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Northwestern Professor Wanted In High-Rise Murder Returns To Chicago

By  Erica Demarest and Kelly Bauer | August 19, 2017 11:57pm | Updated on August 20, 2017 12:17pm

 Wyndham Lathem, 43, and Andrew Warren, 56, are charged with first-degree murder.
Wyndham Lathem, 43, and Andrew Warren, 56, are charged with first-degree murder.
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Chicago Police Department; San Francisco Police Department

CHICAGO — The fired Northwestern University professor and Oxford University employee wanted in a bloody River North slaying have returned to Chicago following a nationwide manhunt.

Wyndham Lathem, 43, and Andrew Warren, 56, made international headlines earlier this month when they fled Chicago following the grisly stabbing of 26-year-old hairstylist Trenton H. James Cornell-Duranleau, who was found murdered in Lathem's 10th floor apartment July 27.

Lathem and Warren are expected to appear in Bond Court on Sunday. Officers, speaking before the court appearance, said prosecutors will talk about the "dark and disturbing" motive for the slaying.

The case took bizarre turns as authorities revealed Latham donated $1,000 to a Wisconsin library in the dead man's name and sent an apology video to friends and family.

Lathem was dating Cornell-Duranleau, police said.

The murder itself was described as "very graphic" by police. Officers found Cornell-Duranleau's body after Lathem called his doorman anonymously and said a crime had been committed in an apartment, police said.

The crime scene was "horrific," police said. Officers searching the apartment found Cornell-Duranleau's body, which police have described as "mutilated," as well as two knives, police said. One of the knives was broken.

RELATED: Northwestern Professor Sent Apology Video To Friends After Murder

Lathem and Warren surrendered to authorities in Oakland, Calif., on Aug. 4. They were extradited to Chicago and arrived over the weekend before being charged with murder.

Lathem, a well published microbiologist, began teaching at Northwestern University in north suburban Evanston in 2007. He was fired from the prestigious school Aug. 4 "for the act of fleeing from police when there was an arrest warrant out for him."

Warren, meanwhile, worked as a senior treasury assistant at Oxford University in Great Britain, according to the school's website. His sister reported him missing days before the murder.

RELATED: National Manhunt On For Northwestern Professor Wanted In High-Rise Murder

Cornell-Duranleau was found stabbed to death about 8:30 p.m. July 7 in Lathem's apartment at the Grand Plaza, 540 N. State St. Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi called the murder "very graphic."

"The victim's body had been stabbed several times ... to the point of mutilation," Guglielmi said. "This was an attack that had a great deal of rage or passion, and the victim was brutally murdered."

Guglielmi said that the day after the slaying, Lathem and Warren went to the Lake Geneva Public Library in Wisconsin and donated $1,000 in Cornell-Duranleau's name. There is no known connection between the library and Lathem, Warren or Cornell-Duranleau.

Cornell-Duranleau, a native of Corunna, Mich., worked as a hairstylist after earning his cosmetology license in Holland, Mich., according to an obituary posted by his family.

"Throughout his life, he loved music and animals," the obituary read. "His enthusiasm for life was infectious. Trenton was a caregiver and loved to help others. His youthful free spirit fueled his love of cars, video games and cartoons."