COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A suburban woman was held on $400,000 Friday after prosecutors said she fatally stabbed her girlfriend during a fight at a Roseland gas station.
Eliza Roper, 23, had been dating the victim, 27-year-old Cierra Moore, for four years, Assistant State's Attorney Akash Vyas said during a bond hearing Friday.
The pair was also romantically involved with a third person, which caused tension, Vyas said.
On Jan. 31, as Roper was driving her car with a male passenger, she noticed Moore tailing them in another car, prosecutors said. Both vehicles pulled into a gas station in the 10000 block of South Michigan Avenue around 1 p.m., and an argument ensued, according to police and prosecutors.
At one point, Moore got back into her car, bumped Roper's vehicle and tried to drive away, Vyas said. But Roper's passenger allegedly picked up a garbage can and heaved it toward Moore's car.
Moore couldn't drive away, Vyas said, due to her position near a gas pump.
Surveillance footage shows Roper and her passenger heading over to Moore's car and striking her multiple times, according to prosecutors. The same video allegedly shows Roper putting a knife away as she heads back to her own car.
Moore drove off, but was found unresponsive behind the wheel a few blocks away, with a stab wound in her thigh, Vyas said.
Moore, of suburban East Hazel Crest, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where she died at 11:33 p.m. Monday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
Roper, who lives in suburban Calumet City, was charged with first-degree murder.
Her lawyer asked for a reasonable bond on Friday, arguing that his client had been bullied and chased. Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. set Roper's bail at $400,000.
Contributing: Mauricio Peña
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