Because she was found guilty of killing and dismembering her landlord, a woman from Chicago was given 58 years in jail.
Cook County Judge Ursula Walowski ordered Sandra Kolalou on July 10, almost three months after she was found guilty of first-degree murder for the death of Frances Walker, 69, in October 2022. This was reported by WGN-TV, CBS Chicago, and The Chicago Tribune.
During the sentencing, Walowski told Kolalou, “The nature and circumstances of this case are quite aggravating, for a human being to do this to another human being.” Walowski said that Walker’s death was “something out of a horror movie.”
The news sources said that Walowski gave Kolalou 50 years in jail for killing Walker, six years for dismemberment, and two years for aggravated identity theft. The Chicago Tribune says that Kolalou’s lawyer plans to appeal the ruling.
During the sentencing, Kolalou told the court, “I understand a jury found me legally liable for murder,” saying that she was not guilty. I did not do this act, though. With God by my side, I never hurt Fran.”
The court hearing heard from Walker’s family members, including her niece Katerina Lee Walker, who said that her aunt’s death made her hide from her social life.
“I was not able to be where happiness was.” “I just couldn’t move, even though people were moving around me,” she told The Chicago Tribune.
Walker’s head and limbs, along with other parts of her body, were found in a freezer in the Arcadia Terrace neighborhood home they shared. Other renters heard screams in the middle of the night and called the police because they couldn’t find Walker.
“Based on all the evidence, the detectives believe the crime actually happened in the victim’s bedroom,” Brendan Deenihan, Chief of Detectives for the Chicago Police Department, said at a previous press conference. “They also believe that the dismemberment took place on the first floor of that residence.”
Deenihan also said that Walker had died after she had “recently” given Kolalou a warning to vacate.
Walker’s death notice calls her a “talented pianist and organist.”
“Fran was a devout Catholic who had respect for all faiths.” The death notice also said, “She was kind, caring, positive, and spunky.”
