Chicago architect charged in girlfriend’s strangling death

CHICAGO — A Cook County judge has denied bail for an architect who is facing murder charges in his live-in girlfriend’s strangling death.

Authorities say 26-year-old Devon Charlton of Chicago was arrested Thursday at O’Hare International Airport.

He is charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 31 death of 23-year-old Ninaa Edwards. Prosecutors say police found her body with red marks on her neck. She was on a bed in the couple’s South Side apartment.

Charlton’s attorney Joshua Kutnick argued in court Sunday that Charlton wasn’t a flight risk and said Charlton went to the airport to pick up his mother, not flee the jurisdiction.

Kutnick said Charlton worked for a South Loop studio and was a member of the American Institute of Architects Chicago’s Young Architects Forum.