Saturday, April 18, 2009

Man accused of triple murder in Hoffman Estates denied bond




April 18, 2009

A man accused of stabbing to death his girlfriend's father, sister and grandmother was ordered held without bond Saturday.

D'Andre Howard, 20, who has been charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder and unlawful restraint, did not appear at his hearing at the Rolling Meadows branch of Cook County Circuit Court because he was still in the hospital after being injured in the fight when the stabbings took place early Friday.

Prosecutors said Howard had been feuding with his 23-year-old girlfriend for several days last week before he kicked her and the couple’s eight-month-old baby out of their Hoffman Estates apartment. The woman — identified by a neighbor as Amanda Engelhardt — went to stay with her parents and other relatives at their Hoffman Estates home.

But at 1:30 a.m. Friday, Howard allegedly went to the home and a quarrel ensued. He allegedly grabbed a knife from the home’s kitchen and ended up stabbing Engelhardt’s father, Alan, 57, and maternal grandmother, Marlene Gacek, 73. Both of them died at the scene, authorities said.

He also tied up the girlfriend’s 18-year-old sister, Laura, but then at one point untied her, prosecutors said. The Conant High School senior managed to stab him in the arm. She was also stabbed in the fight.

Howard allegedly also critically wounded his girlfriend’s 52-year-old mother, who remains hospitalized, and he allegedly restrained her 85-year-old paternal grandmother who also lived in the home.

Howard did not injure his girlfriend or baby, prosecutors said. But he forbid her from calling authorities for 45 minutes, and even ripped some phone jacks out of the wall to stop her from calling, prosecutors said. She eventually did call authorities, and he was still there when police arrived, prosecutors said.

When police arrived Laura Engelhardt was conscious and able to tell them what had happened, but she died at a hospital at about noon Friday.

Officials said Howard has a criminal recor

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