28-Apr-20 – A West Side man is accused of strangling to death a woman in her River North hotel room last month.

Lavarius McFadden, age 24, was charged with first-degree murder on Monday and ordered held in custody without bail.

According to prosecutors, Elizabeth Long, age 22, checked into the SpringHill Suites on March 12. Two days later, using the social media app Tagged, she arranged to meet with McFadden in exchange for $100, prosecutors said. He went to her hotel room at around 4:37 p.m. but allegedly told Long he did not know he had to pay for the meeting. Prosecutors say he later told investigators he did not know she was a prostitute.

When Long continued to ask for payment, McFadden allegedly pushed her, then strangled her. Prosecutors say he told investigators that Long was reaching for a knife, which he took, along with the victim’s phone, hen he left the hotel at around 5:07 p.m.

Employees of the hotel found Long unresponsive about an hour later, after a friend of hers, concerned for her safety, called the front desk. Chicago Fire Department personnel tried to revive Long but she was pronounced dead.

McFadden (left), who has distinctive tattoos, was caught on surveillance video leaving the hotel with Long’s bright blue phone. Investigators tracked the phone to the Austin neighborhood, where McFadden lives, and then to his girlfriend’s house in DuPage County, where he was arrested over the weekend.

While the phone was in McFadden’s possession, according to prosecutors, he sent text messages – posing as Long – and convinced two men to send him a total of $200.