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May 21, 2005 5:59 pm US/Central
Family Cautiously Hopes For Answers In Murder Mystery
CHICAGO (CBS 2) ―
A Chicago man is behind bars in Florida facing charges in the gruesome murders of two people there. Local police are looking into whether he could be behind the unsolved murders of two members of Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood.
Murder victims Brad Winters and Kevin Clewer are fondly remembered in the Lakeview community.
As CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, there is guarded hope among those who knew Kevin Clewer that the Florida case could provide some much needed closure for their grieving hearts.
In Lakeview, life is busy, but not so busy that people have forgotten about the violent act more than one year ago that happened to Kevin Clewer.
They remember how someone stabbed him dozens of times in his North Side home.
And they say after all this time, it still hurts.
"Kevin was a sweet, loving, gentle person," said Scott McGowan, Kevin's former partner.
He and the Clewer family want to know who murdered the man everyone knew to be so kind.
"I'd like to find the killer, find out why and see him convicted," said Kevin's uncle Fred Roempler.
That kind of closure might never happen, or it could come sooner rather than later.
A Chicago man is in custody in Florida, charged as an accessory to violent crimes.
Authorities there say Scott Paul Schweickert confessed to helping his friend Steven Lorenzo dispose of the bodies of at least two men in the Tampa area.
Furthermore, a criminal complaint suggests Schweickert and Lorenzo had Internet chats about how to drug, torture and kill unsuspecting victims.
The e-mail account in question is linked to a Lakeview apartment building, where the manager says he remembers Schweickert from more than a year ago.
On Friday, Chicago Police said they're talking with Tampa authorities to see if there might be a connection to the unsolved cases here.
Roempler said he's not pinning his hopes on this development.
"There's a possibility but until evidence arrives, there's nothing you can do," Roempler said.
But he and McGowan hope to know something sometime.
"The stress of not knowing what happened to Kevin would be over if this person is caught and convicted," McGowan said.
He talked of stresses, and Kevin's aunt says the weight of the case was too much for Kevin's father to bear.
He died May 11 from a heart attack, just weeks after Kevin's mom.
As for the possible Schweickert connection, his Lakeview residence was very close to Clewer's.
But right now, police are cautioning people not to read too much into it.
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