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Police: Trio Killed Man in Cell Phone Dispute, Put Body in Dumpster

By  Heather Cherone and Erin Meyer | October 17, 2014 11:27am | Updated on October 20, 2014 8:33am

 From left, Daniel Morris, Todd Cooper and Jake Tate were charged Friday in the murder of a 45-year-old man.
From left, Daniel Morris, Todd Cooper and Jake Tate were charged Friday in the murder of a 45-year-old man.
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Chicago Police Department

JEFFERSON PARK — Three men were charged Friday in connection with the death of a 45-year-old man who was beaten and strangled Tuesday near the Jefferson Park Transit Center in a dispute over a cell phone, prosecutors said.

Daniel Morris, 20, Todd Cooper, 35, and Jake Tate, 27, are being held on $2 million bond each in connection with the beating death of Joseph Kamen, whose body was discovered in the 4800 block of North Lipps Avenue at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, according to a news release from the Chicago Police Department.

Kamen was put in a Dumpster after being killed, police said.

Morris, of Bolingbrook; Cooper, of Harwood Heights; and Tate, of Jefferson Park, are charged with first-degree murder. Tate is also charged with trespassing.

All of the men are homeless, prosecutors said.

Kamen's death, which prosecutors said included a sexual assault, was captured by a surveillance camera owned by a nearby business.

The dispute that led to Kamen's death began Monday, when Tate accused Kamen of stealing his cell phone and Tate threatened to beat and sodomize Kamen, prosecutors said.

Cooper found Kamen sleeping in a doorway in an alley in the 4800 block of Lipps Avenue, and alerted Tate, prosecutors said.

Tate stomped on Kamen's head, leaving him lying motionless on the ground, as Cooper watched, prosecutors said.

Cooper and Tate walked away, and were talking with Morris when Kamen began to sit up, triggering a motion sensor in the alley, prosecutors said.

Tate ran back and attacked Kamen again, stomping on his head. Cooper punched Kamen, while Morris punched and choked Kamen. Tate sodomized Kamen with a stick, prosecutors said.

Once Kamen was motionless, Tate, Cooper and Morris dragged a Dumpster into the alley, tossed Kamen into it, and pushed it back to its original location, prosecutors said.

Morris climbed into the Dumpster and hit Kamen with a large brick or rock, before Cooper took Kamen's backpack.

Cooper and Morris admitted their role in the murder, prosecutors said.

Tate, who was convicted of burglary in 2010, was paroled in September 2011, prosecutors said.

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