Boystown cold case: Chicago police investigated 2004 murder as potential hate crime
Boystown cold case: Chicago police investigated 2004 murder as potential hate crime
The confirmation comes as the case reaches 22 years without a charge, with a $50,000 reward now on the table and a police sketch of the only person of interest still the department's clearest public lead.
CHICAGO - Chicago police investigated the 2004 stabbing death of Kevin Clewer as a potential hate crime, Detective John Campbell confirmed to FOX Chicago, citing what he called the pure violence involved in the killing of the 31-year-old in his Lake View apartment.
Campbell stopped short of calling hate the motive. He said that remains speculation until it can be proven.
Stabbing death investigated as potential hate crime
The backstory:
The confirmation comes as the case reaches 22 years without a charge, with a $50,000 reward now on the table and a police sketch of the only person of interest still the department's clearest public lead.
Clewer was out on North Halsted the night of March 23, 2004, stopping at Roscoe's, Sidetrack and the since-demolished Little Jim's. Police say he met a man who identified himself as Fernando and left with him. Clewer's father found his son's body the next day in his apartment in the 3400 block of North Elaine Place. He had been stabbed 42 times, all in the back.
Both of Clewer's parents died the following year, his mother in April and his father in May. His brother, Ron Clewer, has led the public push for answers since.
Campbell was assigned the case in 2017. He said roughly 30 detectives have worked it, and the file fills two boxes.
Investigators sent a fingerprint from the apartment overseas after witnesses said Fernando claimed to be from Portugal. Campbell said the print was run through agencies including Scotland Yard, and through every state in the country. Nothing matched.
That changed in 2020 when someone who had held information for years told a relative, who contacted police. Campbell said that tip gave detectives a name.
Dig deeper:
"The lead took us to Puerto Rico, and where we interviewed a subject who I do believe is Fernando," Campbell said.
He said the department is not in a position to prove the man's identity, and there is not enough evidence to bring charges.
Campbell said the working theory is that Fernando met men at bars, went home with them and took cash and jewelry once they fell asleep. He acknowledged that theory does not account for 42 stab wounds, which he said suggest intimacy or hatred.
Campbell said he believes people who know the man have not come forward because they are afraid or assume their information will not help.
Campbell told FOX 32 in a written statement that the department's biggest failure in 2004 was how it communicated with victims' families.
He said the detective originally assigned to Clewer's case did not keep the family informed. Campbell said there are times investigators withhold details to protect a case, but that in this one it turned into no communication at all.
"This led them to think the CPD didn't care about Kevin because he was gay," Campbell wrote. "That was not the case, but it was the conclusion that the family had because they were not given updates."
Campbell said the detective division now uses family advocates who stay in touch with victims' families. He described the change as a work in progress with room for improvement.
He said he wished he had said it on camera.
What you can do:
Anyone with information can contact CPD anonymous homicide tip line 833-408-0069, Area Three Detectives 312-744-8261 or Cook County Crime Stoppers at 800-535-7867. Callers may remain anonymous.
The Source: The information in this article was reported by FOX Chicago's Terrence Lee.