An Illinois man allegedly killed his mother and beat his grandmother in Chicago two days before he fatally stabbed a 76-year-old man and wounded a boy in Gary, court documents allege.
Christopher Collins, 26, of DeKalb, Illinois, was charged Monday in Lake Superior Court in Crown Point with murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery, two counts of domestic battery, one count of auto theft and three other misdemeanor charges.
He is wanted in Indiana for the death of Eddie Collins, who was found stabbed inside his Gary home on the 9000 block of Oak Avenue.
Records show that there is a warrant out for the arrest of Christopher Collins. He is ordered to be held without bail.
The dead victims — Eddie Collins in Gary, and Claudette Collins in Chicago — are believed to be the teen boy’s grandparents. Christopher Collins is the boy’s uncle.
“Christopher’s relationship to Eddie is not known,” Gary Police spokesman Sam Roberts said in an email Tuesday.
Roberts previously said that NIPSCO workers in the 9300 block of Oak Avenue called Gary Police when a teen boy covered in blood approached them. The boy, 16, told police his grandfather was dead and that his uncle killed him, Roberts said.
A detective who arrived at 8 a.m. June 25 wrote the boy had blood on his head, fresh cuts on his face. His shirt was stemming some of the bleeding.
Another police officer said the home was in “disarray” with overturned furniture, broken glass, blood on floors, walls and a door frame. There was a bottle of “cleaning fluid” in the living room.
Police found Eddie Collins “unresponsive” at the top of the stairs with “multiple” lacerations on his face and neck. He appeared stabbed and beaten to death, according to the affidavit.
He was pronounced dead at 8:30 a.m., according to the Lake County Coroner’s Office.
The boy said Collins broke into his grandfather’s home around 7:20 a.m., Roberts said. He was asleep upstairs when he heard the men arguing. His grandfather told the boy to call his mother.
Christopher Collins took the phone, then attacked him. Then Eddie Collins jumped on Christopher to pull him off the boy.
The boy said Christopher Collins went to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and started “stabbing and cutting” the grandfather, then attacked him with the knife as he tried to escape, Roberts said. As the boy reached the NIPSCO workers, he told police he saw Collins take off in the grandfather’s 2006 maroon Honda Accord.
The boy was taken to Methodist Hospitals Northlake before he was transferred to a Chicago hospital.
The boy was “disfigured”, with multiple lacerations, a piece of his ear was “missing” and chunk of his finger was gone, “as if it was partially bitten off.”
A witness told police Christopher Collins was “acting strange all week” and he believed his mother and grandmother “treated” another relative better than him.
Claudette Collins, 67, was found dead on June 23 inside her Chicago home on the 7300 block of South Luella Avenue, according to the affidavit and media reports. Her mother, 96, was found beaten and taken to a hospital for treatment.
The boy said he knew Collins was “on the run” from Chicago Police for the crime.
A relative found Claudette “beaten or stabbed” and told police Christopher had a “history of violent aggressive behavior” towards her and had “prior domestic disturbances” with her.
Authorities believe Christopher Collins fled south, since Eddie Collins’ car was tracked down to East St. Louis, Illinois, by 5 p.m. June 25. Collins is “armed and dangerous,” police said.
Anyone with tips on his whereabouts can call Gary Police Detective Justin Clark at 219-755-3855.
