A 25-year-old Uptown man is accused of fatally stabbing his boyfriend with a box cutter during a fight about sex earlier this month.
Marquez Haggard is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of D’Andre Tatum, 45, who was stabbed to death at Haggard’s apartment in the 1200 block of West Argyle Street, the Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.
The pair were in a sexual relationship since last summer, prosecutors said. Haggard allegedly told police that they began fighting Jan. 9 when he told Tatum that he wanted to invite a third person to his apartment for sex.
Tatum got angry and tried to leave through the back door about 9:30 p.m., but Haggard pulled on his arm to stop him, prosecutors said. When Haggard wouldn’t let go, Tatum punched him.
The fight eventually spilled out into the alley, where Haggard took out a box cutter and stabbed Tatum in the arm, slicing his brachial artery, prosecutors said. Tatum escaped and ran west toward Glenwood Avenue, while Haggard called the police to say he had just stabbed someone who broke into his home.
Witness directed responding officers to the back of an apartment building where Tatum lay unconscious, bleeding heavily from his arm, prosecutors said. He was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition, and died Jan. 23. He never regained consciousness.
Haggard has a CDL license and lives in Collective Chicago, a transitional housing program, his defense attorney said.
Haggard waived his Miranda Rights to tell police what happened, and was initially charged with aggravated battery and released on $5,000 bond, prosecutors said. However, a judge increased the bond to $150,000 after Tatum died and the charges were upgraded to murder.
Haggard, who was held at the Cook County Jail, is due back in court Feb. 17.
