As the jury begins deliberating, the family hopes the verdict will help them heal from landlord’s gruesome murder

As a jury began deliberating Monday, the family of Frances Walker said they hope a verdict will help them heal, more than two years after the 69-year-old landlord was found dead and dismembered in her Northwest Side home.

“We have not recovered from the Walker family since this terrible tragedy,” Walker’s sister-in-law Maggie Walker told court reporters. “Maybe after the verdict we can start healing. We miss Fran very much.”

Jurors were given the case against 37-year-old Sandra Kolalou around the middle of the day after a week of harrowing images and testimony about the October 2022 murder.

Before retreating to the deliberation room, they heard Kolalou insist from the stand that she had been charged with Walker’s death.

Kolalou was arrested shortly after police discovered Walker’s severed head, arms and legs in a kitchen freezer in the home. Her torso was never found.

Kolalou testified that she and Walker were good friends and said Monday that “I would do anything for Fran.”

Her attorneys followed with closing arguments that pointed the finger at other tenants and Walker’s husband, Hristo Mantchev.

“As we sit here today, the killer is not in this courtroom,” Kolalou’s attorney, Sean Brown, told the jury. “There are no murderers in this courtroom right now… Hristo Mantchev is the only person capable of committing this heinous crime.”

Walker’s friends and family became visibly distraught during the defense’s arguments.

“These people were Frances’ angels and they tried to help her, and then to have those people … accused … it’s hard,” her younger brother Arnold Walker told reporters. “I think the desperation and implausibility of what was presented by the defense indicates the weakness of their case and the strength of the prosecution’s case.”

Prosecutors in their arguments called on jurors to focus on the evidence, not “theories,” and poked holes in the defense’s claims that Kolalou and Walker were still close at the time of her death.

Walker had rented Kolalou a room in a first-floor unit in July 2022. The home was divided into multiple units, with two tenants in the basement and three more on the second floor.

According to prosecutors, Kolalou’s relationship with Walker and the other tenants began to deteriorate in the fall. In October, Walker served Kolalou an eviction notice, they said.

On October 9, 2022, the night before Walker’s body was discovered, at least two tenants said they heard Walker and Kolalou arguing in the basement. Kolalou has denied fighting with Walker that night.

One tenant testified that she called to check on Walker after the argument and was told everything was “OK.”

But the next day, the tenants were alerted by a series of text messages sent from Walker’s phone, including one stating that Kolalou would care for Walker’s dog and give Kolalou their keys if they moved out, prosecutors said.

Police arrived and questioned Kolalou as she tried to get into a tow truck with a black garbage bag to retrieve her car, which had broken down on Foster Beach the day before. Kolalou became combative and was detained for a short time, but did allow police to look through her bedroom before leaving.

After Kolalou left, other tenants entered her room and reportedly found traces of blood and called police back to the house. Other tenants followed Kolalou to the beach.

At Foster Beach, Kolalou allegedly threw the black garbage bag into a dumpster. Police later recovered the bag and found it filled with other garbage bags containing bloody rags.

When Kolalou arrived at the repair shop, she was questioned again by police.

The tow driver, Antonio Coria, testified that Kolalou pointed a knife at him as he disconnected her car from the tow and told him, “You’re next.”

He said he was concerned for his safety, but also testified that he accepted Kolalou’s invitation to smoke marijuana with her.

Prosecutors said Kolalou tried to pay for the service with Walker’s credit card. Police detained Kolalou and found a small pocket knife on her keys and other knives in her purse.

Family members struggled through the proceedings Monday as prosecutors again showed images of Walker’s head, arms and legs after they were removed from plastic bags in the freezer.

A DNA expert called by the defense testified that Kolalou’s DNA was found on some plastic bags, but that there was also “unknown” DNA.

The defense sought to discredit both the physical evidence and witness statements – particularly that of Walker’s husband, who was believed to be in Bulgaria at the time of the murder.

Mantchev testified last week that he could not remember how he met his wife, or whether he had been a caregiver for Walker’s former husband or whether he had met or recognized Kolalou, who had lived in a room on the first floor of the house.

When the defense asked him if he killed his wife, Mantchev chuckled and replied, “No.”

“In a court of law, it’s about evidence,” Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Crone said. “The problem with all these theories (from the defense) … they all require a grand plan … none of it makes sense.”