No Bond In S. Side Christmas Eve Slaying

A convicted felon now charged with first-degree murder in the Christmas Eve slaying of an elderly Hyde Park man was ordered held without bond Saturday.

Lee Cration, 48, was charged with first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery for killing 79-year-old Ralph Elliott Christmas Eve. Cration spent two decades in prison, where he had an extensive history of violence, including assaulting staff.

Judge Israel Desierto denied bond on Saturday. He will appear again in Violence Court (Br. 66) on Monday.

Late Thursday afternoon, Elliott left his Hyde Park condo to pick up two orders of chicken for the annual holiday potluck that he and his wife, Dolores Elliott, have hosted for about 50 years. In their close-knit South Side community, they were known as “Aunt D and Uncle Ralph.”

At about 4 p.m. Thursday, police found Ralph Elliott fatally shot outside of a Popeye’s Chicken, at 818 E. 47th Street.

He had been shot in the face and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4:48 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

Though the two never had children of their own, the Elliotts were expecting about 25 extended family members that night, including the several nieces and nephews and godchildren who said Ralph was like a second father.

“When my niece needed to learn ballroom dancing for her prom, she came to Uncle Ralph,” Dolores said, describing a loving patriarch who took his niece on the top of the shoes on his feet and taught her the waltz.

Police said Ralph Elliott was entering his car when a gunman attempted to rob him outside of the the fast food restaurant. The gunman shot Elliott in the face and rummaged through his pockets before fleeing the scene, police said.

“The only way to say how you feel is, just --empty,” Dolores said.

After combing the area, police found Cration, of the 16800 block of North Broadway Street in Joliet, with a handgun and witnesses positively identified him as the gunman.

Cration was paroled on Nov. 2008 for a mid 1980s murder conviction, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections Web site.

Cration had an extensive history of violence, including ten staff assaults and one inmate assault along with five "dangerous disturbances," according to Pinckneyville Correctional Center guards quoted in 2001 Associated Press story.

A police source said officials don’t know the motive for Thursday’s shooting and called it “a crime of opportunity,” because Cration allegedly waited until Ralph Elliott had a handful of food and snuck up on him.

“My husband would have given him [the gunman] the skin off his back. He would have given him the money,” Dolores Elliott said.

Dolores said her husband was the backbone of their family, and was a quiet authority figure. The two life-long Chicagoans first met while working for the Illinois Department of Labor. They became best friends, and soon fell in love.

“I liked my husband,” Dolores Elliott said. “I loved him, of course, but I liked him very much. I liked him as a person. He was my best friend. That’s how we were married for 54 years –54 years is a long time.”

Ralph Elliott was a veteran of the Korean War and retired as an administrative executive with the Illinois Department of Employment Security. He was a civil rights activist and loved golf, chess, jazz music, and cooking.

Rev. Jesse Jackson met the couple through civil rights activism work 40 years ago and called the two “outstanding volunteers” and “real partners.”

“Our community is traumatized by the violent condition of which Ralph died,” Jackson said. “He was a gentle giant of great dignity and strength.”