Trial begins in murder of Aurora woman missing nearly 18 years

Tyesha Bell returned to her Aurora home on the evening of May 8, 2003, after spending the day shopping with some friends in Bloomingdale.

The 22-year-old chatted with her sister in the apartment they shared before calling another relative and receiving a call from someone else.

It was the last time her sister ever saw her. For nearly 18 years, Bell’s family wondered what happened to her.

Her skeletal remains were found in Montgomery in 2021.

“Today we are here to finally answer the question of who murdered Tyesha Bell,” Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser said Tuesday during the opening of the trial for the man accused of murdering Bell. “The answer to that question is Prince Cunningham.”

Cunningham, 53, of Yorkville, is charged with first-degree murder of Bell, with whom he was having an extramarital affair.

But Cunningham’s attorney, Jamie Dimeas, told jurors on Tuesday that Aurora police ignored information that another man Bell was dating could be a suspect.

“During the course of this trial, you are going to learn the investigation was filled with missed leads, tunnel vision and failure to investigate other suspects,” he said. “The pool of people capable of harming her is far larger than the state is going to lead you to believe.”

After her skeletal remains were found at a construction site in March 2021, it was determined that there was a bullet hole in the back of her skull.

Bell was living with her sister, LaTasha Bell, when she went missing.

On Tuesday, LaTasha Bell testified that she spoke to her sister before going to bed.

The next morning, on May 9, 2003, the sister found Bell’s bedroom door open. Inside the room, the lights and television were on, and a candle was burning.

Bell had not picked up one of her two children, who had stayed with another relative the night before. Her belongings, including her purse and driver’s license, were still in the apartment.

Bell’s mother reported her missing to Aurora police the next day.

Mosser said Cunningham worked at Eby-Brown, a food service company in Aurora. Bell had also worked at Eby-Brown.

Bell had a daughter in 2001. A DNA test, done as part of a child-support case, determined that Cunningham was the father.

An employee of the DNA testing facility testified during a pretrial hearing that Cunningham became so angry on the day of the testing that the facility provided an escort to Bell when she left, for her safety.

Mosser said that on the night of May 8, 2003, Cunningham was supposed to have given Bell $12,000 so she could buy a car.

But Dimeas said police had been called several weeks before for a domestic dispute between Bell and the man she was dating at the time. Dimeas said that the man was one of the last people to call Bell the day before she disappeared.

“The state will ask you to connect dots” where evidence can’t prove where and when Bell died and who was with her at the time, Dimeas said. “This case is full of tragedy ... But it is not full of evidence.”

Mosser said a pair of Converse gym shoes were found along with Bell’s remains. She said that shortly after Bell disappeared, Cunningham had called Aurora police to report that a piece of jewelry and some Converse shoes had been stolen from his car.