Aurora, IL – More than two decades after Tyesha Bell disappeared from her Aurora apartment, the man convicted of killing her has been sentenced to 70 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
According to the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, Judge Julia Yetter sentenced Prince L. Cunningham after a jury convicted him May 27 of first-degree murder, a Class M felony.
Prosecutors said Bell left her apartment during the early morning hours of May 9, 2003, to meet Cunningham, whom she was dating and who was the father of her young daughter. Bell never returned and was not seen or heard from again.
The case remained unresolved for years.
In December 2020, a surveyor discovered skeletal remains on property being developed in Montgomery. Investigators later determined the remains belonged to Bell. An autopsy found she died from a gunshot wound to the back of her head.
Prosecutors said Cunningham provided investigators with false information after Bell disappeared. They also said he contacted his cellphone carrier to deactivate his device, changed his phone number and gave his vehicle to a niece, delaying investigators’ efforts to locate and search it.
Cunningham was indicted and arrested in June 2022.
Under Illinois law, prosecutors said Cunningham must serve the full sentence. His punishment includes a 25-year mandatory enhancement because he personally discharged the firearm used in the murder. He received credit for 1,515 days already served in the Kane County Jail.
State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser said the sentence delivers justice for Bell and recognizes the work of investigators who continued pursuing the case for years.
Cunningham was convicted at trial and is no longer merely accused of Bell’s murder.
