Hubert Geralds

Mary Blackman’s body was found in a waste disposal trash bin at the house that she shared with the Geralds' family on South May Street, Englewood, Chicago. Blackman was a good friend of Geralds' sister.

Geralds’ defense attorney, Allen Sincox, presented an insanity defense, with the aim to have the court sentence his client to life in prison without parole instead of the death penalty. Sincox claimed that his client was mentally retarded, had brain damage and suffered from a mental disorder known was “paraphilia” which caused his sexual addiction and his need to have sexual interaction with those unconscious. During the trial, this lack of mental capacity was highlighted by Geralds’ often being asleep in the court room and experts claimed his Intelligence Quotient was lower than 73, which classified him as mildly mentally retarded.

The prosecution, Assistant States Attorney Nick Ford and co-prosecutor Jeanne Bischoff discredited the mental health plea calling Hubert Geralds a "malingerer", claiming that he was putting on an act and portrayed him as a threat to society, a murderer and a drug user and dealer. The strength of the prosecution’s argument and a testimony from Geralds’ only surviving victim Clenshaw Hopes held up the charges already laid against Hubert Geralds, rejecting the insanity plea.

Finally, after controversy and exoneration, Geralds’ criminal incarceration records show 5 counts of class M Murder, Intent to Kill, Injure and 1 count of class X Attempt to Murder, Intent to Kill, Injure.

Clenshaw Hopes was the intended sixth victim of Geralds' murder spree and was the victim of Geralds’ attempted murder charge. She testified at Geralds' trial.

In 2000, during his time as governor, Governor George Ryan declared a moratorium on Illinois state’s capital punishment laws. As a result of this, Governor Ryan changed the sentences of 167 prisoners who were either already on death row or waiting to receive the death penalty to life in prison. On January 11, 2003, he was given life in prison without parole, and he remains in Menard Correctional Centre, Illinois.

On January 28, 2000, Andre Crawford was arrested for the murder of 11 females in Englewood, Chicago, the same neighborhood in which Geralds’ murders took place. During his investigation Crawford admitted to the rape and murder of Rhonda King; however, King was already among the murdered female prostitutes that Hubert Geralds had been sent to death row for in January 1998. Upon investigation and further evidence, including a taped confession and DNA that linked Crawford and King together, it was determined that Crawford had murdered King, not Geralds. Crawford confirmed this fact by revealing details of the murder that were not released to the public to the investigating detectives. On February 10, 2000, the prosecutors vacated the conviction against Hubert Geralds.

After the three-week trial ended on January 9, 1998, Judge Michael P Toomin sentenced Geralds to death.

On June 18, 1995, the day after the body of Mary Blackman was found, Geralds was arrested.

Upon his arrest on June 18, 1995, Geralds was charged with the murder of six females and attempted murder of one female, including being accused of killing Rhonda King in December 1994 based on DNA linking them together. He confessed to all of the six killings whilst under investigation and on November 13, 1997, the day of his 33rd birthday, he was convicted by a jury as guilty on all charges laid against him.

On the night of April 14, 1995, Hopes and Geralds had been smoking crack cocaine and marijuana together at her apartment in the 5700 block of South Elizabeth Street, Englewood, Chicago. Hopes recounted that she and Geralds had left the apartment for more drugs and to acquire payment methods for the drugs. They had split up and were each alone when she was grabbed by the neck from behind. She told the court “I was being lifted off the ground and started to black out.”

Geralds was the man responsible for the murders of five female sex worker from December 22, 1994, to June 17, 1995. He was also responsible for the attempted murder and the sexual assault of another female sex worker, who escaped after Geralds' attempts at strangulation. All of his murders took place in the city of Chicago, in particular on the southern side in the neighborhood of Englewood, which is particularly known for high crime rates and a known low socioeconomic area. Within Englewood, an area known as “The Stroll” on South Halsted Street was a popular location where Geralds began his murder process.

His movements between June 19, 1992, when he was paroled from a prison in New York, and November 21, 1992, when he was charged with residential burglary in Chicago, are uncertain. He served five years for his residential burglary charge.

Hubert Geralds Jr. (born November 13, 1964) is a serial killer within the state of Illinois in the United States of America. He is serving his prison sentence, life without parole, in Menard Correctional Center, which is operated by the Illinois Department of Corrections. During his spree of murders he was known as the "Englewood Strangler". Geralds is in custody under the identification number B39967. He was admitted to the Menard Correctional Center on January 16, 1998.

Hubert Geralds Jr was born on November 13, 1964. Little is known about Hubert Geralds' early life. It is known that his father, whom he is named after, abandoned him in early childhood and that Geralds suffered abuse from his mother's boyfriend.