A man has been charged after allegedly forcing a teenager to kill a postal carrier along her route. Octavia Redmond, a 48-year-old wife and mother, was fatally shot in Chicago on July 19, 2024, when a teen stepped out of a car and opened fire multiple times at close range. Redmond died at the hospital, with the teenager pleading guilty to first-degree murder this year. The Chicago Police Department confirmed on Wednesday that 35-year-old Lyndell DeYoung has been charged with two felonies, first-degree murder and murder with a strong probability of death or great bodily harm, in connection with Redmond’s killing. “Through the course of the detectives’ investigation, a witness related that Lyndell DeYoung was the offender who planned the murder of Octavia Redmond,” an arrest report obtained by The Chicago Tribune states. Further details were not released. In DeYoung’s pretrial hearing, prosecutors claimed that the unnamed teen, who was 15 years old at the time of the shooting, told a grand jury that DeYoung had threatened his life if he did not carry out Redmond’s killing.
The teenager was arrested in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on September 30, 2024. He was extradited to Chicago shortly after, the Chicago police confirm. The teenager was sentenced to five years behind bars, the U.S.
Postal Inspection Service stated in July. A Cook County judge granted a request by prosecutors to keep DeYoung behind bars ahead of his trial. In the pretrial hearing, prosecutors claimed that DeYoung had watched Redmond’s mail route in the weeks leading up to her killing.
They also alleged that cellphone data and evidence connected with a stolen car used in the shooting link DeYoung to the killing. DeYoung is set to return to court on September 17 and has requested a trial. He is the third man charged in connection with the case.
Redmond was described in a GoFundMe campaign as the “queen” of her family, who were left “devastated” by her death. Elise Foster, who works with the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 11, says that she hopes Redmond’s family will be able to find closure.
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