16th District ‘Crime Watch’ updates: man taken into custody in connection with murder of Edison Park woman after he reportedly yelled that he had killed her; two suspects charged with attempted carjacking in Portage Park

by BRIAN NADIG

On Tuesday, March 8, in the 16th (Jefferson Park) Police District, a man was arrested in connection with the murder of a 70-year-old woman in Edison Park, and two men were charged with an attempted armed carjacking in Portage Park, according Chicago police.

A witness told police that at about 10 a.m. she went to the women’s first-floor apartment in the 6600 block of North Northwest Highway and that while she was knocking on the door an upstairs neighbor reportedly yelled out the window that he had killed the woman and satan was next, according to police.

The man reportedly yelled similar remarks to responding officers, who opened the unlocked front door and found a woman lying face down on the living room floor, police said.

The woman was unresponsive and had been beaten in the head with a blunt instrument, police said. There also was a dead bird and cat inside the apartment, police said.

Officers set up a perimeter around the building, and about 30 minutes later the man came out the rear door and was placed into custody, police said. A special weapons and tactics team was called to the location, but the man came outside prior to the unit’s arrival, police said.

The suspect, who was identified by police as Thomas Diskin, age 56, of the 6600 block of North Northwest Highway, was charged with first-degree murder, home invasion/great bodily harm and aggravated cruelty to animals, police said.

In January, the suspect was charged with battery and simple assault in connection in the 16th District in which an off-duty officer reportedly had a beer bottle thrown toward him and was punched several times, according to police.

Also in the district on March 8, two suspects were arrested at about 8:45 p.m. in the 5100 block of West Irving Park Road in connection with an incident about 30 minutes earlier in which two men allegedly attempted to take another man’s vehicle by force in the 4000 block of North Lawler Avenue, police said.

The suspects in the Lawler incident were identified by police as John Carlos Fuentes, age 23, and Michael Quinones, age 33, both of the 2600 block of North Monitor Avenue.

Overall in the district in 2022 reported violent crime is down when compared to the same period in 2021, but burglaries and thefts are up about 45 percent.