Ex-Northwestern Professor Wyndham Lathem Found Guilty Of Murder

CHICAGO — After jurors heard closing arguments in the case of a former Northwestern University professor accused of the brutal stabbing murder of his boyfriend, it took them less than two hours to return a verdict of guilty.

Trenton Cornell-Duranleau, 26, was found dead inside the River North apartment of then-Northwestern associate professor of microbiology Wyndham Lathem in July 2017. He had been stabbed 79 times.

Investigators found bloody knives — one with its tip broken off — along with methamphetamines and various drug paraphernalia in the apartment, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said Lathem used the internet to recruit Andrew Warren, a fellow British native, to take part in a kind of murder-suicide pact, paid for his flight from England to Chicago, and plotted with him to kill Cornell-Duranleau.

Defense attorneys argued that Warren killed Cornell-Duranleau alone in a meth-fueled jealous rage, with Lathem taking the stand to contend that he had been in the bathroom during the stabbing.

Lathem, 47, and Warren, 61, were arrested in the San Francisco Bay Area after spending eight days on the lam. Warren pleaded guilty to the murder in July 2019.

During their time on the run, Lathem, who both sides agree was suicidal at the time, recorded a video message to his parents in which he appeared to confess to the murder and advise them on what to do with his assets and body after his death.

"I killed him, I did do it. It wasn’t an accident, but it was a mistake," a sobbing Lathem says in the video. “I don’t think I’m a bad person, but I am apparently, I did something that nobody should ever do.”

According to Warren, he had been supposed to film Lathem as he killed Cornell-Duranleau, but he could not bring himself to do so. He testified that Lathem had gone into the bedroom alone with a drywall knife and began to struggle with Lathem.

As Cornell-Duranleau began to scream and shout while fighting for his life, Warren said he put his hand over Cornell-Duranleau's mouth to keep him quiet before grabbing a lamp and breaking it over Cornell-Duranleau's head. Evidence showed Warren had what appeared to be a bite mark on his hand.

Warren is due to be sentenced to 45 years in prison, which could be reduced by 20 years if he is permitted to return to the U.K. now that he has testified against Lathem, as his plea agreement requires.

Defense attorney Barry Shepperd sought to cast doubt on Warren's testimony, describing him as the state's "star witness," as well as a "moral leper" and "homicidal creep."

Shepperd said Warren had a strong motivation to lie to shorten his sentence. And the defense attorney said Lathem's confession was not as it seemed — that it instead indicated Lathem felt morally responsible for Cornell-Duranleau's killing, even if he was not legally responsible for it.

“You could certainly see why Dr. Latham would think that he’s morally responsible," Shepperd said. "Number one, he flew over this maniac from England.”

But prosecutors also pointed to physical evidence, such as Lathem's blood on the murder weapon, his pattern of destroying digital evidence in the days leading up to the killing and the aforementioned video-recorded confession, among other things.

“In this case it’s not one star witness," Assistant State's Attorney Craig Engebretson said. "It's a pile of evidence, it’s pieces of evidence that when you put them together they all corroborate themselves and point to the defendant.”

Related:

• Ex-Northwestern Professor To Stand Trial In Fatal Stabbing
• British Man Admits Murder, Agrees To Testify Against NU Professor
• Not Guilty Pleas In Fatal Sex Fantasy Stabbing
• Sex Fantasy Of Ex-Northwestern Professor, Oxford Staffer Led To Fatal Stabbing, Prosecutors Say