![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/chicago.jpg\"\/)
Robert Drummond, 21, of Chicago (left), was convicted this month in the murder of his 19-year-old pregnant girlfriend (right), who was found dead in Lake Michigan in Lake County in August 2021. | Provided Photos<\/p>\n\t\t Robert Drummond, 21, of Chicago (left), was convicted this month in the murder of his 19-year-old pregnant girlfriend (right), who was found dead in Lake Michigan in Lake County in August 2021. | Provided Photos<\/p>\n
A Chicago man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to stabbing his 19-year-old pregnant girlfriend to death and dumping her body in Lake Michigan, where it was later located near Waukegan in 2021.<\/p>\n
Robert Drummond, 26, of Chicago, was charged in November 2021 with first-degree murder, intentional homicide of an unborn child and armed robbery.<\/p>\n
Drummond was taken into custody by Chicago police on November 5, 2021, in connection with the death of Yarianna G. Wheeler, 19, of Chicago.<\/p>\n
Wheeler\u2019s body was spotted by a fisherman on August 15, 2021, floating in Lake Michigan three miles southeast of the Waukegan Harbor, the Lake County Sheriff\u2019s Office previously said.<\/p>\n
The woman was approximately seven months pregnant. Detectives believed she had been in the water for one or two weeks.<\/p>\n
An autopsy showed Wheeler had been stabbed. She had \u201cseveral sharp force injuries\u201d on her body, according to now-Lake County Sheriff\u2019s Office Chief Christopher Covelli.<\/p>\n
Covelli said at the time that sheriff\u2019s detectives \u201chave been working this case day and night\u201d since Wheeler\u2019s body was recovered.<\/p>\n
The Lake County Sheriff\u2019s Office collaborated very closely with the Chicago Police Department on the case, Covelli said.<\/p>\n
Wheeler was living in Chicago but is originally from the 3200 block of West Wilcox Street in Bellwood, the sheriff\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
When her body was initially recovered, police and the coroner\u2019s office were unable to identify the woman and asked the public for help.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/240340892_4382575361801859_7157183321133248207_n.jpg\"\/)
A surveillance photo (left) and sketch (right) were released of a woman, later identified as Yarianna G. Wheeler, 19, of Chicago, who was found dead in Lake Michigan in Lake County on August 15, 2021. | Provided Photos<\/p>\n
A sketch of the woman was created by Mount Prospect Police Detective Dirk Ollech and released on August 20, 2021.<\/p>\n
Covelli said one of the tips received from the public assisted in identifying Wheeler.<\/p>\n
Detectives went to the woman\u2019s residence in Chicago after she had been identified and they obtained additional information and clues.<\/p>\n
Following that, detectives were able to quickly identify Drummond as a person of interest.<\/p>\n
Lake County sheriff\u2019s detectives worked with the United States Coast Guard to determine the Lake Michigan water currents during the preceding several days from when Wheeler\u2019s body was found, in an effort to find out where she might have entered the water.<\/p>\n
Sheriff\u2019s detectives followed up on hundreds of leads throughout the investigation.<\/p>\n
They determined Wheeler met with Drummond near Oakwood Beach in Chicago.<\/p>\n
Detectives went to the area on August 30, 2021, and recovered evidence, including some of Wheeler\u2019s belongings.<\/p>\n
Detectives determined the location was likely the crime scene.<\/p>\n
After conferring with Chicago police\u2019s missing persons detectives, Lake County sheriff\u2019s evidence technicians and drone pilots were sent to the Chicago scene to collect evidence and document what was discovered, Covelli said.<\/p>\n
Court records show Drummond pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder in a negotiated plea deal with the Cook County State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Office earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Drummond was sentenced to 20 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections pursuant to the agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Lake County Sheriff\u2019s Office extends its sincere appreciation to the public for their assistance in helping identify the victim, who was initially unknown and later identified as Yarianna Wheeler, of Bellwood. Your assistance helped restore her identity and ensured her story was not forgotten,\u201d the sheriff\u2019s office said Wednesday in a message to the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robert Drummond, 21, of Chicago (left), was convicted this month in the murder of his 19-year-old pregnant girlfriend…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":747481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[307688,960,19292,24539,4221,5386,1818,274983,5405,9620,307689,7358,307690,54186],"class_list":["post-747480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-body-recovered","tag-chicago","tag-death-investigation","tag-fatal-stabbing","tag-homicide","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-lake-county-sheriff","tag-lake-michigan","tag-murder","tag-robert-drummond","tag-stabbing","tag-suspect-charged","tag-waukegan"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116453655825886030","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}