Aaliyah Newell: 47-Year-Old Chicago Professor Found Beaten To Death
Aaliyah Newell, 47, was found beaten to death Wednesday, March 23, 2022 just before 7 p.m. inside her home on the city’s south side. According to officers, she suffered “blunt force trauma to the head.”
Aaliyah Newell worked as a human resources recruiter and adjunct professor at an online college, according to news reports. But the 47-year-old Chicago woman was best known for being a good friend, confidant and soror who always made those around her feel better.
"She was that bright star that you saw," Teauria Brown, chaplain of the National Pan-Hellenic Council of Chicago, told ABC News. "Whenever you saw her, you were happy. And even if you weren't happy, she made you happy because she was happy."
Newell was found beaten to death Wednesday, March 23, 2022 just before 7 p.m. inside her home on the city’s south side. According to officers, she suffered “blunt force trauma to the head” and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Just a few days before, Newell was enjoying a March Sunday having drinks with her friends. Now they are wondering how such a wonderful person could meet such an untimely end.
"My first thought was, this can't be real," Brandy Garris, Newell’s friend and sorority sister, told ABC. "She was a beautiful, beautiful soul and I hate to think what her last moments were like."
A vigil was held for her Friday, where her friends and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorors that met her during her time at the University of Illinois, remembered her for her kind soul.
“It’s just hard, it’s hard,” her childhood best friend Khatara Brown told WGN. “She didn’t deserve not to be with us.”
"Everyone loved Aaliyah," Garris was quoted as saying. "Everyone did...She was your sister, she was your mother, she was your confidant."
Police are investigating the death as a homicide and have no suspects at this time.
"Her life is lost, and there's no one in custody," Kimberly Egonmwan, a fellow AKA, told the news outlet. "And what matters is that that happens too often in the city of Chicago to Black women and girls."
"No one deserves to be murdered in their own home," said her mother, Cynthia Newell. "My daughter mattered, and I want justice for Aaliyah," Cynthia Newell said.
Police issued a community alert "seeking information from anyone who may have seen suspicious behavior or have security cameras" in the area.
"Her life is lost, and there's no one in custody," said Kimberly Egonmwan, an Alpha Kappa Alpha member. "And what matters is that that happens too often in the city of Chicago to Black women and girls."
"My daughter mattered, and I want justice for Aaliyah," Cynthia Newell said.
Chicago detectives are still trying to ascertain exactly when Newell was murdered. They are asking nearby residents to check their surveillance videos from Sunday night to Wednesday evening.