Man held on $8M bail for aunt’s Christmas Day murder
BY DAN ROZEK AND TINA SFONDELES Staff Reporters
Anthony Rapoport is charged with one count of first degree murder.
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Anthony Rapoport beat his aunt to death with an aluminum baseball bat on Christmas Day because he was sick of being “nagged,” authorities said Monday as the Wilmette man was jailed on $8 million cash bail.
The 24-year-old Rapoport then tried to cover up the slaying by dropping a kitchen knife near his aunt’s hand and telling police she had threatened him, Cook County prosecutors said.
But his 88-year-old grandfather witnessed the beating of Nancee Rapoport and told police what occurred Saturday afternoon in the small brick and wood-frame home three generations shared in the northern suburb, officials said.
“He saw (Anthony) strike Nancee Rapoport in the head with a baseball bat. The victim had nothing in her hands,” assistant state’s attorney Robert Heilingoetter said.
After the 49-year-old woman collapsed to the floor, the 240-pound Rapoport struck her again in the back of the head with the bat, Heilingoetter said, quoting the description provided to police by Hershel Rapoport, Anthony’s grandfather.
The deadly beating followed several earlier disputes between Anthony Rapoport and his aunt, including a Christmas Eve argument over what type of doughnuts to buy.
That clash brought Wilmette police to the home, where Rapoport was arrested on an outstanding warrant for aggravated assault stemming from an October arrest in Skokie. Rapoport, in that case, allegedly threatened a hospital worker with a knife, then kicked a nurse and punched a security guard.
But Rapoport was released on bail on Christmas Day and returned home, where he and his aunt then argued about her missing cell phone, authorities said. Police again were called to the home but no one was arrested in the dispute.
A short time later, Anthony Rapoport allegedly called his uncle--Nancee’s estranged husband--and told him he wanted to harm his aunt. His uncle came to the house, saw Rapoport leaving the home, then found his estranged wife lying severely injured inside the home, authorities said.
Rapoport later was found in the neighborhood with blood on his clothes, police said.
Questioned by investigators, Rapoport ultimately gave a videotaped statement admitting he bludgeoned his aunt, then put the kitchen knife near her hands, Heilingoetter said.
Rapoport has a history of mental health and drug-abuse issues, his court-appointed attorney said.
An autopsy showed Nancee Rapoport suffered severe injuries, including skull fractures and multiple brain contusions caused by two separate blows to the back of the head, prosecutors said.
The hulking Rapoport, who stands 6 feet 2 inches tall, didn’t speak during his court hearing, except to confirm his identity.
Several neighbors said they tried to keep their distance from him.
“He was just odd,” said a neighbor, who asked not to be identified.
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