Wyndham Lathem (left) and Andrew Warren
Wyndham Lathem and Andrew Warren both worked at universities. Lathem taught microbiology at the Northwestern University in Chicago, while Warren was a payroll assistant at Oxford University’s Somerville College.
Not long ago, both men were strangers and lived on different sides of the world. But earlier this month, they sat together in a getaway car as they tried to escape the fact that they, allegedly, were murderers.
Apparently, the two met online through chatrooms and spent months talking about “carrying out their sexual fantasies of killing others and then themselves.”
But sadly, their sick fantasies would take a turn for the reality. And who would be their murder victim? None other than 26-year-old hairstylist Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau, or Lathem’s boyfriend.
This past Sunday, the two men stood in court with Cook County judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. while Assistant State’s Attorney Natosha Toller recapped their alleged actions the night of July 27.
Before then, Lathem had flown Warren in and had him stay in a hotel room close to his Chicago condo. Inside the condo, Cornell-Duranleau laid sleeping.
Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau (Credit: Homocide Watch Chicago)
Around 4:30 a.m., both men entered the condo and Lathem grabbed a 6-inch drywall knife. He then stabbed Cornell-Duranleau in the neck and chest with it.
The victim immediately woke up and tried to fight but was soon ganged up on, as Warren allegedly covered his mouth and hit him over the head with a lamp.
At some point, Warren got a hold of two other kitchen knives and the two continued to stab Cornell-Duranleau about 70 times. The autopsy shows that the body’s back, neck and chest were sliced up so deeply that it was nearly decapitated. In fact, the attack was so violent that one of the knives broke.
After Conell-Duranleau laid dead, the two decided to flee. Even though their original plan was to commit a murder and then kill each other (Lathem stabbing Warren and Warren shooting Lathem), they instead cleaned themselves off, got in a car, and drove Westward.
It seems that the two realized their terrible deed as they started to show actions of guilt and remorse.
Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau (Credit: Homocide Watch Chicago)
On their run from the law, the two made it to Lake Geneva, Wisconson. There, Lathem decided to donate a $1,000 check to the town’s library in Cornell-Durnaleu’s name (he also donated $5,610 to a Chicago LGBTQ health center earlier that day).
Plus, Lathem then made a call to the condo building’s doorman and told him that there was something wrong in his room.
After that, Lathem also sent a video to his family and friends. In it, he apologized for his “involvement” in the murder and Anthony Guglielmi, the spokesman for the Chicago police, stated that in the video Lathem says he’s made “the biggest mistake of his life.”
Some point after that, the two split up as Lathem was later caught in Oakland, California and Warren was arrested in San Francisco. The two then admitted to the murder as Prosecutors told the Chicago Tribune.
At the moment, the defendants haven’t made an official plea, but the case is still continuing. We'll keep you updated as the story develops.
No doubt this “fantasy” and
No doubt this "fantasy" and the actual murder was meth-fueled