‘Ziploc’ sentenced to 12 years for brutal Edgewater home invasion tied to $600 cocaine debt

Ronald Armour and the approximate location of the attack. (Chicago Police Department, Google)

A Chicago man who prosecutors said beat an amputee to death while trying to collect a $600 cocaine debt during a home invasion in Edgewater has been sentenced to 12 years in prison—but he won’t serve a single day there.

Ronald Armour, 53, was released from the Illinois Department of Corrections on October 3, the same day he arrived, after receiving credit for the more than three years he spent in Cook County Jail awaiting trial and a standard 50 percent sentence reduction for good behavior, according to court and state prison records.

Armour was initially charged with murder and multiple felonies following the July 2021 attack inside an apartment in the 6000 block of North Kenmore Avenue. He has resolved the case by pleading guilty to causing bodily injury during a home invasion, a Class X felony, and was sentenced by Judge James Novy to 12 years in prison, court records show.

Prosecutors said Armour was a drug dealer known by the nickname “Ziploc” who kicked down the victims’ front door around 11:40 a.m. on July 1, 2021, after they failed to answer his knocks. He allegedly found the two men, ages 63 and 53, lying in bed together and began punching them both in the face and head.

The older man escaped but suffered facial injuries, including broken teeth and an eye injury. The younger man, identified as Darren Williams, was unable to flee because he had only one leg, prosecutors said. While the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, the office also determined that his primary cause of death was heart disease with blunt force head trauma and cocaine intoxication as contributing factors, according to public records.

Prosecutors said the two victims had purchased cocaine from Armour for several years and had texted him to promise repayment of a $600 debt. After the attack, the surviving victim called 911 and told police a man named “Ziploc” was responsible, even providing Armour’s phone number.

While the victim was being treated in a hospital, Armour allegedly texted him again, saying he was outside their apartment building and asking why police were there. Prosecutors said he continued to send messages demanding repayment.

Armour’s criminal history includes felony convictions for drug possession, distribution, fleeing and eluding police, and DUI dating, but court records show this was his first conviction for a violent crime.