Crime & Safety

High-Heel Shoes Tracked Beloved Teacher's Blood to His Front Door

Young woman accused in Brother Rice teacher's death held without bail. Prosecutor says she stabbed him 13 times.

A trail of bloody, high-heel shoe footprints marked a path from Al Filan's slain body to his front door, prosecutors said Thursday, and the trail of evidence led police to a 20-year-old Ohio escort with a history of prostitution arrests.

Filan, a teacher at Brother Rice High School for almost 40 years, was stabbed 13 times and died in the kitchen of his Orland Park home where he was found Jan. 21. Prosecutors said Alisha Walker, a prostitute Filan found on Backpage.com, argued with Filan over money and stabbed him in the chest and behind his ear. He also sustained defensive wounds to his arms.

Walker appeared before a Cook County judge Thursday to face first-degree murder charges and was held without bail.

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Assistant State’s Attorney John Dillon said police found Walker after examining Filan's phone and finding text messages to a phone number connected to Backpage.com, a notorious hookup site for prostitutes and johns.

The young woman's family claims Filan threatened Walker and a companion with a knife and she killed him in self-defense.

Find out what's happening in Tinley Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Filan was found on Jan. 21 when he didn't show up at school. Police then tracked Walker down in Indiana on Friday, Jan. 24. She was taken into custody and held at the Allen County jail until she waived extradition and was returned to Cook County on Wednesday.

A memorial service for Filan will take place at the school Friday, the Sun-Times reports. Filan was chairman of Brother Rice's business department and coached soccer at Andrew High School in Tinley Park for more than 10 years. 


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