Leesa Lovett, 55, of Waukegan, was allegedly stabbed to death by her boyfriend at his Waukegan apartment on Monday, police said. He was caught by police at Union Station in Chicago later that evening.
The Waukegan Police Department was called at 12 p.m. Monday to a well-being check at an apartment building in the 800 block of Grand Avenue. Police officers found an unlocked apartment door and no answer when they knocked. They entered the apartment and found a deceased woman, later identified as Lovett, Waukegan Police Chief Wayne Walles said.
Walles and the Lake County Coroner’s Office said that Lovett had been stabbed to death. Investigators learned that Ivan Rodriguez, 52, who lives at the apartment, was a person of interest in the case. Area law enforcement agencies were notified to be on the lookout and Rodriguez was located at Union Station in Chicago by a Metra police officer later Monday evening.
He was arrested and transported back to the Waukegan Police Department. Rodriguez, who was in a relationship with Lovett, was charged with one count of first-degree murder and appeared in bond court Tuesday afternoon.
An autopsy performed on Lovett confirmed that she died from sharp force trauma. The Lake County Coroner’s Office and the Waukegan Police Department said that the investigation into her death is ongoing.
Lovett did not live with Rodriguez at his apartment, police added.
Rodriguez remains held in the Lake County Jail on a $2 million bond. He is scheduled to appear in court again on December 20.