WAS WOMAN KILLED OVER KIN'S DRUG DEBT?

The trees in front of Wardella Winchester's South Side home were decked
with yellow ribbons Wednesday while her family kept vigil for her safe return.

But their hopes were dashed when the 56-year-old home economics teacher was
found dead amid trash on a conveyor belt at a south suburban recycling
center. Tears rolled down the face of her 14-year-old grandson Charles
Winchester.

"I hoped she would come home," Charles said.

Police sources said they believe she was kidnapped for ransom Friday after
a close relative stole a large amount of cash and 30 to 40 kilograms of
cocaine.

Investigators have found more than $100,000--one source put the total at
$250,000--in savings accounts and safe deposit boxes that Winchester
recently opened, sources said. They believe the money came from her
relative's drug ripoff.

Detectives said they don't know whether Winchester knew the cash was drug
money, but one source said, "It was a lot of money for a teacher. We're
investigating whether she was laundering or hiding the money."

Police said they were questioning several people Wednesday night but made
no arrests. Police also had been speaking to Winchester's adopted son, who
lived with her, all week. Investigators said he was cooperating.

Authorities think someone snatched Winchester outside her three-flat in the
8200 block of South Marshfield about 7 a.m. Friday when she left for work.
She called relatives on a cell phone Saturday to let them know she had been
abducted.

Her body was spotted by workers about 10 a.m. Wednesday at Homewood
Disposal Co. Broadcast reports said her hands and face had been bound with
duct tape. Police said relatives identified Winchester from clothing and
jewelry. Police called the identification temporary because it is pending a
fingerprint check and family confirmation.

Winchester's body, which will be autopsied today, was at the Cook County
medical examiner's office completely shrouded to preserve evidence. FBI
agents were called in to help process evidence because of the nature of the
crime, a spokesman with the agency's Chicago office said.

Kidnappings are not a rarity in drug disputes, but they generally don't
involve family members, police said.

Winchester had lived in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood for about 30 years
and shared her home with her mother, brother and an adopted son. A niece
said she moved to Chicago in the 1950s from Mobile, Ala., with her husband,
Charles, who died in a car accident last year.

She had worked at Carver Military Academy since 1983 and was caring and
unpretentious, colleagues said.

"She worked with the kids who needed a little extra nurturing and was good
with those kids," Principal Curtis R. Murphy said of Winchester. "She was
very dependable. She was always there when I needed her."

After learning of the grim discovery Wednesday, Syron M. Smith, leader of
the Chicago Block Club Union, organized a prayer vigil of about 40 people
outside Winchester's home.

"We were going to pray for her safe return, but now we will pray for the
family," Smith said. "This renews my call to Mayor Daley and other leaders
to take action because these communities are at war right now."

John Allen, a CTA worker, said he didn't know Winchester but went to her
house to pay his respects to her family.

"I just came over because I was so touched by it," he said. "I hoped no
harm would come to her. It's time for all this stuff to stop."