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NU Professor, Oxford Employee In Custody For Fatal Chicago Stabbing

(CBS) -- The Northwestern University professor and the University of Oxford employee wanted in connection with a man's fatal stabbing in River North are in police custody in California, the Chicago Police Department announced late Friday.

Wyndham Lathem, 42, and 56-year-old Andrew Warren are wanted on first-degree murder warrants for the July 27 stabbing death of 26-year-old Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau, at Lathem's apartment in the 500 block of North State Street.

Lathem was an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Northwestern, while Warren is an employee of Somerville College, under Oxford, in Great Britain.

The suspects were the subject of a national manhunt. Their capture was announced Friday night by CPD spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi, who credited the U.S. Marshals Service with handing the suspects to Oakland, Calif. police.

Lathem was found in Oakland, and Warren was located in nearby San Francisco, a spokesperson for the marshals service told CBS 2. Details weren't immediately available.

The two were expected to appear in court in California and eventually be returned to Chicago, CPD's Guglielmi said..

"Both individuals will be held accountable for their actions and we hope today's arrest brings some small level of closure and justice for the victim's family. We are also thankful both men are safely in custody and this did not end in further tragedy," Guglielmi said in a statement Friday.

Police have said officers were called to Lathem's building on July 27 to conduct a well-being check after an anonymous caller reported a possible crime in the professor's 10th floor apartment.

Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau
Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau (Family Photo)

Guglielmi has said officers found a "very gruesome" crime scene inside, adding the victim was "savagely murdered."

Lathem and Warren allegedly traveled to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, after the murder and made a $1,000 donation to the Lake Geneva Public Library in the victim's name after committing the murder, according to Guglielmi.

Their relationship to Cornell-Duranleau is unclear, but Lathem and the victim are listed as friends on Facebook. Police said Warren has no apparent connections to Northwestern, and it's unclear why he was in Chicago.

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