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Man Stuffs Dead Body in Suitcase, Smiles When Asked About It: Prosecutors

 Arthur Cain, 53, is charged with killing Dominique Shavonne Ferguson last year.
Arthur Cain, 53, is charged with killing Dominique Shavonne Ferguson last year.
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Chicago Police

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — When neighbors spotted Arthur Cain dragging a red suitcase down the road late last year, they asked if he was carrying a dead body, prosecutors said.

Cain allegedly turned, smiled and kept on walking.

The next day, his missing girlfriend's body was found stuffed inside that same suitcase in a nearby alley. She'd been killed — probably by suffocation, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Cain, 53, was arrested this week and charged with first-degree murder and concealment of a homicide. A judge ordered him held without bail Wednesday, saying "You pose a threat."

Cain is on parole for a 1980 murder conviction, for which he was sentenced to 70 years in prison, state records show.

According to prosecutors, Cain began a sexual relationship with 21-year-old Dominique Ferguson in November. On Christmas Day, Ferguson opened gifts with her family and 2-year-old daughter before heading over to visit Ferguson at his home in the 300 block of West 116th Street, authorities said.

She was never seen or heard from again, according to Assistant State's Attorney Lesley Gool, who spoke during a bond hearing Wednesday.

Police found Ferguson's body inside the red suitcase on Dec. 27, prosecutors said. It had been stacked next to trash bins in an alley in the 300 block of West 115th Street.

An autopsy revealed that Ferguson had been killed. The medical examiner  listed her cause of death as "unspecified means, favoring asphyxia," Gool said.

As detectives investigated, they learned that Cain was captured on surveillance footage buying a red suitcase at Wal-Mart on Dec. 26, prosecutors said. It was just a few hours later that neighbors made their joke about lugging a dead body, Gool added.

When those neighbors realized what had happened, they reported Cain to police, according to prosecutors.

Cain later admitted to buying the suitcase, putting Ferguson's body in it and dragging it down the street before dumping it in an alley, prosecutors said. He did not confess to the murder.

Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. on Wednesday ordered Cain held without bail.

Cain also had been sentenced to 45 years in prison for armed robbery in that same case for which he was convicted of murder in 1980, police said.

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