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Thursday, October 29, 2026Oct 29

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From respected at elite universities to wanted for murder

This undated photo released by the Alameda County, Calif., Sheriff's Office shows Wyndham Lathem, an associate professor of microbiology at Northwestern University. Lathem and Andrew Warren, an employee of the University of Oxford in Britain, were jailed in the San Francisco area in connection with the death of a young hairdresser in Chicago, police said. Lathem faces a Monday, Aug. 7, 2017 court appearance in the city of Pleasanton, Calif. (Alameda County Sheriff's Office via AP)
This undated photo released by the Alameda County, Calif., Sheriff's Office shows Wyndham Lathem, an associate professor of microbiology at Northwestern University. Lathem and Andrew Warren, an employee of the University of Oxford in Britain, were jailed in the San Francisco area in connection with the death of a young hairdresser in Chicago, police said. Lathem faces a Monday, Aug. 7, 2017 court appearance in the city of Pleasanton, Calif. (Alameda County Sheriff's Office via AP) This undated photo released by the Alameda County, Calif., Sheriff's Office shows Wyndham Lathem, an associate professor of microbiology at Northwestern University. Lathem and Andrew Warren, an employee of the University of Oxford in Britain, were jailed in the San Francisco area in connection with the death of a young hairdresser in Chicago, police said. Lathem faces a Monday, Aug. 7, 2017 court appearance in the city of Pleasanton, Calif. (Alameda County Sheriff's Office via AP)

CHICAGO (AP) — After a cross-country manhunt, a Northwestern University professor and University of Oxford employee are in custody for the brutal stabbing death of a 26-year-old hair stylist in Chicago. The case has involved peculiar twists, including a cash donation by one of the two suspects in the victim’s name at a Wisconsin library and a videotaped confession sent to friends. The two men surrendered peacefully in California after eight days as fugitives.

Northwestern microbiologist, Wyndham Lathem, and Oxford financial officer, Andrew Warren, were wanted on first-degree murder charges for the death of Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau. Lathem is due in court on Monday.

Here’s a closer look at the case:

THE CRIME

The body of 26-year-old Cornell-Duranleau was found stabbed to death inside apartment belonging to Lathem in an upscale neighborhood near downtown Chicago. The July 27 attack was so violent the blade of the knife believed to have been used in the stabbing was broken, police said.