3 Ill. teens charged in deaths of friend’s parents

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (AP) — Three teens have been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of a suburban Chicago couple whose son is already facing charges in his parents’ deaths, authorities said Tuesday.

The charges are in the September killings of Maria and John Granat of Palos Heights, according to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. The couple’s 17-year-old son, John Granat, was charged with beating his father to death and beating and stabbing his mother to death last month.

The couple’s bodies, all but unrecognizable, were found in a bedroom splattered from floor to ceiling with their blood.

The three teens, 17-year-old Christopher Wyma, 17-year-old Mohammad Salahat and 19-year-old Ehab Qasem, are each charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the Granats’ deaths. Authorities say they’re friends or classmates of John Granat. They’re slated to appear in bond court Tuesday. It wasn’t immediately clear whether they have attorneys.

The sheriff’s office said all three have given detailed, videotaped confessions and led investigators to a knife, baseball bats, bloody clothing and cash taken from the victims.

John Granat initially denied being involved in the killings, but the sheriff’s department said officers quickly determined that at the time he said he was asleep in the house in unincorporated Palos Park, a police officer had pulled him over for a minor traffic offense.

Authorities said when Granat was confronted with that information, he gave a number of accounts of what happened and at one point told detectives he’d allowed friends in the home to commit a crime.

He’s being held without bond in the psychiatric wing of the Cook County Jail hospital. His next hearing is also set for Tuesday.