'Like Family': Bobby Crimo Writes Judge Asking Permission To Phone Friend, Former Neighbor

WAUKEGAN, IL — The man awaiting trial over the 2022 Highland Park parade shooting has reportedly asked the Lake County judge presiding over his case to expand his telephone access.

Bobby Crimo is set to stand trial next month on charges including 21 counts of first-degree murder for allegedly killing Katherine Goldstein, Irina McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy, Jacquelyn Sundheim, Stephen Straus, Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza and Eduardo Uvaldo and wounding dozens of other paradegoers on July 4, 2022.

Crimo, 24, has written to Lake County Circuit Judge Victoria Rossetti to request that he be permitted to make phone calls to a former neighbor and friend.

Crimo has been detained at the Lake County Jail since the night of the shooting. Throughout his detention, his communication privileges have been subject to various restrictions due to concerns over his conduct.

Rossetti has restricted Crimo to contact with family members, but, in a letter first reported by the Lake County News-Sun, he recently told the judge that the neighbor "is like family to me and was severely affected by losing me."

While the woman who Crimo is seeking to call has not been named in court, previous reports identified a former co-worker at Panera as a close friend and neighbor who reportedly harbored romantic feelings for the accused gunman.

“I felt like we’re the same person,” she told a reporter after the shooting. “We liked anime [and] similar music.”

In December 2023, Judge Rossetti revoked Crimo's phone and internet privileges after the Lake County State's Attorney's Office accused him of disclosing private information about a prosecutor.

That decision followed an incident in which a September 2023 call was shared publicly via a video from a conspiracy theorist acquaintance, in which Crimo claimed the shooting was an FBI "false flag."

Earlier that year, he had also lost his tablet privileges temporarily after making a prank call to a journalist with the New York Post who had sought to interview him.

During a status hearing earlier this month, Assistant Public Defender Gregory Ticsay petitioned for Crimo to be allowed communication with a "former neighbor and friend."

Prosecutors objected and Rossetti denied the request from Crimo's court-appointed attorney, keeping in place the current restrictions on Crimo's phone privileges.

Crimo, who last year appeared in court in a wheelchair on one occasion and carried a copy of the Quran on another, told Rossetti that he had not meant to "stare down" the victims and their families when looking behind him during his hearings.

“When I look into the gallery, I am merely looking at my family,” he said, according to the News-Sun. “I truly feel sorry for everyone involved.”

A spokesperson for Lake County courts did not respond Friday to a request for more information about the letter.

Crimo is due back in court Feb. 6 ahead of the scheduled start of his jury trial on Feb. 24.

Earlier: Crimo Confession Admissible In Court, Judge Finds Accused Shooter Waived Right To Lawyer