Man Accused In Brutal Murder, Sexual Assault Of Roommate

NORTHFIELD TOWNSHIP, IL — Officers discovered the scene of a gruesome homicide this week when they were called to a suburban apartment building by a man who has since been charged with murder, authorities said.

Prosecutors said a resident of the Salem Walk apartment complex sexually assaulted and fatally beat his roommate, a 61-year-old woman and fellow Mongolian immigrant.

Shinebayar Tudevdorj, 49, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault. He appeared in court for the first time Friday in Skokie, where a judge ordered him to remain jailed until a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

According to Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Mary McMahon, a neighbor who lived directly below the apartment where Tudevdorj and the woman had lived for the past five months told investigators they had been unable to sleep on Monday night due to the sound of "nearly constant bangs and thumps" coming from the woman's bedroom.

"There were also sounds of something being dragged on the floor, raised voices and a woman moaning," McMahon said.

Four days before she was found beaten to death, the woman had confided in a fellow home health care worker that she was afraid of Tudevdorj. Instead of returning to her apartment, she stayed past her shift with the co-worker on Oct. 14, the prosecutor said.

Two days later, on Sunday, she spent the night at a neighbor's home, telling the neighbor that she feared Tudevdorj, according to McMahon. On Monday, the neighbor checked in to make sure she was OK and she responded that she was.

Tudevdorj called 911 around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, telling dispatchers that his roommate was not answering and that he thought she was dead, McMahon said.

In the 45 minutes before he called police, analysis of Tudevdorj's cell phone indicated that he sent two text messages to contacts in his phone referencing the woman by name, saying she had lost consciousness and suggesting he should call 911, the prosecutor said.

When Cook County sheriff's police arrived, they found the woman lying naked on her back with a pool of blood around her head, according to the prosecutor.

McMahon said she appeared to have been severely beaten, with blood spattered around her bedroom and a bloody ankle weight nearby. The other matching weight was found in the closet of Tudevdorj's room, where officers also found clothes that appeared to have been set out to dry, including pants that tested positive for blood.

"A large clump of long, dark hair was attached to the Velcro on the pants," McMahon said. "That hair appeared consistent with the hair of the victim."

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The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the woman's death a homicide caused by multiple injuries from an assault.

The woman's autopsy showed evidence of brain bleeding, severe bruising and sexual assault, prosecutors said.

Her name had not been publicly released because her next-of-kin had not been notified as of Friday afternoon, according to a spokesperson for the medical examiner.

Tudevdorj, who had a scratch mark and swollen hand with cuts to his knuckles, denied having any knowledge of the woman's death, the prosecutor said.

He told investigators that he went to bed at 9 p.m. Monday and woke up briefly Tuesday morning before going back to bed until 7 p.m. that evening — a half-hour before he called 911, according to McMahon.

Because Cook County courts were unable to provide in-person Mongolian translation services, the assistant public defender assigned to represent Tudevdorj could not speak to him in private before Friday’s hearing.

As a result, a hearing on the prosecution's petition to have Tudevdorj held without bail ahead of trial was postponed until Wednesday. He will remain at Cook County Jail until then.

The Salem Walk apartments are located in a portion of unincorporated Northfield Township near the borders of Northbrook and Glenview, which makes the sheriff's office the lead investigative agency. Another resident of the complex was the victim of a gun homicide in February 2019.