27-Jul-18 – What happened early one January morning in 2016 changed the fabric of the Lake View neighborhood for many residents. It prompted others to launch one of the city’s first privately-funded armed security patrols. And it irreversibly altered the life of a 77-year-old woman who had called Lake View her home for decades.

Sometime after midnight on January 9, 2016, 18-year-old Eli Ruff of Englewood, 19-year-old Lilearl Taylor of Grand Crossing, and 19-year-old Tracie Towbridge of Roseland kicked in the back door of the home of Joanne Signa on North Magnolia Avenue, two blocks from Wrigley Field.

The three men beat her repeatedly. She was knocked to the bedroom floor. The men stomped on her head whenever she made a sound or moved, prosecutors would later say.

For Ruff, Taylor, and Towbridge, the break-in was a violent escalation in a series of burglaries and robberies the trio was suspected of committing across Lake View that winter. Shortly before entering Signa’s home, prosecutors alleged, Taylor mugged a woman near the CTA Red Line station at Belmont, causing her to suffer a concussion.

Possibly hours after first entering Signa’s home, the three men kicked down the back door to the second-floor rental unit. The upstairs tenant called police and an officer, just starting his shift, arrived at the house alone at around 6:15 a.m. Without waiting for backup, the lone officer entered Signa’s unit and found her on the floor, bleeding.

Less than an hour later, Ruff, Taylor, and Towbridge were taken into custody after they crashed Signa’s car on the Dan Ryan Expressway.

Victim survives but does not return home

Joanne Signa (left), a long-time volunteer at nearby Saint Andrew Parish, suffered severe head injuries in the attack that morning and is now blind in one eye. She has never been back inside her home, according to a neighbor earlier this year. The neighbor said at the time that Signa was at an assisted living facility.

On July 20, Ruff pleaded guilty to one count of Class X felony home invasion causing injury. Circuit Court Associate Judge James Obbish sentenced Ruff to 20 years in prison with at least 85 percent of the time to be served behind bars. Ruff was given about two-and-a-half year’s credit for time already served.

Four days later, Towbridge pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced to 13 years with at least 85 percent of the time to be served. He was also given about two-and-a-half year’s credit.

Taylor pleaded guilty in April to home invasion and was sentenced by Obbish to 20 years with 85 percent of the time to be served. His parole date is set for December 30, 2032.

Prosecutors dropped numerous felony robbery, burglary, aggravated battery, and theft charges against all three men in exchange for their guilty pleas. Combined, they were charged and suspected of being involved in nearly a dozen burglaries and robberies in Lake View.

In the months following the attack on Signa, people who live in her part of Lake View banded together to pay for one of Chicago’s first privately-financed armed security patrols. Supported by more than 100 donor families, the Southport Community Alliance provides off-duty police patrols in the area between Ashland Avenue, Roscoe Street, Southport Avenue, and Grace Street.

A similar armed patrol was established by residents who live between Ashland Avenue, Roscoe Street, Racine Avenue, and Barry Avenue. The Chicago Cubs are paying for community patrols near Wrigley Field.