Jury convicts man of Illinois drug-case informant’s death

CHICAGO – Jurors in Chicago have convicted a man in the 2012 murder of an informant who co-operated with a federal investigation into a central Illinois drug ring.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports Marquelle Palmer, of Bloomington, was found guilty Friday of murder in the death of Melissa Woods, whose body was found in 2012 in the basement of a boarded-up building in Chicago.

Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Marilyn Salas-Wail told jurors during closing arguments Thursday that Woods “should not have died alone and scared and helpless.”

Woods was to testify in a drug case targeting Palmer, his brother and more than a dozen others accused of trafficking cocaine out of a Bloomington car dealership. Palmer is serving a 14-year sentence on a federal conviction in connection to his role in the drug ring.

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Information from: Chicago Sun-Times, http://chicago.suntimes.com/