Nov 19, 2008 7:18 am US/Central
Girl Admits To Beating Witness In Cop's Murder
Prosecutors: Girl Was Angry With Witness For Talking To Police About Suspect In Case
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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An ambulance takes Detective Robert Soto's body from Mt. Sinai Hospital to the Cook County Morgue in August. Soto died a day after being shot on the city's West Side.
CBS
A new development has surfaced in the August murders of a Chicago Police detective and his friend on the city's West Side.
A teenage girl has pleaded guilty to charges that she robbed and beat a witness in the Aug. 13 killings of Detective Robert Soto and social worker Kathryn Romberg. They were both found shot to death in Soto's personal car in the 3000 block of West Franklin Boulevard.
Prosecutors say the girl was angry with the witness for speaking to police about Jason Austin, who was charged in the case but released in September for lack of evidence.
Before he died, Soto said the robbers fled in a maroon car, which was tied to Austin. Just five days after the murders, Austin was charged.
But Austin and his own attorneys argued that his car was in the repair shop at the time, and witnesses who placed Austin at the scene changed their story.
After being released, Austin lashed back with a federal lawsuit against the city and the Chicago Police Department, claiming he was severely mistreated during the investigation.
During the investigation, two teenage girls – Tashianda Howland, 18, and a 16-year-old relatives, were charged with beating and intimidating a female witness.
Authorities said the witness was beaten at least twice on the city's West Side. On Aug. 19, the 16-year-old suspect hit the witness in the face with a lock attached to a string, police said. The victim suffered a swollen lip and eye during the attack in the 600 block of North Troy, authorities said. The 16-year-old girl also made threats on the victim's life, police said. Later, Howland beat the victim with her fists, then the 16-year-old allegedly threatened the witness with a canister of pepper spray, police said.
The STNG Wire contributed to this report.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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