ROSEMARY NEWMAN (pregnant) - 18 yo/ Charged: Deandre Minkens and Shante Thomas - Alsip (S of Chicago) IL

Bond has been set for two people charged with the murder of a pregnant 18-year-old from suburban Alsip.
Rosemary Newman's body was found in a forest preserve in
Calumet City on Sunday. Prosecutors say she was killed by an
ex-boyfriend who did not want to be a father.   On Friday afternoon, friends and family gathered to celebrate the young life of Newman."She was a happy person. She was a beautiful girl. She was a teenager," said the victim's aunt Tanya Newman.  The teen's wake and funeral came just hours after Deandre Minkens, 20,
of Calumet City, and Shante Thomas, 19, of Chicago, appeared in court
charged with her slaying. Both police and prosecutors say the couple
allegedly conspired for weeks to kill the woman carrying his child so he
would not have to be a father.  "She was not with him. So just
for him to pop up out of the blue and want to be around her was strange
to me," said the victim's best friend Sharron Shaw.  In court
Friday morning, a judge ordered Minkens to be held without bail and
Thomas held on $3 million dollars bond after the couple was charged with
first degree murder and intentional homicide of an unborn child.   Investigators say Minkens reportedly drove to meet Newman for dinner
Saturday night with Thomas hidden in the trunk of his car. After dinner,
as they allegedly planned, when Minkens turned up the volume on song he
was playing titled "I Hate You," Thomas attacked.  "She came out
of the trunk and began strangling the victim. The victim valiantly
fought and tried to survive," said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.
Authorities say Minkens and Thomas then allegedly took Newman to a
forest preserve, and strangled and beat her until she died. Newman was
8-and-a-half months pregnant and due in early May. Minkens and Thomas
reportedly went to a nightclub.   Newman's mother reported her missing Sunday morning just a few hours after a man walking his dog discovered the teen's body.  Minkens was arrested at his home and was also charged with obstructing
a peace officer. He's currently on probation on a theft conviction and
prosecutors say he also had a probation violation for a charge of
cruelty to children in Georgia.  Thomas is a high school senior
who now lives on Chicago's Northwest Side with her mother. Authorities
say Thomas was the one who eventually told detectives what happened.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8103493

A Calumet City man and his longtime girlfriend conspired to kill a
woman who was carrying his child so he would not have to be a father,
police and prosecutors said today.
And their signal to spring the plot was turning up the volume on the song, "I Hate You," they said.



Deandre Minkens, 20, of Calumet City and Shante Thomas, 19, of
Chicago, a longtime couple who worked together at a fast-food
restaurant, are charged with first-degree murder in connection with the
death of Rosemary Newman.

Minkens drove to meet Newman for dinner
Saturday night with Thomas hidden in his car. After dinner, Thomas and
Minkens beat and strangled Newman and left her in a Calumet City-area
forest preserve, authorities said this morning. The two then went to a
nightclub after the killing.

In an appearance this morning before
Cook County Judge Darron Bowden in Markham Branch Court, Minkens was
ordered held without bail and Thomas ordered held in lieu of $3 million
bail.

On Sunday, Newman, 18, was found strangled in a Cook County
forest preserve near Freeland Avenue and Warren Street in Calumet City,
her partially clothed body lying next to some bushes, authorities said.

Newman
was nine months pregnant and her baby was due in early May, her family
said. Her family and prosecutors identified Minkens as Newman's
boyfriend and the father of her unborn child.

Minkens and Thomas,
his long-time girlfriend, conspired to kill Rosemary so he would not
have to be a father, Assistant State’s Attorney Lynnette Cusack said in court today.

"This was very cold blooded. Very calculated. Very very tragic," Cook
County Sheriff Tom Dart said in a news conference following the bond hearing.

There had been tension among Newman, Thomas and Minkens,
Dart said. But Newman held on to hope that her child's father would
eventually do right by her, Dart said.

On Saturday, Newman
showered, dressed, scribbled a note to her family and left the house
around 10:30 p.m. to meet Minkens, her brother said earlier this week.
Minkens met Newman for dinner at an Applebee's restaurant in Crestwood,
Cusack said in court today. Newman called her mother and told her she
was at the restaurant with Minkens, said Cusack—something her family had
told reporters earlier this week.

Meanwhile, as Minkens and
Thomas planned, Thomas was waiting in the trunk of Minkens’ car, Dart
said in his news conference. As Minkens and Newman left the restaurant
in his car, Minkens played a song titled "I hate you" repeatedly on the
car stereo. At one point he turned up the volume, signaling to Thomas to
crawl out of the trunk and strangle Newman, Dart said.

In the car, Thomas strangled Newman with a cellphone cord while Minkens hit and
punched her. This continued as they drove to the forest preserve.
Newman fought for her life as Minkens and Thomas kept her locked in the
car while they beat and choked her, Dart said.

At the forest preserve, Minkens carried Newman from the car. She was still alive, Dart
said, but Minkens and Thomas strangled her and beat her until she died, he continued.

They then left her body in the forest preserve and went to a nightclub, Dart said.

According to Alsip police, Newman's mother reported the teen missing Sunday
morning, a few hours after a man walking his dog discovered Newman's body.

The Cook County medical examiner found evidence Newman had been strangled and her death had been ruled a homicide.

Minkens, of the 300 block of 156th Place in Calumet City, was arrested Thomas'
home in the 2300 block of West Touhy Avenue on Monday, and Thomas was
arrested there on Tuesday, authorities said, correcting earlier
information that Minkens was arrested at his home. Minkens also has been
charged with obstructing a peace officer during his arrest.

Dart said one of the defendents was more cooperative than the other after
their arrests. In court, Cusack said Thomas told detectives what happened.

Although Minkens denied to detectives that he had even
seen Newman on Saturday night, witnesses at the restaurant confirmed
that Minkens and Newman were there together, Dart said.

Minkens and Thomas have been dating for some time, and work together at a
fast-food restaurant, Dart said. Thomas lives in Chicago with her
mother, and is a senior at Sullivan High School in Rogers Park, Dart said.

Minkens is on probation on a theft conviction, and he had a
probation violation for a charge of cruelty to children out of Georgia, prosecutors said.

He attended high school up until the 11th grade.

Services for Newman were scheduled for today at 1:30 p.m. at Gatlings Funeral Chapel, 10133 S. Halsted St.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-boyfriend-held-without-bail-in-pregnant-teens-slaying-20110429,0,3922542.story

May 25, 2011 11:15 pm  • 

MARKHAM | A Cook County grand jury has indicted the man and woman charged in the strangulation of a pregnant teenager, adding kidnapping to the host of charges against the two.
Deandre Minkens, 20, of Calumet City, and Shante Thomas, 19, of Chicago, each are charged with eight counts of murder, two counts intentional homicide of an unborn child and two counts of kidnapping in the death of Rosemary Newman, 18, of Alsip, Ill.
The indictments were announced Tuesday in court. Both defendants are scheduled to appear for arraignment on June 8 at the courthouse in Markham......(rest of story is same as above posts)

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/illinois/calumet-city/grand-jury-adds-kidnapping-charges-in-teen-s-death/article_e815afc0-5600-58e0-a693-d770c69e7f17.html

Cannot find anything at all after May 25, 2011 -I've looked for, well it's 10:08 now so however long that is.