Yorkville Man Sentenced To 70 Years In Two-Decades-Long Missing Person Case, Murder

AURORA, IL — A Yorkville man was sentenced to 70 years in prison for the murder of an Aurora woman who was reported missing nearly 20 years before her remains were found, the Kane County State's Attorney's Office said.

A jury convicted Prince L. Cunningham on May 27 for the murder of 22-year-old Tyesha Bell, who was considered a missing person until December 2020, when someone found skeletal remains and a Converse shoe on a property that was under development in Montgomery.

An autopsy and forensic analysis determined the remains belonged to Bell and that she died from a single gunshot wound to the back of her head, officials said.

Cunningham, now 53, was indicted and arrested on June 14, 2022.

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Nearly two decades prior, during the early morning hours of May 9, 2003, Bell left her Aurora apartment, where she lived with her sister and almost 2-year-old daughter to meet Cunningham, who was married but also dating Bell and was the father of her daughter. Cunningham was meeting Bell to give her money to buy a new car, prosecutors said. Bell left behind her purse, driver's license and a burning candle and was never heard from again.

The pair met frequently to exchange money for their court-ordered child support agreement, Patch reported.

After Bell disappeared, Cunningham lied to police about his relationship with her, telling them he hadn't spoken with her in months and claiming he was not the father of their daughter, officials said. Cunningham also contacted the Montgomery Police Department to say a pair of Converse shoes had been stolen from his car and suggested Bell may have been involved.

Cunningham will be required to serve his full sentence, which includes a 25-year mandatory enhancement as a result of Cunningham personally discharging the firearm that killed Bell. He was credited for the 1,515 days he served in the Kane County jail.

"This sentence justly represents the horrific choice that Prince Cunningham made when he chose to take the life of Tyesha Bell," State's Attorney Jamie Mosser said in a statement. "He robbed Tyesha's daughters of their mother and robbed her family of a sister and a daughter, and he did so purely out of his own selfishness. Although no sentence can undo the pain caused by this defendant, today's outcome delivers the justice Tyesha deserves."