COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — One of the men accused of murdering 17-year-old Anthony Heatherly in April was free on bond at the time for an "eerily similar" 2014 murder case, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Tramian Barnes, 21, was previously charged with murdering Alex Anderson, 19, during a drug deal in Portage Park on Jan. 20, 2014. Bail was set at $1 million in that case — meaning Barnes needed to post $100,000 to go free.
He had done so by October 2015 and was a free man on April 4, 2016, when he and accomplice Kenyatta Alexander, 39, allegedly gunned down Heatherly during a drug deal outside the Taco Burrito King at 5509 N. Harlem Ave. Heatherly was a former Taft High School student.
Barnes appeared Wednesday before Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil, who ordered the man held without bail.
"I have to take into account that this is a bond-on-bond situation," the judge said. "And the facts of the case are similar to the case he already posted bond on."
Alexander is slated to appear in bond court Friday. He was hospitalized Wednesday afternoon after drinking bleach, according to court testimony. Additional details were not immediately available.
According to authorities, Heatherly drove his black two-door Hyundai to the Taco Burrito King parking lot about 1 p.m. April 4 to sell marijuana to Barnes and Alexander.
The men arrived in a white four-door Nissan driven by Barnes' 22-year-old girlfriend, Assistant State's Attorney Liam Reardon said in court Wednesday. The duo got out of their car, climbed into Heatherly's vehicle and told the girlfriend to "pull up."
Alexander then shot Heatherly once in the chest, prosecutors said.
At that point, Alexander and Barnes shoved Heatherly's body out of the Hyundai, according to Reardon. Barnes got behind the wheel and drove off — running over Heatherly and dragging him several feet, prosecutors said.
Barnes' girlfriend followed Barnes out of the parking lot in the white Nissan, Reardon said, and the entire incident was captured on surveillance footage.
Paramedics were called to the scene, and Heatherly was later pronounced dead at Lutheran General Hospital. A bag of marijuana was found next to the teen when police and paramedics arrived, according to a source close to the investigation.
Barnes, meanwhile, led his girlfriend to a waiting third vehicle, and told the woman to go home and wait for his call, prosecutors said. She was later instructed to pick up Barnes and Alexander in an alley in suburban Maywood, where the men left the Hyundai.
According to Reardon, Barnes told multiple people that Alexander shot Heatherly. The men were arrested this week; Barnes is charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and carjacking.
17-year-old Anthony Heatherly died April 4 after he was discovered with a gunshot wound in his chest in Norwood Park, officials said. [DNAinfo/Evan F. Moore; Facebook]
Police do not believe Anthony, who was shot in the chest, was involved in a gang, sources say.
Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st) said residents of Edison Park and Norwood Park would sleep better knowing arrests had been made in the case.
“Everyone knew they were going to get them,” Napolitano said. “It was inevitable.”
Napolitano said he was “ecstatic” for Anthony’s family.
“Chalk one up for the good guys,” Napolitano said.
Marilyn Falkenberg, a teacher at Taft, remembered Anthony as a "nice kid." He played on the Norwood Park school's football and basketball teams, friends said, before transferring to an alternative high school.
Anthony also was mourned by members of the Chicagoland Petrolheads and Car Spotters group on Facebook, which was devoted to car lovers.
The teen's family has declined to speak to reporters.
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