Crusader staff report
The family of an elderly woman who was brutally murdered last month is not giving up the search for her killer and hopes that a $20,000 reward would help bring help for their loved one.
Chicago police discovered 81-year-old Thana Muhammad’s body June 10 in her home at 100th Street and Forest Avenue in the Rosemoor neighborhood. Muhammad’s body was found dismembered and placed in two storage bins. A week later, police recovered Muhammad’s stolen silver 2012 Honda Accord on the West Side. Despite the recovery of the victim’s car. Chicago police have not been able to find or apprehend the suspect (s) who killed Muhammad.
“Let’s bring out the truth and start the healing. I pledge to not rest until other senior citizens know that this danger has been removed from their midst,” said Ashanti Chimurenga, Muhammad’s daughter. “If there is a story that can help this heartless killer to survive the wrath that has been unleashed by the heartless treatment of my mother, this is the time to tell it. But time is not on the killer’s side. There will soon not be anywhere for the killers to hide. We plan to leave no stone unturned.”
In the past weeks, the “Justice for Thana Campaign” handed out more than 30,000 Cash Reward flyers in the city. Chimurenga said the Chicago Urban League and the NAACP are among the community organizations that have joined in the call to find Muhammad’s killer.
Muhammad was a Muslim for more than forty years, according to Chimurenga. She joined the Nation of Islam in the late 1960’s and still practiced Ramadan at the age of 80. Members of the Nation of Islam have stepped forward to support her family and to secure fairness for her. Black nationalist groups, including the New Black Panther Party, have also called on the community to show their love and pride by helping to bring out the truth about Thana.
Her daughter declared, “This crime is front page news everywhere. Our country has a killer without a soul out there free. The whole country is looking for the person (s) responsible. When you cut up people, you say that you chose to be a monster. That is headline news and leaves no place to hide.”
Camille Durham, the victim’s granddaughter and a criminal defense lawyer, reported that hundreds of people have flooded Facebook with appeals to help and the cash reward flyer has reached hundreds of thousands.
Anyone with information should call contact Area South detectives at 312-747-8271, or submit an anonymous tip at www.CPDTIP.com.
For more information about the Justice for Thana Campaign Hotline should call at 224-678-5001, or email [email protected].
