UPDATE: Neighbor charged in NW Side man’s beating deathThe neighbor of a Northwest Side found beaten to death Tuesday in his home has been charged in connection with his murder, and with assaulting a nurse and a police officer following his arrest.
Daniel Tyler, 34, of the 5300 block of North Northwest Highway, was charged with first degree murder, aggravated battery to a police officer, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and attempting to disarm a police officer, a police source said. A warrant had been issued for his arrest.
He was charged in connection with the murder of Michael Justo, who was found dead about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday in the gangway of his home at 5331 N. Northwest Hwy. Justo suffered massive trauma to the head, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
Tyler is also charged with striking a medical staff member and a police officer, then trying to disarm the officer after he was taken to an area hospital for self-inflicted injuries following his arrest, the statement said.
While at Advocate Illinois Medical Center, Tyler allegedly hit a female nurse with a glass shelf, leaving her with a wound that required 38 stitches, police said. Tyler, of 5327 N. Northwest Hwy., allegedly punched the officer in the face.
Police first responded to the Justo home about noon Tuesday to investigate a burglary there, officials said. Police took a report and left, and Justo, 56, told his wife he suspected the burglar was a neighborhood man he knew, a source said.
Detectives were interviewing the man Justo fingered as the possible burglar, the source said.
An autopsy on Thursday found Justo died of multiple injuries from an assault and his death was ruled a homicide, the medical examiner’s office said.
Justo was laid off from a city job driving a truck at O’Hare Airport, his former wife Nicole Justo told the Sun-Times. He previously worked for ComEd.
“He always helped his older neighbors shovel their snow,” Nicole Justo said, adding that he loved to go boating. “He had a good heart.”
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A man who appeared to have been beaten to death was discovered inside in the basement of his Northwest Side home, authorities said this morning.Michael Justo, 56, was found unresponsive with massive head trauma just before 11:30 p.m. Tuesday at his residence in the 5300 block of North Northwest Highway, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office.
The home sits in the normally-quiet Gladstone Park neighborhood in a community that hasn't had a homicide since 2008.
Police had no additional details.
The case is being handled by Grand Central Area detectives. Police had no one in custody.
