Chicago serial murder suspect charged with terrorizing guard, inmate behind bars
Antonio Reyes, a 21-year-old police say shot and killed six people as a teenager, is behind bars but remains a terror, intimidating guards and attempting to kill fellow inmates.
CHICAGO – A suspected teen serial killer taken into police custody has been charged with terrorizing people stuck in jail with him, according to court records and officials.
Chicago city leaders, including Police Superintendent Larry Snelling and Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke, celebrated the detective work that led to the arrest of Antonio Reyes and ended his murderous spree. But even behind bars he inspires fear, court documents show.
Cook County court records show the now 21-year-old however has been charged with multiple crimes for his conduct in jail. Reyes attempted to kill his cellmate with a shank and also exposed himself to a guard in an attempt to harass and intimidate her, according to court records,
The new details of Reyes’ menacing behavior in jail come out as Chicago police wrap up a years-long investigation that linked Reyes to six killings in 2020 when he was just 16 and 17 years old.
Reyes’ nine-month reign of terror took place on the city’s Southwest Side. Police say that he seemingly shot and killed his victims at random. None knew him and police found nothing linking the victims to each other.
“When we’re dealing with someone this violent, we have to remove them from the streets,” Snelling told reporters Wednesday. “It’s not ordinary that we see an individual like this but when we do, we must take swift action.”
Reyes has been charged with six counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder for his conduct on the streets of Chicago. Inside jail, he has additionally been charged with attempted murder and lewd sexual display in a penal institution.
Shanking his cellmate
Reyes was already in jail and charged with one murder when he allegedly attempted to kill his cellmate with what State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke called a “shank.”
The suspected serial killer went after the man at close to 2 a.m. on Nov. 23, 2022, stabbing him with a “short, improvised blade,” Cook County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Grace Cronin told Paste BN.
Cook County court records show that Reyes made the shiv he used on his cellmate from a construction nail.
Prosecutors charged Reyes with three crimes for the jailhouse attack: attempted murder, use of a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with great bodily harm.
Sheriff’s Office officials could not immediately share details of what special protocols jailers have adopted to keep other inmates safe from Reyes. Typically, an inmate who attempts to kill a cellmate will not receive a new cellmate.
Intimidating guards
The second round of charges Reyes received in jail came in October 2024 when he attempted to intimidate a sheriff’s deputy, according to court records.
Reyes exposed his genitals to a deputy “for the purpose or effect of intimidating, harassing, or threatening” the female deputy, charging documents say.
Reyes’ conduct “alarmed and disturbed” the deputy, court records say, “and provoked a breach of the peace.”
He was ultimately charged with public indecency and lewd sexual display in a penal institution.
Serial killers behind bars
Criminal infractions of high-profile suspects are not uncommon. But there are some exceptions.
David Berkowitz, known as the “Son of Sam,” pled guilty to shooting and killing six people in New York City. But in prison he’s also known as the “Son of Hope” for his evangelical Christian faith.
Berkowitz, 71, is imprisoned at Shawangunk Correctional Facility in New York from where he maintains a public journal of reflections on his faith.
Dennis Rader, known as “BTK” because he bound, tortured and killed his victims, initially lived under highly restricted conditions at El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas, according to media outlet Grunge.
But eventually the man convicted of killing 10 people was allowed a range of privileges for good behavior, including access to television, radio and magazines. Prosecutors had sought restrictions on such activities because it was expected Rader would use them to fantasize about his murders.
Serial killers in prison aren't always the ones going after other inmates. Jeffrey Dahmer, the infamous killer behind the deaths of 17 people, was himself killed in prison by another inmate.
Dahmer was imprisoned at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Wisconsin after being arrested in 1991. Fellow inmate Christopher Scarver bludgeoned the serial killer and another inmate to death in 1994.
Michael Loria is a national reporter on the Paste BN breaking news desk. Contact him at mloria@usatoday.com, @mchael_mchael or on Signal at (202) 290-4585.