6 years after club promoter John ‘Fuzzy’ Atkins was shot to death, prosecutors charge alleged shooter

More than six years after popular nightclub promoter and DJ John “Fuzzy” Atkins was found with a gunshot wound to his head in a Morgan Park gangway, prosecutors have charged a third person in connection with his death.

Jabarri Hicks faces a count of first-degree murder in the shooting and was denied bail at his initial hearing Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.

Hicks, now 33, appeared in court wearing a black T-shirt, tan denim pants and black shoes.

Prosecutors said Hicks, along with another man who is now deceased, Hicks’ wife Ladonna Curry and her best friend Audreianna McNeil, lured Atkins to the Far South Side gangway with the intention of robbing him. Hicks, concerned that Atkins would be able to identify him, allegedly executed Atkins by firing a bullet into the back of his head at close range.

Curry and McNeil pleaded guilty last May to conspiracy to commit armed robbery and are both serving 15-year sentences at the Logan Correctional Center in downstate Lincoln, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.

Illinois Department of Corrections

Both women gave a detailed account of the plan to rob Atkins and said Hicks told them he shot Atkins, Assistant State’s Attorney Jamie Santini said in court Thursday.

Hicks and Curry were married in 2013 when they planned to rob Atkins, who Curry was also involved in a relationship with at the time, Santini said. Curry and McNeil went to a club in south suburban Harvey where Atkins was DJing on Aug. 31 that year.

With the promise of sex, Curry and McNeil lured Atkins to Morgan Park and led him down the gangway where Hicks and the other male co-defendant were waiting, Santini said. The women then left Atkins.

The women last saw Atkins on his knees with his hands behind his back, the Sun-Times reported from their bail hearing the following year.

Santini said Thursday that Hicks ordered Atkins to lie on the ground after stealing his car keys, cash and jewelry and then aimed the gun at the back of Atkins’ head and fired once.

The men drove Atkins’ car to Gary, Indiana, where they met with Curry and McNeil, set Atkins’ car on fire in a vacant lot and burned his cellphone and identification, Santini said.

Chicago police

Hicks allegedly fled to Lake County, Indiana, after Curry and McNeil were indicted in 2014.

He was taken into custody Sept. 5 during a “domestic-related incident” when he was found to be wanted on an arrest warrant issued in August charging him with murder. He was then extradited back to Illinois.

An assistant public defender for Hicks said he has been living in Indiana and working as an auto mechanic. For the last four years, Hicks has been living with his girlfriend and their three children.

Hicks’ attorney asked Judge Arthur Wesley Willis to set bail for Hicks and said prosecutors’ case appeared to weigh heavily on the testimony of Curry and McNeil, which “should be viewed by the court with some level of skepticism.”

Willis ordered Hicks held without bail and set his next court appearance for Oct. 30.

Atkins’ mother, Zedda Atkins, said she was relieved to hear that the final suspect in her son’s murder had been apprehended. She said homicide detectives came to her house Wednesday night to tell her that Hicks was in custody.

“I felt a lot of relief. It’s been too long,” she said when reached by phone Thursday. “They have done a beautiful job. I wouldn’t let it go, and they wouldn’t let it go.”