GUILTY IL - Trenton Cornell-Duranleau, 26, stabbed to death, Chicago, 27 Jul 2017 *graphic* *Arrests*

[CARIIS]

HIt me as a strange headline -- maybe (humgup on they both particpated in the actual stabbing) -- it was early as it was breaking and has not been in other stories

Maybe he was not as involved in the actual murder as it seems ?

Northwestern professor remains 'hopeful,' will appear in California court

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-former-northwestern-professor-remains-hopeful-will-appear-in-california-court-20170806-story.html

maybe forced to drive him??

 

[MelmothTheLost]

A friend of mine,who travels in some interesting circles, described the S&M scene as mostly play acting with just enough danger to keep it interesting. There are, apparently, a lot of understood rules and signals that keep things from getting "out of hand". From what he told me things occasionally but rarely do get "out of hand".

In consensual S&M there is always a "safe word" or "safe phrase" which is used to give an unambiguous "STOP NOW!" signal, because words or phrases like "stop" or "no more" can be part of the game. The safe word or phrase is agreed beforehand and for the person inflicting the "punishment" to ignore its use is a massive betrayal of trust.

 

[lulu212]

I went to college with Wyndham. We knew each other well enough to chat at parties and sit together in the cafeteria, but we weren't close friends. We have a number of good friends in common. After college he was our class president for reunion planning, and I ran into him at reunion last summer. My impressions of Wyndham are that he was brilliant, funny, interesting and dedicated to our school. He was kind and friendly. I have photos of him marching in our campus reunion parade from last summer -- he has a huge smile, is laughing with friends... and I ate dinner with him that evening and he told us all about the happy and positive things that he was working on in life. At that stage he was planning to move to France for a high profile job at a lab there. I don't know why the move didn't happen, but I do know that a year ago he was in a very good place and looking forward to the future. The news is shocking to me, and I'm withholding any conclusions until he has a chance to share the facts -- because the pieces don't make sense, and that sentiment is echoed by all of my friends who knew him well.


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[lulu212]

I went to college with Wyndham. We knew each other well enough to chat at parties and sit together in the cafeteria, but we weren't close friends. We have a number of good friends in common. After college he was our class president for reunion planning, and I ran into him at reunion last summer. My impressions of Wyndham are that he was brilliant, funny, interesting and dedicated to our school. He was kind and friendly. I have photos of him marching in our campus reunion parade from last summer -- he has a huge smile, is laughing with friends... and I ate dinner with him that evening and he told us all about the happy and positive things that he was working on in life. At that stage he was planning to move to France for a high profile job at a lab there. I don't know why the move didn't happen, but I do know that a year ago he was in a very good place and looking forward to the future. The news is shocking to me, and I'm withholding any conclusions until he has a chance to share the facts -- because the pieces don't make sense, and that sentiment is echoed by all of my friends who knew him well.


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Also, I'll add: it looks to me like his eye was injured in the mug shot. His eyes were not asymmetrical.


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[jjenny]

I went to college with Wyndham. We knew each other well enough to chat at parties and sit together in the cafeteria, but we weren't close friends. We have a number of good friends in common. After college he was our class president for reunion planning, and I ran into him at reunion last summer. My impressions of Wyndham are that he was brilliant, funny, interesting and dedicated to our school. He was kind and friendly. I have photos of him marching in our campus reunion parade from last summer -- he has a huge smile, is laughing with friends... and I ate dinner with him that evening and he told us all about the happy and positive things that he was working on in life. At that stage he was planning to move to France for a high profile job at a lab there. I don't know why the move didn't happen, but I do know that a year ago he was in a very good place and looking forward to the future. The news is shocking to me, and I'm withholding any conclusions until he has a chance to share the facts -- because the pieces don't make sense, and that sentiment is echoed by all of my friends who knew him well.


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You never know what goes on in someone's mind.

 

[lulu212]

You never know what goes on in someone's mind.

I absolutely agree with that. I also believe that we can't leap to a conclusion until all of the facts are in...and even then, who really knows?


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[jjenny]

In consensual S&M there is always a "safe word" or "safe phrase" which is used to give an unambiguous "STOP NOW!" signal, because words or phrases like "stop" or "no more" can be part of the game. The safe word or phrase is agreed beforehand and for the person inflicting the "punishment" to ignore its use is a massive betrayal of trust.

My understanding is , if submissive claims he has no limits (which is what a British guy supposedly posted on the net), he isn't going to use a safe word.

 

[kemo]

http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago...ssor-facing-murder-charges-a-gentle-soul/amp/

At his arraignment this morning, Lanthem has pleaded Not Guilty and his Attorney his claiming that they are going to establish his complete innocence. I don't see how they can do that without throwing Andrew Warren under the proverbial bus. Since they stuck together for a week and there is that "confession video", this might not be easy but you never know. Lanthem has first class legal resources at his disposal while Warren will probably have a public defender ( I don 't know if the British Consulate will provide him with any legal help).

I keep thinking of the Robert Wone case which is looking very similar and that one was never solved. It is well worth a "Google" while waiting for more information on this case.

 

[jjenny]

I am going to guess that each one of them will blame the other.

 

[jjenny]

I absolutely agree with that. I also believe that we can't leap to a conclusion until all of the facts are in...and even then, who really knows?


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Circumstances of the crime seem so sordid. Hard to imagine how the good professor could be "completely innocent" as his lawyer apparently is going to claim.

 

[jjenny]

I agree with you, jenny, about Lathem having ready access to all kinds of chemicals and -perhaps even more concerning- biological agents.

I do think there was some pre-planning involved, but maybe the murder was more fantasy- and obsession-driven than practicality. And having a third party -someone from abrosd in particular- play a role may have been part of the fantasy as well.

BTW, it appears Lathem was born in London:
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVWL-RRXH
(according to his "Inmate Detail Custody Information," his DOB is 08/10/1974 ): https://www.acgov.org/sheriff_app/inmateSearch.do

Based on further research, it also appears Lanthem's father is a physician with many published articles, but both his parents are American. Perhaps the dad held a position with a hospital or a university in England at the time?

Add to that, he currently has a couple of federal grants to do his research. Not that it has anything to do with this crime, just an interesting footnote. The guy was obviously able to function quite well in society (better than most, in fact).

 

[Spellbound]

Any idea of how old Lathem was when he came to the US?

I came across his twitter account: https://mobile.twitter.com/wlathem?lang=en

 

[Satchie]

I absolutely agree with that. I also believe that we can't leap to a conclusion until all of the facts are in...and even then, who really knows?

Thanks for offering your memories of Lathem, I'm sure this must be very shocking and painful for all the friends, relatives and colleagues of all 3 people.** It's perplexing because none of them showed any propensity to criminality or violence, but as everyone knows, there is sometimes a very dark shadow side to a personality that isn't revealed in daily life.

In the absence of an explanation of what happened to violently cut short this young man's life, people are going to discuss it and make their best guesses about it, just as they would if he had died of any other unexplained circumstances. But if information is revealed, people are quite willing to change their minds. There is the pecularity that, unlike an autopsy, the explanation may never come, or may be untrustworthy, so I think this does fuel the tendency to draw speculative conclusions.

 

[jjenny]

Thanks for offering your memories of Lathem, I'm sure this must be very shocking and painful for all the friends, relatives and colleagues of all 3 people.** It's perplexing because none of them showed any propensity to criminality or violence, but as everyone knows, there is sometimes a very dark shadow side to a personality that isn't revealed in daily life.

In the absence of an explanation of what happened to violently cut short this young man's life, people are going to discuss it and make their best guesses about it, just as they would if he had died of any other unexplained circumstances. But if information is revealed, people are quite willing to change their minds. There is the pecularity that, unlike an autopsy, the explanation may never come, or may be untrustworthy, so I think this does fuel the tendency to draw speculative conclusions.

Here circumstances aren't all that mysterious. The young guy was killed by being stabbed multiple times. Clearly this isn't natural causes. We know what happened (he was killed by being stabbed multiple times-so impossible to blame on an accident, I presume), we just don't know why.

 

[Satchie]

Here circumstances aren't all that mysterious. The young guy was killed by being stabbed multiple times. Clearly this isn't natural causes. We know what happened (he was killed by being stabbed multiple times-so impossible to blame on an accident, I presume), we just don't know why.

Sorry, I meant who/why/how was he stabbed.* The "truth" of what happened.* Just like we want to know the truth about anyone who dies:* was it a heart attack, were they hit by lightening, did they overdose, what kind of drugs was the overdose?* It's natural to want to know, and until we know, we speculate.

In the trial process, the jury is not supposed to ask those questions but just hear whatever evidence either side wants to offer and then come to a conclusion about guilt. This is what I think Lulu12 was requesting, that on websleuths we behave like a jury.

But actually, we behave more like detectives, and the friends and family of a suspect naturally don't like strangers speculating online about their loved one and proposing theories that may well be completely unreal.* I agree, it must be quite offensive to them, but I was trying to suggest that people want to know the 'truth', and when we don't get it, we going to speculate.

 

[kemo]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...estern-professor-stabbing-20170808-story.html

Not a lot of new information coming out. The most newsworthy item is the disclosure that French authorities denied the Northwestern University professor a security clearance to work at the prestigious Institut Pasteur, authorities said Tuesday.

 

[jjenny]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...estern-professor-stabbing-20170808-story.html

Not a lot of new information coming out. The most newsworthy item is the disclosure that French authorities denied the Northwestern University professor a security clearance to work at the prestigious Institut Pasteur, authorities said Tuesday.

Wow. I wonder what the reason for the denial was.

 

[kemo]

Wow. I wonder what the reason for the denial was.

There is no reason to believe that Latham was involved in extremist politics or criminal activity and, in this day and age, a gay lifestyle shouldn't jeopardize a security clearance. There could be something there.

How Andrew Warren fits into this affair is quite the mystery. He appears to have been leading a rather ordinary life when he somehow found himself involved in a murder with a big name scientist in a country he had never been to before.

Apparently his father died in a auto wreak in the last year and he had become quite depressed. He just disappeared three days before the murder without telling anyone he was going anywhere. His sister, with whom he lived, reported him to the authorities as a Missing Person. This suggests she may have feared he was intent on "self harm".

It is very probable that the use of the term "no limits" on a dating website is significant in this case. The time Lapse between his leaving the U.K. and turning up in Lathem's apartment is just too short. They didn't meet each other in Chicago; they were clearly in touch before he left. Warren was hardly a sexually attractive man. There was apparently some mutual interest the men shared that would justify such a journey.

When a "Submissive" offers to be in a " no limits " relationship, he is agreeing to allow the "Dominant" to do what ever he wants and he is agreeing to do whatever the "Dominant" demands of him. Within the S&M world, it is considered "way out there". I have no idea how common such arrangements are. It sounds to me to be very consistent with suicidal ideation.

Is it possible that both Lathem and Warren were seeking far and wide for such an arrangement? So, how does such a situation result in a third man being murdered in Lathem's apartment?

 

[Satchie]

A few things come to mind on how someone might fail the security clearance: firstly, if it's discovered that the person has lied in any way during the investigation. Theis page on US security clearances cites that for some levels of clearance [ Quote] the use of dating Web sites to specifically engage in frequent sexual activity, the use of webcams to engage in sexual acts, or uploading sexually explicit material on the Internet. Although none of this is criminal in nature, it can be viewed as engaging in a pattern of compulsive or high-risk sexual behavior that a person is unable to stop or may be symptomatic of a personality disorder.[/Quote] http://www.tullylegal.com/arlington-va/blog/sexual-behavior-and-your-security-clearance/

Another issue could be a background check on anyone you're living with or have lived with for the past few years. If that person has a criminal record or other dodgy past, you can be denied clearance.

The shock/humiliation of being denied clearance seems to me potentially a trigger for some extreme behaviour.

 

[HastingsChi]

I agree Lathem was likely the dominant, controlling one. But I also think someone as obviously smart as he is would normally come up with a better plan, that would have a chance he might get away with it. Unless he was completely lost in the fantasy, and only got back in touch with reality when the murder was over. Certainly, the first degree murder charges mean it was more than just a fit of anger.

Agreed.

The fact that Lathem's a specialist in pathogenic bacteria, and specifically in how the Black Death plague causes disease in human beings leads one to believe that if he simply wanted to kill someone he probably could have done so in a stealth manner and his involvement might not have been detected.

If the report of the genital mutilation is accurate, this leads me to believe that we will see an argument/defense that it was a consensual killing [extreme deviant sexual connection to death or castration could be the common link that they claim the three shared]. Does that make it less of a murder? Absolutely not. However it muddies the waters in the public arena.

Let's hope that they do not go that route and attempt to implicate the victim in his own death.