Victim of Chicago stabbing sought order of protection before fatal attack, records show
CHICAGO (CBS) – A pregnant mother had sought an order of protection before she and her 11-year-old son were attacked in their Edgewater neighborhood home on Wednesday. The stabbing attack resulted in the boy's death.
But that emergency order of protection was denied even after she warned a judge she could be attacked and that she feared for her life.
Police arrested a suspect, whom CBS 2 is not naming because charges had not been announced as of Thursday. CBS 2 also learned the suspect had recently been released from prison and has a violent past.
The 11-year-old boy is identified as Jayden Perkins. He died of stab wounds to the chest after the attack in an apartment complex in the 5900 block of North Ravenswood Avenue, near Peterson Avenue. His mother was still fighting for her life Thursday at Ascension St. Francis Hospital in Evanston.
On the morning of the fatal attack, the woman and suspect were scheduled to appear before a judge. Court records show the victim expressed her fear of the man.
Court records obtained by CBS 2 showed Jayden's mother went to court on Feb. 21, requesting an emergency order of protection for "harassment, physical abuse, and stalking."
She expressed her fear, saying the man "sent me several text messages saying he would kill me and my family. He would wait outside my house and shoot me. I have pics."
She added in the emergency order request that she wanted protection "for my safety, for him to stay away from me and my apartment and my children."
Yet the judge denied the emergency order, saying the mother "presented insufficient evidence of an emergency."
At the time, the man was already in prison for violating his parole. Records showed he was locked up most recently for attempting to break into the same family's apartment.
While the judge denied the emergency order, the case was continued until March 13 for a hearing on a regular order of protection.
The suspect was released from prison before he was served to appear in court.
And on Wednesday morning, March 13 – as the mother was ready to step before a judge again at 9 a.m. for that order of protection, police said her ex showed up – and he stabbed her and killed their son.
Court records also show the suspect has had four orders of protection filed against him from four different women dating back to 2004. Meanwhile, the suspect's rap sheet goes back to the early 2000s, and many of the previous cases involve domestic battery.
Amanda Pyron, executive director of The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence, said the suspect was specifically told via the orders of protection he was not allowed to contact his victims from prison.
"So we know that there must have been some basis for that in previous orders of protection and given his pattern of behavior, in repeating similar behaviors, we're worried that that's what happened," Pyron said.
Court documents show the man was sentenced in 2017 to 16 years in prison for a 2015 home invasion involving one of the women who had an order of protection, but he was paroled last year in October after about eight years. In that case, court records showed the man "forced his way into the apartment of his former girlfriend," then "attacked [girlfriend] and threatened her 15-year-old son," and then "put a gun to [girlfriend's] chin... pushed her up against the wall... and began choking her."
CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller said under Illinois law, offenders of certain crimes only have to do half of the time to which they're sentenced. For the other half of their sentence, they can be released for good behavior.
"It happens on everybody who's sentenced," Miller said. "Back when this happened, frankly now there's a different amount of time. You'd have to do 100% on murder, 85% on other crimes, but on most crimes, you do 50% of what the judge says you're supposed to."
At the apartment complex where the attack happened, friends and family of Jayden and his mother's came together to cause and reflect late Thursday. The community was left shocked, and questioned why the court system did not protect the woman.
According to court records, the suspect and the mother were previously married. It is not clear how long ago.
It was also not clear late Thursday why the suspect was never served the court order before his prison release.
The suspect was still in custody as of Thursday.
