Yorkville man sentenced to 70 years for 2003 murder of Aurora woman
A Yorkville man has been sentenced to 70 years in prison for the 2003 murder of an Aurora woman who was missing for 17 years before her body was found.
In May, a jury found 53-year-old Prince L. Cunningham guilty of first-degree murder in the May 2003 shooting of 22-year-old Tyesha Bell of Aurora.
On Friday, a Kane County judge sentenced him to 70 years in prison. Under Illinois law, he is not eligible for early parole, meaning even with credit for the nearly 4 years he's spent in custody since he was charged, his punishment effectively serves as a life sentence.
Aurora police said Bell was last seen by her sister inside the apartment they shared in the 800 block of North Randall Road on May 10, 2003. After getting a call, she left home, with the TV still on, her purse and identification left behind, and candles still burning in her bedroom. Her family hasn't seen or heard from her since.
Prosecutors say during the early morning hours of May 9, 2003, Bell left her Aurora apartment, where she lived with her sister and 1-year-old daughter, to meet Cunningham. Prosecutors say Cunningham was in a dating relationship with Bell, even though he was already married and was the father of her daughter.
Cunningham told Bell he would meet her outside the apartment and give her money to buy a new car. The last call Bell received on her cell phone was from Cunningham, prosecutors said.
In the months prior, Cunningham convinced Bell to end their court-ordered child support arrangement and instead let him give her cash, according to prosecutors. They frequently met to exchange money. Cunningham also once called the police on Bell after she showed up at his house in Aurora, where he lived at the time with his wife.
In the days after Bell's disappearance, Cunningham initially told police that he hadn't spoken on the phone with her in months and claimed that he was not the father of their daughter. Cunningham also contacted the Montgomery Police Department, claiming that a pair of Converse shoes had been stolen from his car and suggested Bell may have been involved.
Prosecutors say that Cunningham additionally contacted his wireless carrier to ask that his phone be deactivated, changed his number, and gave his car to his niece, creating a months-long delay for police to find and search the vehicle.
Bell was missing for 17 years until December 2020, her bones, clothes, and personal items were found in a wooded part of Kane County in a shallow grave, and were taken to the Kane County morgue for additional testing. Prosecutors say that a Converse shoe, appearing to be the same age as the remains, was also found. An autopsy and forensic analysis determined the remains belonged to Bell, who had died from a single gunshot wound to the back of the head.
"This sentence justly represents the horrific choice that Prince Cunningham made when he chose to take the life of Tyesha Bell. He robbed Tyesha's daughters of their mother and robbed her family of a sister and a daughter, and he did so purely out of his own selfishness. Although no sentence can undo the pain caused by this defendant, today's outcome delivers the justice Tyesha deserves. It also honors the relentless efforts of everyone who refused to let this case go unsolved, despite the defendant's lies, attempts to distance himself from the crime, and continued refusal even today to take accountability for his actions," Kane County State's Attorney Jamie Mosser said in a statement after Cunningham was sentenced for Bell's murder.
