Stanford Projansky waited more than 20 years to look into the eyes of the man accused of the execution-style fatal shooting of the oldest of his three sons. Though the 91-year-old Glenview man died just two months shy of the long-awaited day, his two other sons were among two dozen relatives and friends who packed a Cook County courtroom over the weekend to bear witness and honor a loved one they lost too soon.
December 18 marks 21 years since 40-year-old Kent Projansky was killed in his 30th-floor apartment in the Elm Street Plaza building in the 1100 block of North Dearborn Street in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. Police reported there were no signs of forced entry to his apartment, which did not appear ransacked or otherwise disturbed.
On Saturday, David Barklow made his first court appearance in Chicago on first-degree murder charges. Prosecutors said Barklow, 68, a former neighbor of the slain man, has been in custody since April 17 after being arrested at an airport in Lima, Peru, in connection with the murder case and a related warrant alleging unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Following lengthy extradition proceedings in South America, he accompanied FBI agents back to Chicago on Friday.
The victim’s middle brother, Todd Projansky, said Sunday that the family first learned on Friday about the criminal charges and Barklow’s return to the United States. Within 24 hours, Projansky locked eyes for the first time with Barklow during a court hearing he wasn’t sure would ever come.
“It was very difficult to hold out hope,” said Projansky, a Buffalo Grove attorney, in a Tribune interview. “As a somewhat positive person, I kind of always thought it would come, but being realistic with myself, I really questioned sometimes if we’d ever get here.”
Todd described his brother Kent as friendly and generous—a bachelor who was an overly indulgent uncle who spoiled his niece and nephews, including taking them to MLB All-Star Games. He was also a “champion of underdogs,” remembered Todd, recalling when Kent took a Streetwise vendor to a Bulls game and other acts of kindness toward those less fortunate.
“He had a soft spot for everyone,” Todd said.
Just three days after the killing, prosecutors said police responded to a report of a discarded duffel bag found inside a garbage can behind a bank about 14 miles from Kent Projansky’s apartment. The bag contained bloody clothes, a cardboard ammunition box, and a .32-caliber revolver, which crime lab experts later linked to the ballistic evidence recovered from the murder scene.
Despite this promising lead, the investigation went cold.
Todd said his brother’s unsolved killing devastated the family, who also feared for their own safety—not knowing if the crime was random or if Kent had been targeted.
“My kids would ask if someone was going to come in and murder me,” Todd said. He even asked his local police department to drive by his home for well-being checks in the days following Kent’s death. “We didn’t know who did it or why they did it. We suspected and continue to suspect it was about money, but we didn’t know. With four babies in the house, I wanted to be as careful as I could be.”
Todd and his family regularly called police for updates, trying to hold out hope.
Then, in 2017, police resubmitted evidence from the discarded duffel bag using more advanced technology and found that seven latent impressions on items inside the bag—including one on the ammunition box—matched Barklow, prosecutors said. They noted that Barklow’s mother lived in Park Ridge at the time, about two miles from where the duffel bag was recovered.
Todd said his family first heard Barklow’s name in late 2019, when the Chicago man was taken into custody for questioning. Authorities said they obtained Barklow’s DNA samples and fingerprints, but he was released without charges as further forensic testing continued.
Prosecutors said Barklow lived across the street from Kent Projansky at the time of the 2004 killing. During a 2019 interview, Barklow “admitted having purchased weed from the victim” inside his apartment but denied “seeing the victim preceding his death” or having knowledge about the duffel bag and its contents.
As the investigation continued, authorities said Barklow left Chicago in late 2019. According to the Department of Homeland Security, he flew to Sweden and eventually ended up in Ecuador, where he had been living before being taken into custody on April 17 at an airport in Peru.
Prosecutors stated that further forensic testing linked items inside the duffel bag to both the victim and Barklow. Records reveal Barklow has a 1995 federal bank fraud conviction.
He is currently being held in Cook County Jail and is due back in court Monday.
Todd said that though the arrest “doesn’t bring my brother back,” he and his other brother Drew are thankful for law enforcement’s efforts. He also urged more funding to speed up crime lab backlogs, which he said caused delays in the investigation.
Todd noted that his mother, Sheila, 86 and battling dementia, is unaware of the criminal case. His father, who died on September 10, knew of the 2019 lead involving Barklow and was anxiously awaiting the court proceedings.
“My father said one of his purposes in life was to see Barklow in person in a prison jumpsuit,” Todd shared.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/16/gold-coast-murder-peru-extradition/