Roommate charged with murder after missing woman, 88, found slain, wrapped in rug

A 66-year-old man has been charged with the murder of an 88-year-old woman found wrapped in a rug in a Roseland home.

Kevan Works was charged with murder and concealing a homicide, Chicago police said. Works, who according to police lived at the same address as the victim, is scheduled for a detention hearing on Friday. The victim had previously been reported as missing.

Police were called to a home in the 10700 block of South Lafayette Avenue Tuesday about 11:15 a.m., where they found the woman unresponsive and wrapped in a rug, police and a source said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman had been assaulted and died of multiple injuries, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office, which ruled her death a homicide. Her name has not been released pending notification of next of kin, according to the office.

Venethia Reese, 66, who lives across the street from the woman, was shocked to hear about her death. She said she saw the street flooded with police when she arrived home from her dialysis treatment on Tuesday, but didn’t know what had happened.

“I’m really sad to hear she died,” Reese told the Sun-Times on Thursday. “I’m glad the killer isn’t still in the area.”

Neighbors said they rarely saw the woman leave her home, but often saw a man coming and going.

“She was a real nice lady,” said a man who did not want to be named.

The woman was last seen March 27, according to a Chicago police missing persons report.

Area 2 detectives are investigating.