A guilty verdict has landed more than six years after a Walgreens employee was stabbed to death inside her own store in Wicker Park. Sincere Williams, who was 18 years old at the time of the September 2020 killing, has been convicted of five counts of murder in the death of Olga Maria Calderon, a 32-year-old mother of two.
According to ABC7 Chicago, police say Williams killed Calderon inside the Walgreens on Milwaukee Avenue on Sept. 6, 2020. The station reports that Williams is expected to be back in court for sentencing next month, though no date or potential sentence has been disclosed.
Calderon's death set off a wrenching bond hearing in the days that followed. Prosecutors alleged that Williams grabbed Calderon, pushed her head back into a counter and stabbed her ten times, according to the Chicago Tribune. She was pronounced dead at the scene, the paper reported, and Judge Arthur Wesley Willis ordered Williams held without bail days later, when he was charged with one count of first-degree murder.
Surveillance Footage and Items Found Nearby
The Tribune's account of the bond hearing states that surveillance video showed Williams entering the store just after 9:30 a.m. wearing an orange Bears hoodie, a red face mask, dark jeans and gym shoes. Prosecutors told the court that police later found bloody gloves, clothing and a knife near the Walgreens.
Court testimony described in the Chicago Sun-Times added a chilling detail: prosecutors said Williams had worn a second, complete set of clothing underneath the outfit he arrived in, apparently so he could change after the attack. An assistant state's attorney told the court that Williams did not take anything from the store, and the newspaper's report notes that prosecutors could not establish a definitive motive.
Chicago police separately said robbery was a possible motive and identified Williams as a suspect in two recent robberies in the neighborhood, per the same Sun-Times account. That suspicion was echoed elsewhere - NBC Chicago reported that authorities said they strongly believed Williams was involved in at least two other robberies, including one at the same Walgreens.
A Store Robbed Days Before the Killing
Police said the same Walgreens had been robbed four days before Calderon's killing, by a man who brandished a knife that appeared identical to the one used in her death. CBS News Chicago has reported that the store had hired a security guard following a robbery in February 2020, but that the guard had been removed from the location in March, months before Calderon was killed.
Accounts of Calderon's injuries differ slightly between outlets. The Sun-Times reported that prosecutors described four stab wounds to the face, three to the neck, and one each to the chest, back and right hand, while CWB Chicago's coverage states that medical examiners determined the hand wound was to her left hand rather than her right. The discrepancy between the two accounts has not been resolved in public reporting.
Case Unfolded Amid a Violent Holiday Weekend
Calderon's death occurred during a Labor Day weekend that Chicago police described, in a report cited by Fox News, as including 10 murders, 38 shootings and 51 shooting victims between 6 p.m. that Friday and 11:59 p.m. that Monday. Her killing drew particular attention because it happened in broad daylight inside a neighborhood pharmacy where she was simply working her shift.
With the conviction now secured, the case moves toward sentencing, with Williams due back in court next month. Beyond that scheduled hearing, the public record reviewed does not yet indicate what sentence prosecutors will seek or what Williams could face under the conviction.
