In the weeks leading up to her death, Brittany Battaglia told her friends she was growing increasingly worried about her boyfriend’s strange behavior.
Then one day, her friend and roommate Quamieshia Greathouse testified, Battaglia and Greathouse finished up an errand and Battaglia left to check on her boyfriend and make him a meal.
It was the last time Greathouse ever saw her.
After Battaglia had been missing for several days, Chicago police officers made a gruesome discovery at the the Logan Square apartment of her boyfriend, Genesis Silva, on June 5, 2023, prosecutors said Tuesday. Her body was found in a duffel bag, nearly decapitated, police said.
“The defendant and Brittany had a tumultuous relationship,” Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah Dale-Schmidt said. “The defendant, during the course of the relationship, began to act erratically. Britney became concerned.”
Silva, 36, is standing trial on charges of murder as a jury heard opening statements on Tuesday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building while Battaglia’s family watched from the gallery.
A woman found dead Monday night in Logan Square was identified by loved ones as 33-year-old Brittany Battaglia, shown here, who was described as a “great person” by her brother AJ Battaglia. (Family photo).
AJ Battaglia gave us permission to use this photo of Brittany.
– Original Credit: Handout
Silva’s public defenders, though, argued that Silva, suffering from a mental health crisis, tried to conceal the homicide when he found Battaglia dead in his apartment, thinking no one would believe he didn’t do it. They also pointed out that a friend of Silva’s, Peter Mathes, is facing a charge of concealing a homicide for helping Silva, but struck a deal with prosecutors for the charge to be dismissed in exchange for his testimony.
“Neither one wants to be found with a body,” Assistant Public Defender Celeste Addyman said. “What does everybody think when there’s a dead body in your house? That you did it.”
But Greathouse told jurors that Battaglia was becoming more alarmed about Silva’s behavior. On one occasion, she said, Battaglia helped Silva collect all his belongings after he threw them out of his car, thinking the items were being tracked.
The last time anyone saw Battaglia was on June 2, 2023, prosecutors said. Greathouse was at Home Depot with Battaglia when she got a series of calls and texts from Silva that concerned her.
“She said she was going to go to Genesis’s house to check up on him … make sure he ate and that he drank some water,” Greathouse said.
But she never returned that night to their shared apartment, so Greathouse called police and reached out to Battaglia’s family.
Meanwhile, prosecutors alleged, Silva and Mathes were cleaning up the apartment before they bought the duffel bag and put her body inside.
Later, police searched the apartment and found the duffel bag, along with cleaning supplies and multiple knives.
Battaglia grew up in Bloomingdale and worked as a nanny and esthetician, her mother testified on Tuesday.
She learned her daughter had gone missing when she was awoken at night by a phone call from her son. She texted with her daughter nearly every day, she said.
Her voice wavering, she said the last time she saw her daughter was a couple of weeks earlier, on Mother’s Day.
