Woman ordered detained in deadly Chicago carjacking near Loretto Hospital on West Side

A judge ordered a woman detained until trial in the deadly carjacking of an Uber Eats driver near Loretto Hospital on Chicago's West Side.

Police said Montoya Perry, 33, stole Daniel Figueroa's car and then ran him over with it. On Monday, Figueroa was found unresponsive in the street in the South Austin neighborhood near Loretto Hospital.

Perry, 33, was charged with murder and vehicular hijacking. In court on Wednesday, Perry walked into the courtroom with crutches.

The victim's and suspect's families got into a scuffle in court after the hearing. Tensions swelled quickly after a judge ordered Perry held in jail while she awaits trial.

Perry's family walked in front of Figueroa's family, and the two sides exchanged words before they got into a physical fight. Two people were handcuffed as courthouse deputies broke up the fight, but it was not clear if anyone was charged in connection to the scuffle.

Figueroa's family discussed the altercation after the hearing.

"Things were said in the courtroom by the other family, and they reacted. That's all I'm going to be able to say right now, because I'm not sure what's happening," said Figueroa's mother, Eleanor Rivera.

It was shortly after 2 a.m. on Monday that Figueroa, 28, was found in the street near Flournoy Street and Central Avenue. According to unconfirmed police dispatch reports, he was bleeding from the head.

Figueroa was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.  An autopsy by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office to determine Figueroa's cause of death was still pending as of Tuesday afternoon.

An Uber Eats spokesperson confirmed Figueroa was a food delivery driver for the company. An assistant Cook County state's attorney said in court Wednesday that Figueroa was delivering food to Loretto Hospital at the time he was killed, and was driving a blue Dodge Caravan.

"I know it sounds crazy, but hospital workers, they order food around that hour; third shift workers," said Alexander Redd, who lives nearby. "He was just doing his job. He didn't deserve that at all."

Just before the attack, surveillance video captured three people walking down the street, including Perry — who was wearing a brown coat and pink sweatpants, prosecutors said.

Figueroa was inside the hospital making the delivery, and had left the van parked and running outside on the street, prosecutors said. Perry opened the door to Figueroa's van, while the other two attackers opened the front and rear passenger side doors, prosecutors said.

Figueroa exited the hospital and ran to the van, prosecutors said. As he grabbed the handle, Perry drove off in his van, prosecutors said.

Perry didn't stop as he held onto the door handle, prosecutors said. She ran him over when he fell to the ground, prosecutors said.

This was captured on multiple surveillance cameras, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said the Loretto Hospital doctor who placed the food order had texted Figueroa to come through the main entrance and leave the food with security, prosecutors said. The doctor noticed he had not been notified that his food was delivered, but the app showed that Figueroa was near the main entrance, prosecutors said.

The doctor came down to the lobby and didn't see Figueroa, prosecutors said. The doctor then went outside and found Figueroa lying on the ground in a pool of blood on Flournoy Street, prosecutors said.

The doctor identified the man on the ground as the same delivery driver whose picture appeared on the Uber Eats app, prosecutors said. He called the number listed on the app and noticed the phone lying on the ground next to Figueroa began to ring, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said police tracked Figueroa's van using a license plate reader, and found it parked in Maywood later Monday, around 11:30 a.m.

Perry was in a separate car with her sister at the time, wearing the same brown jacket and pink pants on which she'd been spotted earlier on surveillance video, prosecutors said.

Perry and her sister fled, and ditched the brown jacket and the keys to Figueroa's van, prosecutors said.

Police apprehended Perry, who admitted to taking Figueroa's van, and driving off in it while seeing Figueroa run up, prosecutors said.

Perry has an extensive criminal background, including eight felony convictions. On Wednesday, Feb. 11, she was arrested in west suburban Melrose Park on charges of eluding, and she lied to police during the arrest — giving her sister's name as her own, prosecutors said.

Perry was also convicted and sentenced to three years in prison in 2022 for forgery and a gun conviction, prosecutors said.

In 2013, Perry was sentenced to seven years in prison for a robbery in which she pushed the victim to the ground and threatened to kill the victim unless the victim surrendered a backpack, prosecutors said. She also beat a woman during the robbery, prosecutors said.

She was also charged in past years with felony escape, retail theft, and other crimes. In total, she has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for various criminal convictions over the course of her life, though some of those sentences were concurrent.

Perry also has a suspended driver's license with no insurance, and her license was revoked for possessing a stolen vehicle and for lying in her driver's license application. She has also pretended to be her sister many times when questioned by police, prosecutors said.

A defense attorney said Perry was a trustee of a church in Maywood, has her own business as a dental assistant, and cares for her grandmother. The defense asked for electronic monitoring for Perry.

But the judge — admonishing Perry that she had eight prior felony convictions and was already on pretrial release for the Melrose Park incident, and that she had killed Figueroa and "left him like garbage" — ordered her detained.

Figueroa's mother said she was "still pretty numb" after Wednesday's hearing.

"I am happy in my heart that she's being detained and that the case is moving forward. There is no doubt in our minds that she did it, and she did it with intent to hurt," she said. "I mean, I can be angry, I can be hurt, but that's not going to bring my son back. I'm going to let justice take its place and do what they need to do to move forward."

Perry is due back in court March 18.