broken driver’s side taillight.

Shortly after, a surveillance camera recorded a BMW with the same broken taillight drive into the north alley of the 8100 block of South Stony Island Avenue and then leave the alley a few minutes later, Shin said.

Reed’s body was discovered later than nightin the alley with a gunshot wound to the face, according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. He lived in the Woodlawn neighborhood.

When police investigators located Stewart’s BMW in the 2800 block of East 78th Street, they saw what they believed was blood on the front passenger’s headrest, the passenger side of the center console and the back seat floor.

A search warrant was obtained and blood blood samples recovered from the vehicle and tested by the Illinois State Police crime lab matched Reed, Shin said. On Jan. 11, detectives searched Stewart’s home and found Reed’s blood on clothes that matched the items worn by Stewart the night of the party. A bullet that had been fired was also recovered at Stewart’s home, which matched the bullet found in Reed’s skull, Shin said. Both bullet’s were determined to have been fired from the same gun.

Stewart’s court-appointed attorney said he is the father of three children and most recently worked for Elite staffing. He also recently completed some paperwork to join the U.S. Navy.

Judge Stephanie Miller ordered Stewart held without bail. His next court date was scheduled for Aug. 1.