Motel 6 Homicide: Man Accused Of Fatally Shooting Woman In Glenview

GLENVIEW, IL — A Chicago man is being charged with first-degree murder in the death of a woman Sunday at a Motel 6 in Glenview. Melvin Trimble, 37, of the 1600 block of St. Louis Avenue, Chicago, is accused of fatally shooting Aliyaha Frierson, 27, of Chicago, and was arrested and charged at 1:47 a.m. Tuesday, according to police.

Bail for Trimble was set at $500,000 Tuesday afternoon at the Skokie Courthouse. The case has been continued to March 21 for indictment. He is currently incarcerated at the Cook County Jail.

At around 5:12 a.m. Sunday, police arrived at the motel at 1535 Milwaukee Ave. and attempted life-saving measures on Frierson. She was later pronounced dead at the scene from a single gunshot wound, according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. A firearm, which belonged to Frierson, was recovered at the scene.

According to prosecutors, guests at the hotel heard a gunshot and then a woman screaming. A proffer revealed that Trimble allegedly waited 45 minutes to call 911 and told the operator, "I got into a tussle with my girlfriend." Prosecutors said the two were involved in an on-again, off-again "tumultuous relationship." Frierson had checked into the motel earlier in the night and had listed Trimble as a guest.

"There is a history of abuse that the defendant is alleged to have been involved in, and there is some 45 minutes that pass before 911 is called," Associate Judge Anthony John Calabrese said Tuesday before announcing his decision to deny a no bond request by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. "That the gunshot was close to the body, and then there is 'I got into a tussle with my girlfriend which ended deadly.' The statement made by the defendant, that might be suggesting that there was a fight over the gun and she ended up getting killed, which would impact the potential for it being an intentional shooting as opposed to anything else."

Calabrese said the state fell short of the burden of finding there was "evident proof or great presumption of guilt worthy of denying bond."

Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Ravin read off an extensive list of prior convictions for Trimble, including a pending predatory criminal sexual assault, an armed habitual criminal charge dropped to aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in 2019, drug dealing convictions and an armed robbery in 2001. For the predatory criminal sexual assault charge, a violation of bail bond was filed against Trimble.

"You have two individuals that are in a room. One ends up dead. The other one waits 45 minutes to call 911, while talking to 911, hangs up the phone ... he waited, he called his mother, then he called one of the mothers of his children that he had domestic history with, she didn't answer the phone. After those three calls, 5:10, 5:11, and 5:12, he then called 911," Ravin said.

Calabrese handed down special conditions, whereas Trimble can have no contact with any witnesses, past domestic violence victims or the family of Frierson.

"We have a close to the body shot, which could be self-inflicted. We have a gunshot and then a scream, after the gunshot. We have our client calling and saying there was some sort of tussle," Elizabeth Tarzia, the Cook County public defender assigned to Trimble said. "There's no admission here that he in any way was involved in the shooting of his ex-girlfriend. Additionally, judge, he stayed there the entire time, and if flight is evidence of guilt, I would argue the opposite that staying is evidence of not being guilty."

The Glenview Police Department conducted the investigation with assistance from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the North Regional Violent Crimes Task Force.

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