CHICAGO (AP) — A judge has sentenced an Illinois man convicted of killing a homeless person known as Chicago’s “Walking Man” in an arson attack to 47 years in prison.
Prosecutors said that Cook County Judge Timothy Joyce sentenced Joseph Guardia, 30, of suburban Melrose Park on Wednesday after Guardia pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in connection with Joseph Kromelis’ death.
Kromelis had long been a fixture in downtown Chicago. He was known for walking the streets of the Loop and for his long, wavy white hair and mustache. He was the subject of news stories and a documentary and once told the Chicago Tribune that he roamed around downtown “as a way of life.”
According to prosecutors, Guardia poured gasoline on Kromelis and set him on fire as Kromelis slept under blankets along Lower Wabash Avenue in May 2022. Kromelis sustained severe burns that covered more than half of his body. He died that December at age 75.
