Fiend Kidnapped 16-year-old Jessica Tetter in Calumet City, IL, Took Her to Hammond, IN, Murdered (and Did God Knows What Else to) Her, and Dumped Her

in the Garbage; Suspect was Sometime Lover of Vic’s Mom
By Nicholas Stix
 

Murder victim Jessica Tetter was only 16. She was found beaten to death in a Hammond, Ind. trash bin. (Handout)
 

Suspect John Hurt, 27, is in custody; he was the on-again, off-again boyfriend of the vic’s mother. If he’s the perp, something tells me he has a long history of violence. His newest mug shot comes from the Calumet City police, which is interesting in itself, considering where the vic was found. Unless he’s not the perp, in which case his being back on the Illinois side of the state line makes perfect sense. Note, however, how he proudly holds his head up high, a pose that I increasingly see in mug shots of black male arrestees charged with heinous crimes.

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Teen Girl from South Suburbs Found Dead in Hammond, Ind. Trash Bin
June 9, 2012 3:45 PM
CBS Chicago

HAMMOND, Ind. (CBS) -Friends on Saturday remembered a 16-year-old Calumet City girl who disappeared this week before her body was found in a Hammond, Ind. trash bin a day later.

Jessica Tetter was found at 5945 Hyslop St. in Hammond on Thursday — initially as a “Jane Doe.” She died of trauma to the head and body, said the Lake County, Ind. Coroner’s Office, which identified Tetter.

A person of interest is in custody with Calumet City police, and is someone known to Tetter’s family.

Friends the teen held a vigil in her memory on the track at Thornton Fractional North High in Calumet City. Tetter was on the track team and also boxed, friends say.

“People thought it was so funny because she was so small,” Kathryne Sneed told CBS 2’s Suzanne Le Mignot.

Tetter was reported missing on Wednesday by her mother. Tetter’s mother said the girl left their Calumet City house around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and did not return. Calumet City officers searched the area without results.

Officers from the Hammond Police Department provided a photo of a Jane Doe girl found in the trash bin, attempting to obtain an identification. A Calumet City investigator noticed a resemblance between Hammond’s Jane Doe and the nearby Illinois city’s missing girl.

[Thanks for this story to longtime reader-researcher AL, who writes, “Whoever did this crossed interstate lines while in the commission of a murder, so it is a fed case,” and who in a separate note noted, “This may be a death penalty case. Fed level or if the murder was committed in IN it might be death penalty. IN does have death and does execute.]

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Crime Scene
5900 Hyslop Pl, Hammond, IN 46320, USA

Charges filed in slaying of Calumet City teen girl
By Rosemary R. Sobol
June 10, 2012, 2:38 p.m. CDT
Chicago Tribune

Murder and concealment of a homicide charges were brought late last night against a man who had a relationship with the mother of a 16-year-old girl whose body was found this week in a dumpster in a Hammond, Ind. alley, authorities said today.

John Hurt, 27, of the 600 block of Wentworth Avenue in Calumet City, was charged last night with one count of first-degree murder and concealment of a homicide, according to Calumet City police Capt. Dan Zorzi. Hurt's bond was set at $1 million by Judge Israel Desierto today in Cook County Bond Court.

Hurt had an "on again off again" dating relationship with the mother of the victim, Jessica M. Tetter, Zorzi said.

Tetter, 16, also of the 600 block of Wentworth Avenue in Calumet City, was pronounced dead at 7:40 a.m. Thursday on the scene in a dumpster in the 5900 block of Hyslop Place, a spokeswoman for the Lake County, Ind., coroner's office said. Tetter suffered head and body trauma and her death was a homicide, she said.

Tetter was reported missing by her mother the night before, according to Calumet City police. About 9:20 p.m. Wednesday, officers were called to her home where Tetter’s mother told police the girl had left the house at 11:30 a.m. that morning and did not come home, police said.

Police learned she was not a habitual runaway and began canvassing the area without any luck finding her until Hammond police had a break in the case.

At 6:02 a.m. Thursday, officers responded to the Hyslop address where they recovered the body of an unidentified "Jane Doe," found her description matched that of the missing girl, and were able to identify her.

Dan Hinkel contributed to this report.

rsobol@tribune.com
Twitter: @RosemarySobol1