A door-to-door solicitor was charged with first-degree murder following the death of 62-year-old man who sustained head trauma after being beaten in Waukegan.
The Waukegan Police Department responded around 7:20 p.m. January 10 to an apartment complex in the 2400 block of Dugdale Road for a report of a battery.
Officers arrived and spoke to the 911 caller who told police that their neighbor, identified as Johnathan Wolfe, 62, was battered. Wolfe initially told police that he did not need assistance.
“However, based on the severity of Wolfe’s head injury he was transported to an area hospital. The Waukegan Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division (CID), based on the seriousness of the injuries, began an investigation,” Waukegan Police Commander Joe Florip said.
On January 29, Wolfe died from his injuries and Lake County Coroner Dr. Howard Cooper said that preliminary autopsy results show that he died from head trauma.
Police arrested Nicholas Grandison, 32, of Chicago, the following day and charged him with first-degree murder.
Investigators believe that Grandison entered the gated apartment complex without permission to solicit for a third-party energy provider.
“While Grandison was soliciting inside one of the buildings, he encountered Wolfe. During that encounter, a physical confrontation occurred between Grandison and Wolfe, which lead to Wolfe’s injuries,” Florip said.
The third-party energy provider’s name is not being released by the Waukegan Police Department. The company was not properly registered with the City of Waukegan to solicit, Florip added.
Grandison, who remains held in the Lake County Jail on a $5 million bond, is scheduled to appear in court again on February 14.