No bond for man charged in Bloomingdale slaying

A Chicago man has been charged with murdering a Bloomingdale man at the auto shop where he lived and worked.

Timothy Bailey-Woodson, 23, is accused of beating to death 53-year-old David G. Coungeris with some type of auto part during an altercation at High Tech Auto & Truck Repair at 250 S. Gary Ave. in Bloomingdale, according to DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett.

DuPage County Associate Judge Peter Ostling ordered Thursday that Bailey-Woodson be held without bond. Prosecutors had sought a $2 million bond, but labeled the suspect a flight risk. Bailey-Woodson is charged with first-degree murder.

Investigators said Bailey-Woodson would do odd jobs around the shop that his victim ran. Prosecutors told Ostling that Bailey-Woodson admitted to killing Coungeris.

Bailey-Woodson told investigators that he and Coungeris were sleeping in a bed at the shop early Thursday morning when Coungeris "made sexual advances" toward him, Assistant DuPage County State's Attorney Anne Therieau said. Bailey-Woodson told investigators he then left the bed, got dressed, put on gloves, picked up a "mechanical implement" and beat Coungeris in the head some 25 times.

"He told detectives he beat the victim until his arm was tired," Therieau reported to Ostling. "He also told them he'd do it again if the opportunity presented itself."

After the killing, Therieau said Bailey-Woodson stole money from the cash register and tried to make off with a car that was inside the shop, but was unsuccessful.

Bloomingdale Police Sgt. Tim Roberts said Coungeris' body was found Thursday night by other workers the shop owner sometimes employed. Roberts said Bailey-Woodson's name came up during the course of the investigation, and Bloomingdale police alerted Chicago authorities to be on the lookout for the suspect at his last known address on the 2100 block of W. Dickens Avenue in Chicago. That's where police spotted him early Friday morning and took him into custody without incident, Roberts said.

Coungeris' shop is one of several automotive-related businesses in the strip mall at 250 S. Gary Ave. His shop remains cordoned off with police tape and a squad car remained on the scene, but work at other shops went on as usual Friday.

Workers at the other businesses said they barely knew Coungeris, who opened his business late last year.

"He didn't talk to nobody," said Tony Pham, who runs T&V Auto Repair next door. "Most of the time I saw him early and he always stayed late."

None of the neighboring businesses had any complaints about Coungeris' shop or his employees.

"He never really came around," said Jason Zimmerman, who works at a tire shop nearby. "It was strange because we all interact all the time with one another. We all stop by to chat at each other's place, but he kept to himself. I figured it was because he was a newer guy around here."

None of the workers knew who Bailey-Woodson was either.

The 23-year-old had been released from the DuPage County jail in Wheaton a little more than a month ago after pleading guilty to motor vehicle theft. He was stopped the day after Christmas in Oakbrook Terrace driving a 1999 Ford Explorer erratically. He was sentenced to two years probation as well as time served. When his probation officer reported he hadn't complied with the terms of the sentence an arrest warrant was issued Monday.

Prosecutors said Bailey-Woodson had also been arrested for battery in the past. His next court date is slated for March 30.