Unalaska mayor, family robbed on Chicago train

From Monday's edition of The Times of Munster, Ind.:

Alaska mayor's family falls victim to theft on South Shore train

By Lauri Harvey Keagle

A mayor frequently seen on the Discovery Channel series "Deadliest Catch" fell victim to theft on a South Shore train Sunday night while traveling with her family.

According to Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Transit Police Chief Bob Byrd, Mayor Shirley Marquardt of Unalaska, Alaska, her husband and two children were riding the South Shore train from South Bend to Chicago in a car occupied only by two other women.

Byrd said Marquardt saw one of the women pass her and go into the bathroom twice. The mayor later looked into her purse which was sitting at her feet and noticed her wallet and that of her son — containing a total of $1,300 in cash — were missing.

Marquardt told a conductor who had transit police officers meet the train at the Hegewisch station in Chicago at 6:30 p.m. The two women denied any knowledge of the incident, Byrd said, but a pat down search revealed one of the women had a loaded handgun in one pocket and 10 rounds of ammunition in another pocket.

The other woman, Byrd said, had four $100 bills hidden in her hair. A search of the train found additional cash stuffed into a Doritos bag in the trash can of the bathroom, Byrd said.

Ashlee Williams, 20, of 6954 S. Clyde Ave. in Chicago is facing charges of being a felon in possession of a handgun, Byrd said. Williams was convicted in 2006 of robbery.

Earlines Crowder, 19, of 1509 Englewood Ave. in Joliet was charged with theft.

Byrd said Marquardt is the mayor of the town where the popular Discovery Channel series "Deadliest Catch" — which centers on the treacherous, high-seas crabbing industry — is filmed. Marquardt is frequently seen on the series highlighting the ships working out of Dutch Harbor in the town of 4,300 residents.