Prosecutors: Addison woman found dead in home feared husband was poisoning her
"This defendant strangled his wife with some type of cord and left her lifeless body in a bathtub for his 14-year-old daughter to stumble upon," county prosecutors wrote in petition for denial of bail. "Not only that, it is believed that this defendant tried to slowly poison his wife over an extended period of time."
The petition also cites an emergency order of protection Reyniko obtained against her husband in 2011. In her request, Reyniko said her husband became angry when she told him she suspected he only married her so he could gain U.S. citizenship, that he grabbed her hair and knocked her off a chair, that he threatened to take their daughter to the West African nation Ivory Coast and not return, and that he threatened to kill her.
More details emerge
According to the no-bail petition, the Bakayokos' 14-year-old daughter called 911 at 3:45 p.m. Oct. 26, after finding Reyniko naked on the floor of a first-floor bathroom. A police officer tried to revive her, but there were signs the body was already in rigor mortis, the petition states.
While asking Bakayoko about the death, he abruptly left the house with his daughter, saying he "needed space," the petition states. When police called him asking him to come back, he said he would not return for several hours, because he needed to take care of his family. Police determined he took his daughter and a 15-year-old granddaughter out to dinner at a restaurant in northern Naperville.
The defendant and the girls later told police Reyniko had appeared ill when the girls left for school that morning shortly after 7 a.m. The defendant told police he and Reyniko had argued, and that he grabbed her wrists to hold her down after she grabbed his shirt.
A search of his phone showed someone used it to search the internet for "10 things not to do after a death" the next day, authorities said.
On Oct. 27, DuPage County's chief pathologist declared Reyniko's death a homicide, saying the red marks around her neck and hemorrhages in her brain and right eye were consistent with strangulation. The pathologist also found bruises under her fingernails and scratches on her neck, according to the petition.