Trial begins for Elgin man accused of murdering woman

An Elgin man is arguing that he’s not guilty of first-degree murder on accusations that he stabbed an acquaintance to death in his apartment.

At the most, he could be guilty of second-degree murder, his attorney said Monday, at the beginning of the trial for Timothy Edwards, 67. He is accused of stabbing 64-year-old Cheryl Aricioglu.

“This was an argument between two people in a drug-fueled relationship that spiraled out of control,” attorney Derek Dlhy said during opening arguments.

But Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney Eric Leafblad argued otherwise.

“There will be no evidence that anything Cheryl did or the intoxication from cocaine justified what happened to her on July 2, 2024,” Leafblad said during his opening statement.

Prosecutors have conceded that Aricioglu was intoxicated on cocaine that day.

A police officer testified he responded to a call from Edward’s daughter to check the well-being of her father, who lived in a senior-citizens apartment building on Fleetwood Drive.

Edwards let three officers in. Officer Raul Lara said Edwards told him that a female was taking his belongings and that the female pulled a small knife on him. Edwards told the officers she was in a bedroom.

Lara found her slumped in a chair and tried to revive her.

Leafblad told the jury, during his opening argument, that police officers found a bag of bloody clothing and a bag containing two knives in the building’s trash compactor container. The blood was a match to Aricioglu, Leafblad said. A video showed Edwards wearing the clothing earlier in the day and putting two black trash bags in the trash chute for the third floor.

The trial will continue Tuesday.

Illinois law says a second-degree murder happens in two circumstances. The first is when a person “is acting under a sudden and intense passion resulting under a sudden and intense passion resulting from serious provocation by the individual killed or another whom the offender endeavors to kill, but he or she negligently or accidentally causes the death of the individual killed.”

The second is when the person has an “unreasonable belief” at the time that they had to use force to prevent great bodily harm or death to themselves or another person.