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How family of slain Rolling Meadows man is honoring his memory

The family of a Rolling Meadows landlord slain in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood is asking for people to honor his memory by donating to two community organizations.

Vasudevareddy Kethireddy's family this week launched a website, mrreddy.org, which links to GoFundMe pages they also established to benefit community activist Andrew Holmes' foundation and a campaign to build a community center at St. John Evangelist Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago.

Holmes and a team of volunteers helped search vacant lots, abandoned buildings, trash bins and sewers after Kethireddy's Aug. 4 disappearance, and they helped solicit tips and generate media interest, the family says. The funds will be used to support Holmes' organization, which works on missing persons cases, gun and drug violence seminars, youth mentoring, and programs to help the homeless.

The family has also set a $75,000 fundraising goal for the estimated $174,000 expense of renovating St. John Evangelist Missionary Baptist Church's east wing into a 4,400-square-foot recreational center. It's envisioned as a controlled, constructive environment outside of school where kids can do homework, participate in activities and connect with positive role models.

Kethireddy's body was discovered Sept. 28 in a sewer near the home he rented to two men charged with his death. Cook County prosecutors on Monday charged Elijah Green, 25, and Tony Green, 22, of the 6200 block of South May Street, with first-degree murder.

Prosecutors say the brothers lured the 76-year-old landlord to the home by claiming their roof was leaking, strangled him and later dumped his body the sewer.

Kethireddy, a Rolling Meadows resident since 1977, started buying and rehabbing multiunit houses in the mid-2000s in Englewood, where he was known as "Mr. Reddy."

"Although his life was taken, Mr. Reddy would not harbor hate or anger for anybody," the family's website says of the Hindu man. "Instead, he was focused on his faith and the belief that prayer and love could solve any of his problems."

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