Kelly Day, 32, has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly stabbing a stranger to death with such force that the knife blade snapped off in his skull.
Day, who identifies as a transgender woman, was arraigned Saturday at Central Bond Court following the Wednesday killing of Larry Young, 50, on Chicago’s Far South Side. Assistant State Attorney Sara Grgurovic laid out the sequence of events during the bond hearing, telling the judge that Day had been with her partner and 7-year-old stepson earlier that day when a separate group of strangers mocked her for using a women’s bathroom at a McDonald’s.
Young was not among those McDonald’s hecklers, Grgurovic clarified. He encountered Day later on the street and reportedly made comments about her gender. Day became “extremely angry” and began arguing with him while her partner attempted to pull her away, the prosecutor said.
Young pushed Day and walked away toward a nearby gas station across the street, authorities said. Day then told her wife she didn’t want “bullies” to get away with making fun of her gender, before following Young and reigniting the confrontation, prosecutors said.
Surveillance footage captured Day holding a knife above Young as he lay on the ground, Grgurovic told the court. She allegedly stabbed him 13 times in the head, neck and upper shoulders.
Day made an initial 911 call reporting that she had been injured while protecting herself from a “pervert,” prosecutors said. She tossed the knife and fled. Police later recovered the weapon with part of the blade missing.
The autopsy determined Young died of multiple sharp force injuries. The Cook County medical examiner’s office and prosecutors confirmed the metal knife tip was later found lodged in his skull.
Day’s account shifted in a subsequent 911 call, Grgurovic noted, when she claimed she had cut herself while cooking. She was arrested at a city hospital where she sought treatment for a cut to her finger.
After her arrest, Day told investigators that Young had called her a gay slur, made a gun gesture, and threatened to have someone beat her up, according to reports.
Day is being held in custody pending trial, with the brutality of the attack cited as a factor in the detention decision.