Melissa Espana is a Digital Content Producer at WGN-TV.
Before joining WGN in June 2017, she worked as a web producer at ABC7 Chicago. She also produced at KTIV News in Sioux City, Iowa.
Melissa graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s in broadcast journalism.
CHICAGO — Police issued a warning after a woman said she was sexually assaulted in the Rogers Park neighborhood Wednesday evening. Police said a 31-year-old woman was walking on the 6600 block of North Clark Street around 6:40 p.m. Wednesday when a man approached her from behind, grabbed her and put his hand over her face. Police said he covered her nose and mouth, and that the man’s hand was wet and smelled similar to alcohol. Police said the man […]
CHICAGO — Former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald, has been moved to another prison. Van Dyke, 40, was moved to the medium security prison Otisville Federal Correctional Institution a medium security prison, in Otisville, N.Y. Forbes once listed it as one of the nation’s 10 “cushiest” prisons. It is unclear what day Van Dyke was officially transferred. Van Dyke was previously in the low security Federal Correctional […]
CHICAGO — Police said a college student’s report of a stabbing and robbery in Chicago was unfounded. Earlier Thursday, police were investigating a report that a Columbia College Chicago student was stabbed and robbed in Grant Park. The woman told police she was walking near Ida B. Wells Drive and Michigan Avenue just before 10 p.m. Wednesday, when a man walked up and asked for money. She told him she didn’t have any money and the man stabbed her, then […]
CHICAGO — R. Kelly got emotional in his first television interview since being charged with sexual abuse against a woman and three underage girls in Chicago. Kelly, 52, was interviewed by CBS This Morning’s Gayle King, and angrily denied the accusations. At one point, Kelly looks at the camera and screams that “it’s stupid” to think he would hold women against their will given his past. “Stop it. Y’all quit playing. Quit playing. I didn’t do this stuff. This is […]
ELMHURST, Ill. — A member of a satanic cult, whose members were accused of rape, torture and murder, will be released later this month after serving half of his prison sentence. The Elmhurst Police Department announced on Facebook Tuesday that Thomas Kokoraleis, 59, will be released from the Illinois River Correctional Center on Friday, March 29, after serving half of his 70-year prison sentence for the abduction, rape and murder of 21-year-old Lorraine “Lorry” Ann Borowski. Police believe he and […]
ST. JOHN, Ind. — Prosecutors say a 17-year-old boy will be charged with two counts of murder in a case that could be connected to two Lake County, IN teens who’ve been missing for nearly a week. The Porter County Sheriff’s Office said they are working with St. John and Valparaiso police to locate 19-year-old Molley Lanham and 18-year-old Thomas Grill. Lanhem and Grill were last seen Feb. 25, according to the Northwest Indiana Times, and may have been traveling […]
CHICAGO — Six people were shot inside a private club in the city’s South Chicago neighborhood early Sunday morning, according to police. Police said the people were inside a private club on the 2900 block of East 79th Street around 3:45 a.m. when shots were fired. Three men and two women were injured. The gender of the sixth person who was shot was not released. A 24-year-old woman reported hearing shots fired, felt pain and realized she had been shot […]
CHICAGO — Bail was denied for a 17-year-old charged with murder in connection to the fatal shooting of a Northside College Prep student. Luis Castejon, 17, was taken into custody around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and charged as an adult with first-degree murder. He appeared in bond court Thursday. Emanuel Gallegos, 17, was a passenger in a vehicle traveling near the 4400 block of West Addison Street around 5:30 p.m. Monday. Gallegos left school and got into a friend’s car to […]
CHICAGO — Chicago police said a person of interest was taken into custody in connection to the fatal shooting of a Northside College Prep student in Old Irving Park. Emanuel Gallegos, 17, was a passenger in a vehicle traveling near the 4400 block of West Addison Street around 5:30 p.m. Monday when a Hispanic man standing on a corner with two other men fired shots, striking the teen in the neck. Gallegos was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital in critical […]
ST. CHARLES, Ill. — A California murder suspect was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in west suburban St. Charles Wednesday afternoon, according to officials. Kane County officials said sheriff’s deputies and St. Charles police officers responded to a home in the 3N600 block of Bittersweet Road in St. Charles Township around 3 p.m. for a reported sighting of 51-year-old Mark Sypien. Sypien was wanted in California for murder. When police arrived in the area, they heard a single gunshot. […]
