More moral values from Republican country, suburban Chicago edition:

A dozen people were killed in DuPage County in 2004, the highest total since there were 20 homicides in 1995. [snip]

Eight of DuPage’s homicide victims were killed with guns, one was stabbed and drowned, two were suffocated, and one was beaten to death.

DuPage also had a triple homicide this year. A Cicero man was charged with shooting three men in a Willowbrook parking lot. That crime was the county’s first triple slaying since Marilyn Lemak drugged and suffocated her three children in 1999.

No young children were slain in 2004, but five teenagers were. The youngest was 16-year-old Erin Justice of Aurora. Her stepfather was charged with killing her to keep her from testifying against him in a sexual-assault case.

Seven men–charged with nine murders–have pleaded not guilty, two suspects committed suicide, and the May 14 fatal shooting of Derrick Manard of Bensenville remains unsolved.

This is a chronology of DuPage homicide cases:

March 27–Erin Justice, 16, of Aurora was stabbed and drowned, police say, by Laurence Lovejoy, 38, her stepfather.

May 14–Derrick Manard, 30, was shot outside of a Bensenville apartment. It is the only case this year with no arrests.

May 16–Aldona Buciene, 49, of West Chicago, was suffocated in her home. Antanas Ramanauskas, an estranged boyfriend who was the main suspect, hanged himself the same day.

April 28–Vida McCree, 41, of Woodridge was strangled in her apartment. Jeffrey McCree, 33, her estranged husband, who had a long criminal record and was released from prison five days earlier, is charged with her slaying. Her body was stuffed into a suitcase and dumped in Chicago.

June 12–Nicholas Artman, 24, of Addison was beaten to death outside an Addison restaurant. Troy Kindt, 34, of Glen Ellyn, is charged in his death.

July 9–Michael Murray, 18, of Elmhurst was shot to death while playing poker at his birthday party. Anson Paape, 38, the Elmhurst host of the party, is charged with murder.

Sept. 14–Federico Torres, 36; Guillermo Armendariz, 36; and Hilario Ochos, 25, all of Texas, were shot to death in the parking lot of a Willowbrook restaurant. Hector Moya, 29, of Cicero is charged with all three slayings.

Oct. 3 –Jesus Campos, 18, of Streamwood, was shot to death in Addison. Miguel Brito, 16, of Addison, alleged to be a member of a rival gang, is charged with murder.

Oct. 9–Sade Glover, 17, was shot to death outside her Warrenville home. Joshua Matthews, 19, of Bellwood, is charged with killing her to keep her from testifying that he beat her.

Dec. 21–Guadalupe Beltran, 18, of West Chicago, was shot by her estranged boyfriend, Francisco Ceja, 18, of West Chicago. Ceja then fatally shot himself.

Move to the wealthy ‘burbs to remove your children from bad influences, David Brooks instructs. How’s that working out so far, Dave?

A.