Cook County officials said in court Thursday that a woman who had been missing for a while was found dead in an apartment in Logan Square earlier this week. She had been stabbed many times, and her neck was almost cut off.
Genesis Silva, age 34, is facing felony charges of hiding a murder and illegal use of a weapon in connection with the death of his lover, 33-year-old Brittany Battaglia. He has not been charged with murder yet, though, because police are still looking into the case.
Prosecutors said that when officers searched Silva’s home on Sunday, they found Battaglia’s body in a duffle bag. They said that traces of what might have been blood were found in the flat and on a machete that Silva had with him.
The medical examiner’s office did an autopsy on her body and found that she died from multiple cuts. Her death was ruled a murder. In court, the prosecutors said they were still waiting on the results of laboratory tests.
The tweet below verifies the news:
Disturbing details uncovered by prosecutors in stabbing death of Logan Square womanhttps://t.co/XaI5qMkwcZ
— NBC Chicago (@nbcchicago) June 8, 2023
Prosecutors say that Battaglia told her roommate last Friday that she was going to visit Silva, who she had been dating for more than a year, and that she was going to a party that night.
Battaglia didn’t show up to the party, and when her friend didn’t hear from her again, she got worried. The roommate called Battaglia’s brother, but neither of them could reach her. She was then reported missing.
Prosecutors said that on Sunday, officers watching the area saw Silva drive away in a car and pulled him over.
Prosecutors say Silva got out of the car with a red and black backpack and walked back to his apartment with detectives. In his bedroom, they found a big duffle bag.
Detectives said the apartment was a possible crime scene and told Silva to stay outside, according to prosecutors. Silva was arrested when he reportedly tried to get back into the apartment through a back interior stairway.
During a search, authorities said they found two cell phones, two small pocket knives, and an ice pick on him.
After getting a search order, detectives went to Battaglia’s apartment and found his body, as well as cleaning supplies, a paint suit, and a tarp and trash bags spread out in the kitchen.
Prosecutors say that a note found in the apartment said, “Can you ask how long it usually takes for something to smell?”
The machete that had blood on it was found in Silva’s backpack, and a second one was found in his car, according to prosecutors. They said that Silva wasn’t allowed to have a machete because he had been guilty of a crime.
Silva was found guilty of a crime in 2009 when he pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse instead of attempted murder and aggravated criminal sexual assault. According to the state’s attorney’s office, the charges against Silva were originally attempted murder and aggravated criminal sexual assault. Silva also had to register as a sex offender because he was found guilty.
On Thursday, authorities asked Judge William Fahy to keep Silva in jail without bail because he was charged with having weapons.
An assistant public defender for Silva said that the pocket knives and machetes that were reportedly found on him did not count as weapons under state law, and that prosecutors had not shown that any of the items had been used in a crime.
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Fahy didn’t agree and ordered Silva to be held without bail, saying that it seemed likely that Silva could face more serious charges and that Silva’s release would put the community in danger.
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