An Illinois man is behind bars after police say he strangled a teen girl and left her body in a Chicago apartment building.
According to WGN 9, Chicago police arrested Joshua Williams Saturday and charged him with murder, in connection with the death of 15-year-old Amarise Parker. He’s facing an additional charge of being a fugitive from justice.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Parker was found deceased last Tuesday in the 7200 block of South Phillips Avenue in the South Shore area. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed her identity and an autopsy indicated that she had been strangled.
Parker was last seen alive on August 30 in the 10900 block of South Wood Street in Chicago. Family members said she left the residence that day after returning home from school.
“She was a lovely soul. Everybody loved her. Although she had been missing, but she didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve this,” Parker’s mother, Yahanna Clark, said, according to CBS News.
Clark added that her daughter had been dating someone who reportedly lived in the building where police found her body.
“She had reached out to me and was trying to come home,” Clark said before the arrest. “And the person that did this, you need to just give it up because God’s gonna get you anyway. But you need to come forward and do the right thing.”
Parker attended school at CICS Loomis Longwood High School, 1309 W. She was a sophomore at the time of her death.
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[Feature Photo: Amarise Parker/Handout]
