On April 23, Jae Harrell, a 24-year-old man from Willowbrook, Ill., pleaded not guilty to beating and strangling his mother to death and leaving her body along a busy expressway.

In March, the Korean adoptee was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ruth Harrell, a 59-year-old registered nurse. Jae Harrell allegedly bludgeoned and strangled his mother after an argument, drove the body to a local school parking lot, left it there, returned later to find the body undiscovered and then drove the body to a shoulder of an expressway.

Authorities said Harrell returned home and called the police to report his mother missing.

 According to the Chicago Tribune, Harrell will face between 22 and 70 years in prison if convicted.

 

 

-Michelle Woo