Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Man Acting 'Very Strange' at Party Stabbed Teen to Death, Prosecutors Say

By Erin Meyer | January 8, 2014 4:41pm
 Adan Montano, 37, is charged with murder in the Jan. 6 slaying of 18-year-old Stephanie Serrano at a house party.
Adan Montano, 37, is charged with murder in the Jan. 6 slaying of 18-year-old Stephanie Serrano at a house party.
View Full Caption
Chicago Police

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Before he wielded the bloody butcher knife at his roommate's birthday party, Adan Montano had been acting "very strange and belligerent," prosecutors said.

While friends of his roommate partied on Monday, the 37-year-old Marquette Park man spent most of the night in his bedroom, Assistant State's Attorney Jamie Santini said. When he finally emerged, he brushed his teeth with a household cleaning product called Fabuloso and started "bothering" a female guest, the prosecutor said.

When told by the roommate to go back to his bedroom, Montano got mad and punched the roommate, and the roommate punched him back, Santini said. 

Montano retreated to his room and emerged a short time later with the butcher knife he allegedly used to stab one guest, 18-year-old Stephanie Serrano, to death outside the outside the party in the 2900 block of West 63rd Street.

Serrano, the host and another guest were saying good night on the front porch around 10 p.m. when Montano appeared, the knife in one hand, a beer in the other, Santini said.

Serrano fell while fleeing with her two companions, and Montano plunged the knife into her, stabbing her multiple times as she screamed, Santini said.

The roommate whacked Montano in the head with a pool cue as he lunged toward another party-goer and was able to wrest the knife from him, Santini said. Montano then fled to the Chicago Lawn Police District station, where he told authorities that he was the victim of a battery.

Authorities described in incident initially as a fight at a house party.

Serrano, of the 8300 block of South Komensky Avenue, suffered a stab wound that penetrated her heart and died at the scene.

Montano is charged with first-degree murder. He is being held in the Cook County Jail on $1.5 million bail.