Three suburban teenagers have confessed to a pre-planned murder of a Palos Park couple, police said, to rob them of thousands in cash. The couple's son was charged last month with two counts of first-degree murder.
Christopher Wyma, 17, of Bridgeview; Mohammad Salahat, 17, of Chicago Ridge; and Ehab Qasem, 19, of Hickory Hills were each charged with murder. John Granat, 17, of Palos Park was charged in September.
The bodies of John Granat, 44, and Maria Granat, 42, were found in the bedroom of their Palos Park home on Sept. 11. An autopsy determined John Granat suffered blunt force trauma to the head, while Maria Granat suffered blunt force trauma to the head and was repeatedly stabbed.
After multiple interviews and conflicting stories, detectives said they were told by Salahat that he drove Wyma and Qasem to the Granat home, and the 17-year-old Granat let them inside around 2 a.m.
Salahat, Wyma and Qasem told police they went upstairs with Granat to find the couple sleeping. The couple's son began stabbing his mother, police said, while the three other teens began beating both with baseball bats.
When the couple was dead, police said Granat gave the three teens some of the thousands of dollars in cash being kept in his family home. They all left then and disposed of their weapons and clothing in area forest preserves and other locations, police said.
The three teens were denied bond during a hearing Tuesday in Bridgeview.
Granat is being held without bail in the psychiatric wing of Cermak Hospital at the Cook County Jail. He also is set to appear for his next hearing Tuesday in Bridgeview.
