COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A man awaiting trial for murder was charged with two additional murders this week after police linked DNA evidence to a 2012 case.
Prosecutors said Angelo Matthews, 26, wrapped a T-shirt around his face to conceal his identity before gunning down two men in Austin on June 19, 2012.
As Matthews fled the scene, the T-shirt dropped to the ground, leaving behind his DNA, Assistant State's Attorney Jamie Santini said in court Wednesday. Recent testing by the Illinois State Police identified Matthews' DNA as a match to what was collected from the shirt.
Matthews has been in jail since July 2012, when he was charged with murder in a 2009 case and held without bail, Santini said. Matthews' next court date for that case is March 12. No further details were immediately available.
During a bond hearing Wednesday, prosecutors said Matthews fatally shot two men on June 19, 2012, as retaliation for his own cousin's murder, which had happened three days prior.
Matthews believed someone from the 1200 block of North Mason Avenue was responsible, Santini said, so he headed to the street and opened fire about 1 a.m.
Roy Smith, 25, and Shavez Wilson, 22, were shot in their heads and pronounced dead on the scene, prosecutors said. The pair had been standing on Wilson's porch.
Smith, who lived in Atlanta with his fiancee and three children, was in Chicago for his grandfather's funeral, according to relatives.
“He was all about his family and work,” Smith's grandmother Deola Smith told DNAinfo Chicago. “They’ll shoot anybody … they don’t care.”
Prosecutors said Matthews ran off after the shooting, and opened fire at a car driving down the street. He didn't strike anyone inside.
Several witnesses identified Matthews as the shooter, Santini said, and Matthews admitted to someone that he had shot two people on Mason Avenue as revenge for his cousin's death.
Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas ordered Matthews held without bail on Wednesday.
Matthews was previously convicted of aggravated battery in 2007 and 2008, prosecutors said. He also picked up convictions for possession of a controlled substance in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
In addition to the pending murder charge, Matthews is also awaiting trial for an aggravated battery he allegedly committed while in jail.
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