Man Tries To Smother 80-Year-Old Mom

Frank Wagner, 40, of Niles was charged with domestic battery, interference with emergency communication and aggravated battery Sunday at about 1:45 a.m., after a neighbor on Oconto Street heard the sound of a beeping vehicle horn and called police. 

The neighbor saw an 80-year-old female resident, Wagner's mother, in the passenger seat of the car, and the mother told the neighbor Wagner was trying to kill her, according to a police report. The neighbor saw Wagner run from the scene, police said.

The mother told police that she was lying awake in bed when the offender entered her bedroom, placed his knees on her shoulders to pin her down and tried to suffocate her with a pillow, according to police. The victim struggled and got free, the report indicated, but the offender grabbed a second pillow and tried to suffocate her again. The victim was again able to free herself and tried to call 911, but according to the report, Wagner grabbed the phone from her and threw it across the room.  The offender suffers from bi-polar disorder, police said. 

Police found Wagner a few blocks away and took him into custody. The victim initially refused medical attention, but was taken to the hospital later that day, about 6:15 p.m., due to her injuries. Based on those injuries, a Cook County assistant state's attorney upgraded the charges to felony.

His court date is today at 1:30 p.m. in the Skokie branch of the Cook County courts.

$232 Worth of '5-Hour Energy' Taken

William White, 42, of West Erie Street, Chicago was charged with Class 4 felony retail theft April 19 just after 1 p.m. when police said a clerk in a retail store in the 9600 block of Milwaukee Avenue recognized him as the same person who had left the store on April 11 without paying for 41 bottles of 5 Hour Energy drink, valued at $231.89. The store had surveillance video of the incident. 

When the clerk spotted him on April 19, the clerk told police he left the store in a blue or green Buick. Another officer stopped that vehicle in the 9500 block of Greenwood and found White to be a passenger, police said. The clerk identified him as the person who had taken the energy drinks, according to the report, and he was charged. His court date is today at 1:30 p.m.

Information is taken from reports. 

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