May 21, 2005 10:56 am US/Central
Possible Link Found To Chicago Gay Murders
CHICAGO (CBS 2) ―
Local police are investigating whether the arrest of a Chicago man charged in connection with raping and torturing men in Florida could be the key to cracking several unsolved gay murders on the North Side.
Thirty-nine-year-old Scott Paul Schweickert, who lives in Lakeview, is behind bars in Florida. He was arrested after several gay men turned up missing or murdered there.
Schweickert apparently has a history of violence and an Internet profile replete with references to sexual torture and murderous plots.
Schweickert was charged Friday in Tampa as an accessory to murder, allegedly helping dispose of bodies of the victims of his friend Steven Lorenzo.
Victims were allegedly lured to Lorenzo's Florida home, where they were drugged, bound, assaulted, and killed in some cases. One of the bodies was cut up and scattered in dumpsters around the area.
Lorenzo, 46, had already been charged with drug facilitated crimes of violence by police looking to solve at least six murder or missing persons cases in the area.
Searching Lorenzo's home, police found sexual bondage and domination pictures and videos, so-called date rape drugs and items used to bind victims.
The criminal complaint against Schweickert, filed late Friday afternoon, includes Internet chats between him and Lorenzo talk about how to drug, torture and kill unsuspecting victims.
Authorities quickly discovered Schweickert's e-mail account was billed to a Lakeview building.
No residents at the building Friday afternoon recognized Schweickert's picture and his name did not appear on the building directory. However, the building manager remembered him as having lived here more than a year ago as the guest of one of the owners.
It could be a potentially significant fact because there are several unsolved gay murders that took place in the area, including actor Brad Winters, who was stabbed to death in his apartment in August of last year. Kevin Clewer was also stabbed to death in his home several months earlier.
Chicago Police say they are "talking with Tampa to see if there might be a connection." Might appears to be the operative word right now.
Schweickert has a previous record of sex-related violence. He was convicted in 1998 of battery of a man he tried to handcuff in his apartment after luring him there to fix a computer.
Although the lead is tantalizing, Chicago Police are cautioning not to get carried away with it. The only real connection they have so far is that of a Chicago man being charged in connection with some of the same crimes they're investigating locally.
(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc., All Rights Reserved.)
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