New Details Emerge Of Grisly Hickory Hills Slaying
HICKORY HILLS, IL — In the days before anelderly man was found brutally slain in the home he shared with his troubled, adult grandson in Hickory Hills, relatives were seeking a restraining order to have the troubled younger man removed from the residence, court documents revealed.
Hickory Hills police found Dean L. Faulk, 91, was found with multiple ax wounds last Friday, sitting in his recliner and covered with a plastic bag when officers arrived at the 8700 block of South 81st Court in response to a domestic call.
His grandson, Dean Joseph Faulk, 32, appeared Sunday for a pretrial hearing on a charge of first-degree murder at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building, where a judge ordered him to be detained.
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Prosecutors said in the days leading up to the elder Faulk’s slaying, his grandson had been acting aggressively toward him all week. Twice the day before the elder Faulk was found deceased in his home, prosecutors said police had visited the residence when the grandson verbally abused his grandfather and kicked down the side door to the garage.
When a family member went to the house Friday morning looking for the elder Faulk, he lifted the garage door where he noticed Dean L. Faulk’s car was missing. The family member called his wife, then drove down Archer Avenue in Willow Springs, looking for the elder Faulk’s car at a popular breakfast restaurant, the prosecutor said.
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The family member then drove back to Faulk’s house at 9:42 a.m. Friday. When he opened the door he saw the elderly man on his reclining chair, his body covered by a plastic bag. An ax was laying against the wall next to Faulk’s recliner. The prosecutor said the family member called police after lifting the plastic bag and seeing cuts on Faulk’s head.
Doorbell security camera video from nearby residences captured the grandson, Dean Joseph Faulk, in the area of his grandfather’s home around midnight Friday, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said video footage captured the younger Faulk around 1:17 a.m., enter a Chevy Cruze parked near his grandfather’s house and look around inside with a flashlight. Video footage captured the younger Faulk leaving his grandfather’s house around 7:20 a.m. and returning at 7:38 a.m.
At 8:42 a.m., the grandson left in his Chevy Cruze, which was tracked by a license plate reader traveling eastbound on 87th Street to Cicero Avenue in Oak Lawn, the prosecutor said. Faulk returned shortly before noon when Hickory Hills police were already on the premises. A second person observed Faulk turning around and accelerating away before flagging down police, prosecutors said.
Hickory Hills officers pursued Faulk and took him into custody. The prosecutor said Faulk was not wearing shoes nor was he in possession of a phone during his arrest. Blood speckled shoes were found atop a basement dresser in his grandfather’s residence that contained the younger Faulk’s clothing, court documents said.
A search warrant was also executed on the younger Faulk’s Chevy Cruze parked near his grandfather’s residence, where officers said they found a sheathed kitchen knife and ax.
The Cook County Medical Examiner autopsy revealed multiple chop wounds from at least four blows from an ax, with the possibility of a fifth in the elder Faulk’s head and neck area, the prosecutor said.
A judge ordered Dean Joseph Faulk to be detained in custody at Cook County Jail. Faulk is set to appear Tuesday at the Bridgeview Courthouse.
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