Son found parents stabbed to death in Austin home; person in custody

A person was in custody Sunday afternoon after a son found his elderly parents stabbed to death early Sunday in their Austin neighborhood home on the West Side.

“They didn’t bother no one,” said a neighbor, one of more than a dozen people gathered on the block outside crime scene tape.

The male returned home about 1:10 a.m. in the 1400 block of North LeClaire and found his parents with multiple stab wounds to their bodies, according to Chicago Police. He then called police.

His parents — 69-year-old Shirley Ervin and 67-year-old Johnnie Ervin — were pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Autopsies Monday found both died of multiple blunt force injuries, and their deaths were ruled homicides.

Charges were pending against the person in custody.

“Everyone called them mom and pops,” said the 57-year-old neighbor, who has lived a few houses away from the couple for more than 30 years and asked not to be identified.

“I’m just shocked,” she said. “I can’t believe it because they don’t do anything. He was taking care of his wife — she was sickly. They stayed in the house and didn’t bother anybody.”

The woman said she was asleep when she was woken up by her nephew, who told her about the homicides. Outside the crime scene early Sunday, she identified the victims’ son, who approached her and gave her a tight, emotional hug.

She said that the 69-year-old woman would walk up the street and visit before she got sick. After a diagnosis, the neighbor said she would visit the victims’ home a couple of days every month.

“She was like everybody’s mom,” said the neighbor, adding that her nephews would sometimes go to barbecues with the victims’ three sons.

“Everybody knew both of them,” she said. “They were good neighbors. They tried to help everybody in any way they could.”