Lawyer Killed in Northbrook Office Strangled in Targeted Attack, Police Say

NORTHBROOK, IL — The lawyer who was killed in his Northbrook office earlier this week was strangled to death and was the intended target in what police are calling “an isolated incident,” police said on Saturday. Dozens of investigators from the North Regional Major Crimes Unit are actively investigating the case, but police are not close to making an arrest in the death of Jigar K. Patel, according to a Northbrook Star report.

Police Chief Charles J. Wernick said the last person to see Patel - a 36-year-old Prospect Heights resident who headed a law firm at the office in downtown Northbrook in which he was killed - was his secretary, who left the office at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

Police arrived at the office in the 1300 block of Shermer Road at 7:30 p.m. on a wellness call from Patel’s wife when she reported him missing. They found him dead on the floor after being let in by an office keyholder.

Related: Death of Attorney in Northbrook Office Ruled a Homicide

"He was scheduled to make a stop on the way home and didn't make that stop," Wernick said during a Saturday afternoon news conference.

Wernick said he believed Patel was the intended target in the attack, that the incident was not random and that residents should not be on alert.

A neighbor of Patel in Prospect Heights told the Star he moved to the area with his family less than a year ago. Police cars were parked outside the residence for hours the night of his death.

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