By Kim Janssen, Frank Main and Dan Rozek
The Chicago Sun-Times
VILLA PARK, Ill. — A man shot his DuPage County girlfriend, her two sons and her niece to death while they were in bed Tuesday — and then set them on fire, officials said.
After the four murders in the home near Villa Park, 42-year-old Cedric Anderson drove to his father’s house in south suburban Dolton and fatally shot himself in the head with a .357-caliber handgun, officials said.
Neighbors of Anderson’s father who left for work as the Villa Park killings were first reported Tuesday morning came home Tuesday evening to the 14900 block of Edbrooke to find his house surrounded in yellow police tape as detectives continued to search the home.
Anderson left a suicide note saying he was distraught — but he did not take responsibility for the slayings in the note, officials said. Anderson had been convicted of heroin possession on Dec. 29 in the Maywood courthouse.
The four people killed were found in a home near Summit and Roosevelt in unincorporated Villa Park after the fire Tuesday morning that authorities quickly labeled “suspicious.”
The dead were identified by friends and relatives as Ursula Nailor, 37; her sons, Darnell Holt, 16, and Dan Nailor, 13; and her niece, Dominique Robinson, 19.
Nailor’s body was found in her bedroom, while her niece and two sons were found slain in a second, nearby bedroom, sources said. All were still in their beds, and all had been burned beyond recognition, sources said.
Their attacker apparently kicked in the front door to enter the home.
Earlier Tuesday, ATF investigators brought in trained dogs to sniff for accelerants, said Tom Ahern, spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Investigators found both a lighter fluid container and a gasoline can in the home but are still trying to determine if both liquids were used to set the fires, sources said.
Ursula Nailor’s boyfriend lived at the home on and off, family friend Randy McGaha said.
Several relatives overcome with grief had to be held up by other family members as they arrived at the home throughout the day Tuesday. Family friend Tamiko Keller noted the family “moved out here to get away from the crime on the West Side.”
Darnell was a student at Willowbrook High School. He was on the freshman wrestling team. Friend B.J. Cotten said he loved sports and played wide receiver on the football team. Friends said Dan went to Albright Middle School in Villa Park.
Nailor’s boss, Ed Peterson, said he became concerned when she did not show up for her job as a school bus driver this morning. She had worked for his company, Falcon Transportation, driving Chicago school kids from Newberry and Brown schools since 2006 and was an exemplary worker and mom, he said.
“She talked about her teenage boys all the time,” he said. “It’s a tragedy.”
Nailor’s mom said she was flying to Chicago from Selma, Ala., Tuesday afternoon.
She said her daughter was planning to move the family to Alabama.
“I have no idea what happened,” she said. “We’re trying to find out.”
The sheriff’s office said the fire began around 7:16 a.m.
Ann Bendera, a neighbor, said the mother had lived there with her children for about three years. “The house was enveloped in smoke,” Bendera said. “It’s horrible, horrible that people were still in there.”
On Tuesday night, about 75 students from Willowbrook High and Albright Middle School joined hands in a circle in the cold to pray and remember their slain classmates.
“We pray that the healing power of time will erase this terrible day and be replaced by memories of joy,” said Rev. Al Cleveland.
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