Three people have been charged in connection with the March 20 shooting death of 28-year-old Chicago letter carrier Mechella Williams, whose bullet-riddled body was found in a car parked in Orland Park, according to police.
Kiraun Williams, 29, of Chicago, was ordered held on a charge of first-degree murder at an initial court appearance Wednesday at the Bridgeview courthouse, according to police.
A 28-year-old Chicago man, Tyshann Boyd, is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and a 20-year-old Crete woman, Alexis Hernandez, is charged with obstructing justice, police said.
None of the three charged is related to the shooting victim, Orland Park police Cmdr. Kenneth Rosinski said Thursday.
Mechella Williams lived on Chicago’s South Side and it is not clear why she ended up in Orland Park, Rosinski said.
Police responded March 20 to the area of 17000 Pond Willow Drive, in the Orland Ridge subdivision, after getting several reports of shots fired.
Police found a 2020 Nissan Maxima with multiple bullet holes parked on the side of the road with Williams, the lone occupant, inside. She was pronounced dead at the scene, suffering multiple gunshot wounds, police said.
The Nissan was not registered to Williams or any of the three who were charged, Rosinski said.
The shots were fired from outside the vehicle, and investigators recovered several shell casings from different caliber firearms, Rosinski said, noting more than one firearm was used.
“It’s still an open investigation,” he said.
The South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force was activated and immediately began to investigate the shooting, along with Orland Park investigators.
“For the first couple of days we worked around the clock,” said Rosinski, who oversees the investigations division.
He said over the months authorities served “hundreds of search warrants of different kinds,” and one village investigator was working full time on the homicide.
Police were eventually able to develop enough probable cause to arrest three people in the case, and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office approved warrants for Williams, Boyd and Hernandez.
Hernandez was taken into custody Aug. 12 and charged with obstructing justice, and Williams was arrested Aug. 15 in Las Vegas by members of the FBI Criminal Apprehension Team, police said.
Boyd was arrested Aug. 20, police said, and Williams was flown back to Cook County on Tuesday to face charges.
mnolan@southtownstar.com