COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — The teen accused of fatally stabbing an 89-year-old woman inside her South Side home had attacked a woman at knifepoint just five days earlier, prosecutors alleged Thursday.
Trae Chatmon, 18, was charged late last year with violently murdering an 89-year-old woman during a botched home invasion about 3 a.m. Oct. 26 in the 5100 block of South Michigan Avenue.
In that case, Chatmon repeatedly beat and stabbed the woman when she awoke to find Chatmon burglarizing her home, prosecutors said. Chatmon then lit the apartment on fire and fled. He later told police he was scared and trying to cover his tracks, according to prosecutors.
On Thursday, prosecutors filed new charges against Chatmon — alleging that just five days before the fatal assault he had broken into another Washington Park home a block away and attacked a 58-year-old woman at knifepoint.
It's not clear why there was a delay in charging Chatmon.
In the new case, the 58-year-old victim awoke about 2 a.m. Oct. 21 to find Chatmon standing over her, Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said during a bond hearing Thursday.
The woman screamed for help as Chatmon repeatedly punched her inside the apartment in the 5200 block of South Wabash Avenue, according to prosecutors.
An upstairs neighbor who heard the commotion called 911, and Chatmon ran off — dropping a butcher's knife from the victim's kitchen as he went, Scaduto said.
Prosecutors allege Chatmon ransacked the woman's son's bedroom before attacking her. He had entered the apartment by crawling through a window after he climbed on top of a trash can outside.
Cook County Judge Laura Sullivan on Thursday ordered Chatmon held in lieu of $500,000. That's in addition to the $1 million bail already set for October's fatal attack and the $75,000 bail Chatmon was hit with after police caught him burglarizing a different home in October.
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