Investigators say a dating app meetup, a hotel dispute and a short drive ended with a 28-year-old man shot to death in a parked car.
OAK BROOK TERRACE, Ill. — A 19-year-old Milwaukee woman has been charged with murder after investigators said a man she met through Tinder was found shot in the head Feb. 4 in a car outside an office building in this Chicago suburb.
The case quickly drew attention in both Illinois and Wisconsin because prosecutors say it began with an online dating meetup, moved through a hotel confrontation and ended in a killing about 1 1/2 miles away. Authorities identified the dead man as Obaidulla F. Shareef, 28. Akrystal Woods, 19, was arrested in Milwaukee the next day and later told a court commissioner she would not fight extradition to DuPage County, where she faces three counts of first-degree murder. Investigators have not publicly described a motive beyond the dispute they say unfolded before the shooting.
Police said officers were sent about 6:06 p.m. Feb. 4 to 2 Trans Am Plaza Drive after a report of a crash in a parking lot. When they arrived, they found Shareef in the driver’s seat of a car with gunshot wounds. Prosecutors later said he had been shot in the head. Court records cited by local outlets say the vehicle appeared to have sped out of a nearby parking garage, jumped a curb and struck several parked cars before coming to a stop. Shareef was later pronounced dead. Inside the car, investigators found a receipt from a nearby hotel that carried the name of a woman from Milwaukee, a detail that helped push the inquiry toward the hotel and the people who had been with him earlier.
At the hotel, witnesses told police they had seen Shareef the previous day and that he said he was meeting two women he had met on Tinder. One witness described him as nervous before the meeting. Investigators said the same witness later saw Shareef with two women, including Woods. According to court filings, Woods accused Shareef of taking $200 from her, and the argument grew loud enough that hotel staff asked Woods, Shareef and another woman to leave. Authorities have not said who owned the missing money, whether it was ever recovered or whether the argument turned physical. They also have not publicly said whether the second woman is considered a witness, a suspect or neither. Those unanswered questions have left a narrow public timeline built mostly from witness accounts, surveillance video and charging papers.
After the group left the hotel, investigators said they pieced together the next steps through surveillance footage, license plate reader data and other records. Authorities said Shareef drove one vehicle while Woods and the other woman rode in a second car. The two vehicles were then seen entering a parking garage roughly 1 1/2 miles from the hotel. That short trip has become a central part of the case because prosecutors say the shooting happened soon after. Police have not publicly said whether anyone else was inside Shareef’s car at the moment he was shot, whether a gun was recovered or how many shots were fired. Officials also have not described any forensic evidence in public filings beyond the fatal gunshot wounds and the investigative trail left by the cars, the hotel receipt and electronic records.
The investigation soon stretched north to Milwaukee. Police said they used surveillance, social media and license plate readers to connect the second vehicle and the women with an apartment complex on Milwaukee’s northwest side near North 73rd Street and West Dean Road. On Feb. 5, law enforcement officers executed warrants at the complex. Woods and a man were later taken into custody during a traffic stop in the suspected vehicle, according to Milwaukee reporting on the case. Prosecutors in DuPage County announced the charge on Feb. 9, saying Woods had been apprehended without incident in Wisconsin. DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement that crossing state lines did not place the suspect beyond the reach of investigators. Oak Brook Terrace Police Chief Casey Calvello said the arrest reflected close coordination among local officers, DuPage MERIT and Milwaukee police.
The case has unfolded in stages through court hearings and public statements rather than a detailed police narrative. At a Milwaukee County court appearance on Feb. 13, Court Commissioner Barry Phillips asked Woods whether she wanted to waive extradition and return to Illinois voluntarily. “Yes,” Woods replied, according to courtroom coverage by FOX6. That exchange moved the case closer to DuPage County, where prosecutors have said they do not plan to discuss the evidence publicly until Woods appears there. Officials have also not said whether the man arrested with Woods faces any charge tied to Shareef’s death. Local reports have described him only as a man taken into custody during the traffic stop. For now, the public record names only Woods as a defendant.
Shareef’s death also raised questions about the final moments in the parking garage and lot, an area near Interstate 88 lined with offices, hotels and busy suburban traffic. Investigators have said little about what witnesses there may have seen or heard. No public affidavit released so far appears to answer whether the shooting took place inside the garage, just outside it or after the car had already begun moving. The crash itself became part of the timeline because it offered officers a direct route to the victim and the vehicle. The office-building setting, rather than a home or secluded area, added another unusual detail to a case that already crossed state lines and began with an online match. Yet officials have stayed measured in their public comments, emphasizing only the charge, the arrest and the continuing investigation.
Woods is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in DuPage County, though multiple counts in a homicide case often reflect different legal theories tied to a single death. The charge is an allegation, and she is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Prosecutors said after her arrest that she remained in custody in Wisconsin awaiting transfer to Illinois. Early notices listed a Milwaukee court date on Feb. 10, and later reporting showed her Feb. 13 appearance in Milwaukee, where she waived extradition. A later court appearance in DuPage County was expected after that transfer, though officials did not immediately release a full schedule when they announced the charge. Investigators have said the case remains active, leaving open the possibility of added evidence, more detailed court filings or additional charges against other people if prosecutors believe the facts support them.
For Oak Brook Terrace, a small suburb west of Chicago, the case landed with the force of both violence and mystery. The public facts are stark: a 28-year-old man met two women after a dating app contact, argued at a hotel and was dead less than a day later. The comments from officials have reflected that mix of certainty and uncertainty. Berlin called the arrest a sign that “fleeing to another state does not take a defendant out of the reach of law enforcement.” Calvello said the investigation showed what departments can do when they pool resources. But the central human details remain spare. Shareef’s family has not spoken publicly in the court record released so far, and authorities have not offered a fuller account of his plans that day or how the meeting was arranged beyond saying Tinder was involved.
The case now stands at the handoff between investigation and prosecution. Woods has been charged, Shareef has been identified and the timeline from hotel to garage has been sketched in court records, but major details about motive, the second woman and the exact shooting sequence remain unresolved. The next major step is Woods’ appearance in DuPage County, where prosecutors are expected to move the case into its next phase.