A 16-year-old boy has been charged with fatally stabbing a teenager in Washington Park.
Devon Holly was charged as an adult with first-degree murder and robbery in the knife attack last week at an apartment building in the 700 block of East 60th Street.
Holly’s sister had set up a meeting with the 18-year-old victim at the building through Instagram so the victim could purchase shoes, Cook County prosecutors said in court last Friday.
On the day of the attack, the sister was seen on surveillance cameras waiting for the victim in the building’s lobby and then accompanying the victim on an elevator to the fourth floor, where Holly and his sister’s friend were waiting, prosecutors said.
Holly, wearing a ski mask, demanded money as the victim got off the elevator, then took his phone and demanded the passcode, prosecutors said.
A resident of the building who took the elevator with Holly’s sister and the victim saw the robbery happen and ran into her apartment to call the building manager, prosecutors said.
At some point, Holly took out a knife and a struggled ensued, with Holly stabbing the victim once in the chest, prosecutors said. Holly, his sister and her friend then allegedly returned to the friend’s apartment in the building.
Police responded and found a broken blade in the victim’s body. He was taken to a hospital and later died. His identity has not been released by the medical examiner.
Investigators went to the sister’s friend’s apartment and found blood on the doorway and in the hall, prosecutors said. Inside, they allegedly found Holly with blood on his shoes and fresh cuts to his hand.
A search warrant was obtained and a broken knife handle, the victim’s phone and backpack, and a pair of boxed shoes that were offered for sale to the victim were found inside the apartment, prosecutors said.
Multiple items taken as evidence were still awaiting testing by the Illinois State Police crime lab, including a ski mask found near the victim.
The sister’s friend allegedly told detectives she had seen Holly stab the victim. No other charges have been filed.
Prosecutors said Holly was previously found delinquent as a juvenile on a 2021 attempted murder charge.
A public defender for Holly questioned the identification and suggested the sister’s friend had reason to lie to authorities about who was responsible to protect herself. The attorney also said the friend was initially not cooperative with police and was subjected to questioning for a long time before identifying Holly.
Judge Kelly McCarthy ordered Holly detained and set his next hearing for Feb. 21.
