A convicted murderer from Indiana was mistakenly released in Chicago. On Tuesday (Jan. 29), the Indiana Corrections Department, sent Steven L. Robbins to Cook County to face drug charges, which were dropped for “reasons yet unknown.”
Robbins is serving a 60-year sentence for murder, and was to also face armed violence charges in Chicago. He spent the night in custody and was let go as of Wednesday at 7 p.m., because there was no information in his paperwork indicating that he remain locked up.
The public was not alerted to Robbins’ release until the next day because police did not want the suspect to know that they were looking for him. Both the FBI and U.S. Marshall have been informed of his disappearance. “We were trying to hit all the spots where we thought he might be before he became aware that we were looking for him,” said, Frank Bilecki, spokesperson for Cook County Sheriff, Tom Dart.
According to Robbins’ ex-wife, Nicole, who divorced him in 2008, she had no knowledge of his whereabouts and hasn’t spoken to him in more than a year. “He was mistakenly released? I haven’t heard from him,” she said in a phone interview. “I don’t know where he is.”
The 44-year-old convict is 5 feet 5 inches tall, 190 pounds, and has his ex-wife’s name tattooed on his neck. He is serving time in an Indiana State Prison for the 2002 shooting death of a 24-year-old Kentucky man.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to call 708-865-4915.
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Photo: Cook County Sheriff’s Office
