After baby shower, pregnant Austin woman killed unborn child’s father, prosecutors say

Hours after her baby shower last week, Keshia Golden fatally stabbed the father of her child during an argument at her Austin apartment, according to prosecutors.

Eight months pregnant, Golden on Friday was ordered held in jail in lieu of $2 million bail — with her next appearance before a judge scheduled for less than two weeks before her due date, her court-appointed attorney said.

The Oct. 22 stabbing wasn’t the first time an argument between Golden and her boyfriend, Calvin Sidney, turned violent, prosecutors said at the bail hearing. Between June and September, police reported being called to Golden’s home five times to respond to domestic violence incidents. Four of those times, the pregnant woman said Sidney had choked, punched, slapped or pushed her.

In July, Golden took out an order of protection against Sidney, saying he punched her in the face, according to court records and police reports. In August, Sidney declined to press charges after Golden cut his neck badly enough to send him to the hospital, prosecutors said.

“It was just toxic with those two,” said Golden’s mother, Tarsha Ellis. “But they loved each other. If he could raise up right now, they wouldn’t have no case because he would never want charges against her.”

After spending the evening at the baby shower with friends and family, Golden, Sidney and other relatives returned to her apartment in the 5100 block of West Augusta. Around 3 a.m. Sunday, the 33-year-old Golden and Sidney, 29, argued over who would get to use the microwave to reheat leftovers, according to prosecutors. They said Golden knocked a plate out of Sidney’s hands, and Sidney “pushed her down on the counter.”

Sidney’s uncle separated Sidney from Golden, and Sidney went to a bedroom. Holding a knife, Golden pushed past the uncle and went into the room and stabbed Sidney in the leg, according to prosecutors, who said Golden dropped the knife and left the apartment.

Sidney had suffered a wound to his femoral artery and died at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Golden’s mother, who has talked with Golden from jail, said her daughter was distraught over Sidney’s death.

“She didn’t mean to kill anyone,” Ellis said. “She’s broke up about it. She didn’t know you could kill someone by stabbing them in the leg. She just wanted him to leave because he was acting out, and she was worried about hurting the baby. And he wouldn’t go.”

Golden returned to her apartment hours after the stabbing, not knowing Sidney was dead, and was arrested by officers at the scene. According to prosecutors, Golden admitted to police she stabbed Sidney.

Before her bail hearing Friday, Golden spent four days at the hospital getting treatment for injuries suffered in the struggle with Sidney, according to her lawyer, Julie Koehler, deputy chief of the Cook County public defender’s murder task force.

Holding Golden, who works as a cashier at a Marshalls store, on $2 million bail — which would require her to post a $200,000 bond to secure her release — is the same as setting a no-bond order, Koehler said. She said prosecutors asked Golden be held without bail despite a state law adopted in 2019 that mandates pregnant women not be jailed ahead of trial unless she is deemed to pose a threat to the public.

“To not only force Keshia to give birth in jail but then to immediately take her child away after birth is cruel to the mother and the baby,” Koehler said. “This heartless decision is contrary to Illinois law. All the evidence shows Keshia acted in self-defense. The only person she’s ever shown any violence toward was the man that was beating her.”

The Cook County state’s attorney’s office declined to comment.

Golden is being held at Cermak Hospital inside the Cook County Jail complex, said Matt Walberg, spokesman for Sheriff Thomas Dart.