Man Arrested in 1992 Murder of Skokie Teen

Teen found strangled in a Morton Grove forest preserve in 1992

A 71-year-old man has been in arrested in the 1992 death of an Illinois teen found strangled in a forest preserve, the boy’s mother told the Chicago Sun-Times Thursday.

“I don’t know how I feel right now,” Esther Chereck, of Skokie, said. “I can’t tell you very much. I’m just in limbo.”

Chereck said she is “absolutely” relieved if investigators have found the person who strangled her son, 15-year-old David Chereck, with his own winter scarf and then left his body in Linne Woods Forest Preserve.

A murder warrant was issued July 21 for Robert Serritella, according to Cook County court records, which lists his home address in Los Angeles.

Chereck said Cook County sheriff’s cold case investigators contacted her Wednesday to let her know about the arrest.

David Chereck was last seen alive by a friend about 10 p.m. on New Year’s Day, 1992, near a 7-Eleven store in Skokie. His body was found the next day in the Morton Grove forest preserve.

The possible resolution in the case comes many years after the death of the teen’s father, Allan Chereck, who passed away in 2000.

It was unclear where Serritellla was arrested, but records indicate he had most recently lived in Los Angeles County.

Copyright CHIST - SunTimes
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