No bond in runaway's murder

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Police arrest William McIntosh n the 5800 block of Fullerton on Friday evening. McIntosh is charged with the 2007 murder of 17-year-old Marlaina "Niki" Reed.

Marlaina Reed was a ward of the state, living in a group home in Chicago about 170 miles away from her Downstate hometown.

But she kept in touch with her great-aunt, Fran Winters, of Danville.

They chatted regularly on the telephone, and occasionally Winters would come to see Reed.

Then, on Jan. 21, 2007, the 17-year-old girl was found bound and strangled in a Humboldt Park alley. Reed, who had run away from the group home, was stuffed into a Casio keyboard box.

"I loved her very much and miss her," Winters said. "She would hug me and tell me she loved me."

Winters said her heart has ached ever since Reed's slaying.

But on Saturday, she said one of her prayers was answered: A suspect, William McIntosh, was ordered held without bond in Reed's murder.

"I didn't think the detectives had given up," Winters said.

McIntosh, 46, seemed dazed Saturday when he appeared before Cook County Judge Donald Panarese.

"What am I charged with- " he asked the judge.

"Murder," Panarese responded bluntly and ordered McIntosh back to jail.

Tests indicated McIntosh's DNA was on cloth used to bind Reed's legs, detectives said. McIntosh also pawned a Casio keyboard a little more than a week after Reed's body was found, police said. And McIntosh's mother's name, Evelyn, was scrawled on Reed's leg, detectives said.

"Even with the mountain of circumstantial evidence we have, this case wouldn't have been a success without the help of the FBI and the Illinois State Police crime lab," Chicago Police Detective Michael Landando said.

McIntosh, arrested Friday outside his home in the 5800 block of West Fullerton, told detectives he didn't kill anyone.

His criminal record includes a 2009 conviction for stabbing a dog to death in his apartment.

Detectives initially did not know the identity of the victim because her face had decomposed. A forensic artist reconstructed her face, detectives placed a sketch in Illinois Dental News, and a dentist said the woman was one of his patients -- Reed.