Chicago man arrested for stabbing HVAC worker; teen’s remains found in his house

A Chicago man has been arrested in connection to the stabbing death of an HVAC worker — and authorities fear he could be responsible for other crimes after they uncovered a teen girl’s remains in his fridge.

Brandon Sanders, 33, was arrested on June 29 in connection with the grisly May 12 killing of 69-year-old HVAC contractor Rasim Katanic in the West Ridge neighborhood, Chicago police records show.

When police searched the suspect’s apartment, they also discovered the body of Iman Al-Sarraj, 18, in his refrigerator, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. He has not been charged in Al-Sarraj’s death.

“I’m hoping it’s just these two bodies,” Katanic’s daughter, Aida Sutardio, said.

“It’s just been a devastating loss that we’re still trying to process as a family.”

Katanic was working on a cooler compressor on the rooftop of Tahoora Sweets & Bakery on Devon Avenue when Sanders ascended to the roof and stabbed him to death with his own screwdriver, Sutardio told WLS.

“That’s not how I ever envision my dad to die, was for him to bleed out on top of a roof,” she told the outlet.

“My dad was slaughtered.”

“Who does he think he is? Does he know he didn’t just take one life away? He’s impacted so many people from that one life,” she added of the suspect.

Police are now investigating Sanders’ possible connection to missing persons cases, sources told the outlet.

The day after Katanic’s death, Sanders allegedly burglarized an apartment occupied by two Loyola University Chicago graduates, the Sun Times reported.

Sander is believed to have opened the skylight with Katanic’s screwdriver before shaving in the bathroom and changing into stolen clothes, the outlet said, citing court documents.

Katanic’s wallet was left on the table at the scene, and Sanders’ Timberland boots were shoved in the oven.

A water jug with the alleged culprit’s DNA was also found on the stove, while the screwdriver was placed on a mailbox in front of the building.

Sanders left the apartment around 6 p.m., surveillance footage indicates. He then walked to a furniture store he used to work at on West Devon Avenue, according to the Sun-Times.

Sanders’ nephew noticed him acting strangely, and asked the store owner for help.

When the owner arrived, Sanders allegedly said that he did not need to pay rent “because his landlord was on the roof and he took care of that,” the outlet continued.

Sanders eventually ended up in Evanston, where he asked a police officer for a ride to the hospital.

He was finally arrested late last month, and charged with first-degree murder, forcible murder, armed robbery and burglary.

On the day Sanders first appeared in court, police found the beaten remains of Al-Sarraj in his refrigerator.

“My heart is shattered in a million pieces. I will never, ever have a normal life, especially after I saw my daughter’s face and what the monster did to her,” the teen’s father, Khalil Sarraj, told the Sun Times.

He had not heard from his daughter since last August, when she declined an invitation to see her uncle, who was visiting from Israel.

“She lost so many years, but she was doing well,” Sarraj said of the teen’s turbulent upbringing – which included her mother, originally from Yugoslavia, pulling her out of school around third or fourth grade.

Al-Sarraj ran away last year, about a year after Sarraj and his wife enrolled her as a freshman at Schurz High School, where she joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps, he said.

The Chicago Police Department could not be immediately reached for a comment on the case.

When investigating Katanic and Al-Sarraj’s deaths, authorities learned of his Aug. 14, 2019 arrest at a Motel 6 in Great Falls, Montana, the Sun Times said, citing court records.

Sanders was charged with human trafficking and aggravated promotion of prostitution after he was spotted in the parking lot of the motel while his wife “entertained multiple male guests” inside, the outlet continued.

Sanders’ wife later told police that she met him in 2018, after she traveled to the US from Germany to attend college.

She alleged that he encouraged her to become a sex worker, which she did because she was “very naive” and he used “extreme violence” against her.

She also claimed that Sanders introduced her to cocaine, which she used to “make it through meetings with clients.”

Sanders’ trial, however, was delayed during to COVID-19, as his wife refused to return to the US due to infection risk.

The charges were eventually dropped when the judge refused to allow her to testify virtually, the Sun Times said.

“Besides the pandemic being a big reason for this, I also don’t feel emotionally ready to face all of these things in a courtroom,” the woman stated in an email to a prosecutor.

“I also do not want to see Brandon.”

Prosecutor Jochua Racki told the Sun Times that Sanders initially faced 25 years in prison, though he likely would have gotten a lighter sentence of around 10 years.

“I wish we would’ve been able to get him. But with the judge making that ruling, that’s where we were at,” Racki admitted.

In addition to the charges in Montana, Chicago police records show that Sanders already had multiple charges for violent crimes in and around the city.

In 2016, he pleaded guilty to hiding in the back of his ex-girlfriend’s car and choking her from behind, then sending her threatening messages, the Sun Times said.

On January 1 this year, he was kicked out of the Electric Hotel Night Club on W Ontario Street because he was “irate.”

He was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery after he shoved the manager and threatened to get a gun from his car.

“I was scared s—less of this guy. He was as pissed off as someone could be,” the manager reportedly said at the time.

The charges, however, were dropped later that month.

In the hours before Katanic’s death, Sanders drew attention at the Hanmi Bank on N Western Avenue, where he kicked up a fuss while trying to open an account.

He called the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center and reported “a plot to overthrow the government,” prompting an employee to call the police, the outlet reported.

By the time the police arrived at the scene, Sanders was gone. 

Sutardio thinks the system failed her father and Al-Sarraj.

“I feel like every step of the way through the system, [Sanders’] crimes kept getting bigger until it ends with two dead people,” she told the Sun Times.

“And I think that just reflects how inconsistent our system is and how many holes there are.”

As of Friday morning, Sanders is being held without bail.

At his initial court appearance, his defense lawyer said “there are some issues with [his] mental state.”