2 charged with tying up and killing man in Chicago home had met him online for sex, prosecutors say
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The two men accused of tying up and killing a 63-year-old man in his basement apartment in Norwood Park last weekend had gone to his apartment for sex after meeting him on a dating app, prosecutors said in court on Saturday.
Jefferson Ubilla-Delgado, 29, from Venezuela, and Geiderwuin Bello Morales, 21, from Ecuador, both have been charged with first-degree murder and robbery in the death of 63-year-old George Levin.
Prosecutors said Bello Morales and Ubilla-Delgado had met Levin through a dating app, and had gone to his apartment for sex on Sunday night.
At their first court appearance on Saturday, a judge ordered the men to be held in jail as their case moves forward.
Levin's sister found him late Sunday night in the basement apartment of the home they shared with their mother in Norwood Park.
Levin had dinner with his mother and sister at their home earlier that night, before Levin excused himself to go back to his apartment alone around 8 p.m.
About half an hour later, Levin's sister heard a loud noise from the basement, and when she walked downstairs to check on him, she saw Bello Morales leaving her brother's bedroom. When she asked him where Levin was, Bello Morales assured her he was okay, and he would have Levin call her later.
A short time later, surveillance video captured Bello Morales and Ubilla-Delgado leaving Levin's apartment.
Levin's sister didn't see her brother again until she forced the door open shortly before 11 p.m., and made a discovery that a judge called "shocking and horrifying."
She found her Levin tied up – his hands bound with duct tape and his feet tied together with an electrical cord – and a sock stuffed in his mouth and secured with duct tape, according to prosecutors. He had been badly beaten and possibly suffocated.
Levin's sister pulled the duct tape off her brother's mouth and performed CPR while waiting for paramedics to arrive, according to prosecutors.
Levin was taken to Ascension Resurrection hospital, and was pronounced dead. An autopsy determined he died of multiple injuries, and his death was ruled a homicide. Prosecutors said he suffered a hemorrhage to the neck, a subdural hemorrhage to the head, and fractured ribs.
After killing Levin, prosecutors said Ubilla-Delgado and Bello Morales took his phone and wallet, and used his phone place four orders on Amazon totaling more than $4,000. They were also caught on camera at a vape shop where they tried and failed to withdraw money from an ATM using Levin's credit cards.
Prosecutors said Ubilla-Delgado was wearing a GPS ankle monitor from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the time of the murder.
Police were able to track him down to the apartment he shared with Bello Morales using Levin's phone and the GPS ankle monitor Ubilla-Delgado was wearing.
Prosecutors said Levin's sister identified Bello Morales in a lineup, and Ubilla-Delgado later admitted to going to Levin's apartment.
The defense team argued what happened in the basement was an "unfortunate accident" between "consenting adults."
In court, a judge ordered the men detained until trial, calling what happened "much more than sheer tragic."
Prosecutors said Morales was arrested two weeks before the murder on charges of assaulting a victim under the age of 13. A source told CBS News Chicago Bello Morales tried to lure to young girls into a car.
CBS News Chicago reached out to the Chicago office for ICE to ask about Ubilla-Delgado's ankle monitor, but their voicemail box was full.
Ubilla-Delgado and Bello Morales were due back in court on Thursday.
As for federal immigration authorities' role in this case in the future, ICE won't get custody of the defendants for a while.
"They will remain in the custody of the Cook County Sheriff until this case is tried, and if they are found guilty, they will be sentenced to the Illinois Department of Corrections," CBS News Chicago legal analyst Irv Miller said. "ICE won't be able to get their hands on these guys unless, A, they're found not guilty at trial and released from the Cook County Jail, or they've completed their sentence, which I suspect will be many years from now. So this is not going to be a quick situation where ICE is going to be involved and these guys are going to be thrown out of the country."