Chatham Man Strangled Girlfriend To Death, Sexually Assaulted Roommate, Prosecutors Say

CHATHAM — A South Side man is facing murder, sexual assault and kidnapping charges after he strangled his girlfriend to death and raped another woman inside of their apartment last week, according to prosecutors. Jerry Powe, 58, was ordered detained ahead of trial during his Saturday pretrial hearing, where prosecutors revealed that the Chatham man told police that he f–ked up after he confessed to killing his 36-year-old girlfriend. Powe strangled his girlfriend to death on their couch inside their shared apartment in the 8100 block of South Ellis Avenue sometime between the late hours of Wednesday night and the early hours of Thursday morning, prosecutors with the the Cook County State s Attorney s Office said in court. Powe admitted to placing a white sheet over his girlfriend s body as he waited for the 28-year-old woman, who had been living in the apartment, to return home from an overnight shift at an Amazon facility. Once she arrived home a little after 7 a.m. Thursd