A British man charged in the 2017 stabbing death of another man in Chicago has pleaded guilty in a deal that calls for him to testify against a former Northwestern University professor also charged in the killing in exchange for a 45-year-prison sentence.
Oxford University employee Andrew Warren was scheduled to go on trial next week but attorneys announced at a Monday court hearing that he has agreed to testify against Wyndham Lathem.
Police launched a manhunt for the pair in August 2017 after the body of Lathem's boyfriend, Trenton Cornell-Duranleau, was discovered in Lathem's Chicago apartment. He had been stabbed dozens of times.
Days later, the two men surrendered to authorities in California.
Both were charged with first-degree murder and are now in custody in Chicago.
Authorities said Warren admitted that the two met on the internet and communicated about their shared fantasy for several months before Lathem paid for him to come to Chicago from England in late July.
After Warren arrived in Chicago, the men "discussed who they would kill and when," authorities said, settling on Cornell-Duranleau, who was Lathem’s boyfriend, to be their first victim.
Prosecutors allege that the men ultimately planned to kill one another – with Warren shooting Lathem as he stabbed him – after committing several murders.
