Man charged with fatal Riverdale neighborhood stabbing denied bail

A man charged with killing one man and critically wounding another in a stabbing Tuesday evening in the Far South Side Riverdale neighborhood has been denied bail.

Jose De La Torres, 30, is charged with felony counts of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, according to Chicago police and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

De La Torre is accused of stabbing 44-year-old Marvin Mayweather and a 36-year-old man multiple times about 6 p.m. in the 200 block of East 135th Place, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. Mayweather, who lived in the same neighborhood, was found dead on the floor inside a building in the block when officers arrived.

De La Torre appeared for a hearing to set bail Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building before Judge John F. Lyke Jr. He wore a white T-shirt and jeans, and had thick bandages wrapped around his thumb and index finger on his right hand.

The 36-year-old man who was wounded had picked De La Torre up to hang out before the stabbing, Assistant State’s Attorney Rachel Mabbott said in court. They had known each other for a little more than six months and went to the 36-year-old’s workplace, where they met Mayweather and drank beer.

At some point, De La Torre said he needed to leave and the 36-year-old left the room to collect his things, Mabbott said. When he returned, he saw De La Torre with a folding knife in his hand as he struggled with Mayweather. When the 36-year-old tried to pull De La Torre off Mayweather, De La Torre turned on the younger man and began stabbing him as well. De La Torre chased the 36-year-old and continued to stab him until he escaped and ran to a nearby home and called police.

Officers found De La Torre shirtless and hiding between truck trailers nearby and followed a blood trail back to the the building where the stabbing occurred, Mabbott said. The folding knife was found near Mayweather’s body.

The 36-year-old was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition with stab wounds to his back, neck and head, authorities said. He identified De La Torre as the person who stabbed him and Mayweather.

De La Torre’s court-appointed public defender said he believed there was more to the story prosecutors offered about what happened that night, but did not offer details. He said his client was a small business owner and a musician who graduated from Morton West High School in west suburban Berwyn in 2006.

Judge Lyke noted three previous drug-related felony convictions in De La Torre’s record and ordered him held at the Cook County Jail without bail.

De La Torre, who lives in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side, was scheduled to return to court Oct. 18.