Sanity Evaluation Ordered For Naperville Murder Suspect
JOLIET, Ill. (STMW) -- An evaluation has been ordered to determine the sanity of a 54-year-old man awaiting trial in the 2011 bludgeoning murder of his sister in her home on Naperville's far south side.
The case against Mark R. Lewis has been on hold since last March, when he was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial for the June 6, 2011 slaying of his older sister, Cathleen A. Lewis.
Records on file in Will County Circuit Court in Joliet indicated a motion for a sanity evaluation of Lewis was made and then granted Friday by Judge Daniel J. Rozak, who is presiding over the matter. The case has been continued to April 17, records showed.
Lewis, of northwest suburban Lakemoor, is in the custody of the Illinois Department of Human Services' Division of Mental Health, and is undergoing treatment at an undisclosed facility.
He is charged with murder and home invasion in connection with his sister's death. He is also charged with identity theft, for allegedly embezzling more than $2,000 from the bank checking account of his elderly mother, who lived with his sister.
Cathleen Lewis, 59, was found dead in her townhome on the 2300 block of Worthing Drive, on the edge of Naperville's Old Farm neighborhood. Mark Lewis is accused of beating her with a hammer, after authorities said she confronted him over the missing money.
Mark Lewis went missing for 37 days after his sister's death.
Police in Escanaba County, Fla. arrested him in July 2011, after he sat for five hours behind the wheel of his green 1999 Ford Explorer in the parking lot of a CVS Pharmacy in Pensacola. Store employees who called police said they had been unnerved by Lewis' "blank stare" and failure to make eye contact with them, police said in 2011.
Lewis became agitated when approached by police, and told them he had been looking for a local U.S. Navy base. Police then learned he was wanted on a warrant out of Illinois.
Investigators in 2011 said Lewis did not use any bank debit or credit cards or leave any sort of paper trail following the discovery of his sister's body. Relatives and friends told police they did not see or hear from him in the days and weeks that followed the slaying.
Examiners from the Will County coroner's office concluded Cathleen Lewis died of "cranial cerebral injuries due to blunt head trauma," and listed homicide as the manner of her death.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
