Man charged in Chicago killing

The body of a woman found under a Chicago house is linked to a New Port Richey man.

NEW PORT RICHEY - A 42-year-old man has been arrested on charges of having strangled and killed a Chicago woman, New Port Richey police reported Thursday.

Officers went to John Edward Lakas' door at Apt. B-8, 5534 Executive Drive, New Port Richey, about 10 a.m. Wednesday and arrested him without incident, Cpl. Jeffrey Harrington said.

The arrest was made by New Port Richey police at the request of Chicago police detectives who had traveled here to investigate, Harrington said.

The case has made headlines in Chicago partly because the victim's decomposing body was found beneath a home now owned by a nephew of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the victim, Barbara Boyd, had been missing since 1996. Boyd, who would have turned 41 in the spring, was living with Lakas and his elderly father, who was Boyd's boyfriend. Lakas' father, 81, died in January.

The house Boyd's body was found in was being demolished by Mayor Daley's nephew, who had bought it in June, the Tribune reported. The home, on the 3700 block of Chicago's South Parnell Avenue, had previously been owned by Lakas. He had lived there with his father and Boyd until they moved out and left it vacant two or three years ago, the Tribune reported.

On Sept. 4, a construction crew digging in what had been the home's crawl space found Boyd's body wrapped in a blue tarpaulin, the Tribune said. Investigators found a key chain bearing Boyd's first name in Boyd's pants pockets.

The Tribune reported that authorities identified the body as Boyd's through physical features, including several tattoos and a set of metal rods surgically implanted in her legs after a near-fatal 1988 auto accident.

Chicago detectives told New Port Richey police that a woman witnessed the strangling and attempted to revive Boyd, but was unsuccessful. The woman told detectives that the slaying happened sometime in 2000. The police report gave no indication of when the woman had reported this to authorities.

According to the Tribune, a relative of Boyd's had first filed a missing person report on her in 1996.

Lakas is being held without bail in the county jail in Land O'Lakes. Harrington said Illinois authorities are seeking to extradite him.

- Steve Thompson covers crime in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6245 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245. His e-mail address is sthompson@sptimes.com

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