An Illinois career criminal will serve 47 years in prison after admitting guilt to setting fire to Chicago’s beloved ‘Walking Man’ as he slept helplessly on a city street.
Joseph Guardia, 30, was set to stand trial for the brutal murder of “gentle soul” Joseph Kromelis, but on Wednesday, the Melrose Park man admitted his guilt and accepted a plea deal on first-degree murder charges. .
Guardia must serve his entire prison sentence of nearly 50 years, but will receive 881 days of credit for the amount of time he spent incarcerated after his arrest in 2022, as part of the plea deal.
Joseph Guardia (pictured), 30, was about to stand trial for the brutal murder of ‘gentle soul’ Joseph Kromelis, but on Wednesday, the Melrose Park man admitted his guilt and accepted a plea deal on charges of murder in the first degree.
Joseph Kromelis died on December 11, 2022, at age 75, after suffering burns to more than 50 percent of his body after Guardia poured a flammable liquid on his head and set him on fire in May 2022.
More than 65 percent of his body was burned, including his face, leaving him unrecognizable. His iconic mustache was singed and he couldn’t close his eyes or blink because his eyelids were burned.
His victim, a regular in the Chicago neighborhood, was branded “Walking Man” for walking miles a day through the city center, something he had done for decades after a series of misfortunes left him homeless.
In the early 2010s, developers bought the single-occupancy residence he lived in and four of his siblings died in quick succession, leaving him heartbroken and on the streets.
Kromelis finally died on December 11, 2022, at age 75, seven months later. He suffered burns to more than 50 percent of his body after Guardia poured a flammable liquid on his head and set him on fire in May 2022.
During the court hearing earlier this week, prosecutors read aloud a victim impact statement from the victim’s sister, Kromelis’ only living sibling.
“My heart is broken,” Erica Singree of Alaska wrote in her statement. ‘My brother loved Chicago. He had his routine of walking the streets. He wanted to be left alone. He never hurt anyone. It was an angel with wings.
Sadly, Singree passed away on Sunday, just days before learning the fate of his brother’s killer.
Her daughter, Jami, who also lives in Alaska, attended the Cook County court hearing via video conference and highlighted her mother’s stories about her uncle’s impact on Chicagoans.
Joseph Kromelis was brutally burned in May 2022 and would later succumb to his injuries months later in December.
During the court hearing earlier this week, prosecutors read aloud a victim impact statement from the victim’s sister, Kromelis’ only living sibling after the other three died in quick succession years earlier. (Pictured: Kromelis surveying the streets of Chicago)
In her statement, the elder Singree also described her brother as kind, soft-spoken and intelligent.
‘I hope you can live with yourself (for) what you have done,’ he wrote, referring directly to Guardia. ‘There was no reason to hurt an innocent man who wanted to rest. My brother wanted peace, to wake up the next day to continue living his life. But you made a decision and you took it away from him.
‘There will be no more stories of Joseph Kromelis walking the streets of Chicago. My dear brother: rest in peace.’
Kromelis, often known for his distinctively stylish appearance, had been the victim of another heinous crime in May 2016 after a man with a bat attacked him, inspiring a staggering $30,000 in donations and a charity T-shirt drive. which gave him an additional $6,000 to get back on track. his feet.
However, his final and fatal assault, which occurred outside Trump Tower in the 400 block of North Lower Wabash Avenue, was captured on surveillance video that led police to the distinctively tattooed Guard.
Kormelis was so much a part of Chicago that he appeared in the city’s street art.
Joe Kromelis, second from left, with his brothers John, Peter and Bruno and his sister Irene. Kromelis was born in Germany on January 13, 1947, to Lithuanian parents, and was one of six children who immigrated with them to the United States.
Joseph Kromelis, known as ‘Walking Man’, photographed in the 1970s in a cafe
Guardia told police in a recorded interview that he had found a glass full of gasoline and set fire to a pile of blankets, according to court records.
Guardia said he did not know there was a person under the blankets, but prosecutors said Kromelis’ head and lower legs were visible.
When asked his motive, Guardia told prosecutors that he was “an angry person.”
Many of the court proceedings since his arrest have focused on Guardia’s past hospitalizations and his mental health, citing the killer’s diagnosis of bipolar disorder and his more than two dozen arrests in three states.
Guardia’s attorney argued for a “guilty but mentally ill” ruling, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
His plea was accepted Wednesday in front of Judge Timothy Joyce at the Leighton Criminal Court building.
