Crime & Safety
Wheeling Homicide: Suspect Denied Bond, Charged With Kidnapping
Calling him a "real and present threat," a judge denied bond to Ahmeel Fowler, who was charged in the deaths of Ja'Nya Murphy and her child.
WHEELING, Il — The man arrested in connection with the deaths of a Wheeling mother and daughter will remain in Cook County Jail after a judge denied his bond on Wednesday.
Wheeling police took Ahmeel Fowler, 26, into custody Tuesday on charges relating to the murders of Ja'Nya Murphy, 21, and her daughter, Jaclyn "Angel" Dobbs, 1, police said.
Fowler was initially arrested on Nov. 12 in Springfield, Missouri, and the Cook County Sheriff's Police Department extradited him to Illinois.
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He has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping, Wheeling police said. He appeared in court on Wednesday, where a judge denied his bond, calling him a "real and present threat," ABC 7 Chicago reported.
During Fowler's initial court appearance, a state's attorney said a combination of video and cellphone data placed him shopping for baby shoes with Murphy and Dobbs at Woodfield Mall on Monday, Nov. 8 — and placed him at her apartment later that day, according to ABC 7.
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Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Glendon Runk said in court that after they went shopping, Murphy spoke on the phone with her current boyfriend just before 11 p.m., The Daily Herald reported.
He became concerned when she didn't call him the next morning and all of his calls went to her voicemail, and her family filed a missing person report with police when she didn't arrive at her 10 p.m. shift at Woodman's on Nov. 9, the newspaper said.
When police conducted a wellness check, they found her dead in her apartment and realized Angel was missing. The baby was later found dead in an Indiana retention pond, and WGN 9 reported that prosecutors said cellphone data placed Fowler at that pond.
The prosecution said in February, Murphy reportedly called her parents crying and said Fowler had choked her, according to WGN 9. In 2017, Fowler was charged with unlawful restraint and two counts of domestic battery in a separate incident, the TV station said.
He will appear in court again on Dec. 10.
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