Ex-professor, plague expert in jail for alleged sex-murder fantasy, asked for release to help with coronavirus

In this Aug. 19, 2017 photo, Wyndham Lathem arrives at a police station as he is escorted by Chicago police.(Jim Young/AP)

A former Northwestern University professor in jail for allegedly carrying out a sex-murder fantasy asked for his release on bail to help fight coronavirus.

Wyndham Lathem, 45, spent his time in academia researching the bubonic and pneumonic plagues and argued Friday that he could help with COVID-19 research.

But the judge denied Lathem’s release on $1 million bail. In addition to his plague-related research experience, Lathem argued for his release by saying that he has additional conditions that make him more likely to die if infected by coronavirus.

Lathem has been held without bail since August 2017, when he was arrested and charged with the murder of his boyfriend at the time, Trenton Cornell-Duranleau.

Cornell-Duranleau’s body was found stabbed more than 40 times in Lathem’s apartment, police say. Cops have described the crime as a premeditated sex-murder fantasy.

After fleeing Chicago and launching a nationwide manhunt, alongside alleged accomplice and University of Oxford employee Andrew Warren, Lathem turned himself in to police in Oakland, Calif.

He has since been held at Cook County Jail in Chicago. Currently, like the rest of the world, the jail is dealing with an outbreak of COVID-19. Two prisoners have died from the disease and more than 300 have tested positive.