CHICAGO — Records recently obtained by WGN Investigates shed new light on the final hours in the life of Treasure Hendrix — a woman who was found dead of a drug overdose last August inside an RV owned by a Chicago Police officer.
The records, obtained from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office via the Freedom of Information Act, also raise new questions about the relationship between the officer and Hendrix, who had a felony conviction for aggravated battery. The CPD’s personnel rules forbid officers from associating with persons convicted of crimes.
Hendrix, 35, was found dead on Aug. 19. Her family has said that, while she did drink, Hendrix did not use drugs. They’ve also called on the FBI to investigate her death.
WGN is not naming the officer, as he has not been charged with any crimes. Attempts to reach him for comment were not successful.
The CPD, meanwhile, is continuing to investigate the officer even though he quit the CPD a week after Hendrix was found dead.
The officer resigned from the CPD on Aug. 26 — seven days after Hendrix was found dead in the officer’s RV that was parked in a lot at 15th and Western, according to records from the CPD and Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
An autopsy found that Hendrix died of a drug overdose involving alcohol, cocaine, fentanyl, meth and ecstasy. The medical examiner’s office ruled her death an accident.
A spokesman for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability said investigators initially responded to the case, but later referred it to the CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs. A CPD spokesman on Thursday said both the department’s internal investigation and the investigation into Hendrix’s death remained open and active.
Shortly after 4 p.m. on Aug. 18, the officer and Hendrix went to Parlor Pizza in the West Loop. Security footage from the restaurant showed the two leaving together about 40 minutes later.
The officer told a detective that Hendrix left the restaurant to go meet a friend. At 9 p.m., she called the officer and asked if she could come over to his RV.
The officer said that he sometimes rents out his West Town condo on AirBnb. When his home was occupied, the officer would sleep in the RV. The officer said he paid the owner of a parking lot $100 a month to let him store the vehicle.
Hendrix arrived at the RV around 9:47 p.m., and the officer said she “was visibly drunk and high upon arrival.” He told her to lie down and get some sleep on the RV’s rear bed while he went to sleep on the bed above the driver’s seat.
The officer said he woke up around 8:30 a.m. the next day and found Hendrix unresponsive. He performed chest compressions until paramedics arrived, but to no avail. Police found several bottles of alcohol in the RV, but there were no signs of narcotics. The detective noted that there were “no signs of trauma to the body.”
The officer said that he and Hendrix knew each other for a few years and that they’d previously had sex. On occasion, the officer “deposited money into the victim’s bank account to help the victim out,” a detective wrote. Cook County court records show Hendrix had faced eviction lawsuits in the past related to her alleged failure to pay rent.
The supplementary case report also says that the detective interviewed Hendrix’s fiancé. He told the detective that Hendrix “has a history of alcohol and drug use.” He also said that Hendrix and the officer had dated in the past and that the two “have a history of doing narcotics together.”
The officer joined the CPD in 1999 and was assigned to the Near West District, records show. In 2011, he was the subject of another internal investigation in which he was accused of associating with a known felon — a violation of the CPD’s personnel rules.
Rule 47 in the CPD’s Rules of Conduct forbids an officer from “associating or fraternizing with any person known to have been convicted of any felony or misdemeanor, either State or Federal, excluding traffic and municipal ordinance violations.”
No affidavit was taken in the investigation and the officer was not subject to discipline.
Cook County court records show that Hendrix was charged in 2005 with attempted murder and two counts of aggravated battery. She eventually pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery — a felony — and she was sentenced to five years in prison.
In 2008, Hendrix was charged with prostitution. She pleaded guilty then, too, and was sentenced to one day in jail. Five years later, she pleaded guilty to domestic battery and was sentenced to two weeks in jail, court records show.
