Boyfriend killed coming to woman's aid at party, she says
An 18-year-old man is in custody and soon could be charged with murder after authorities said he fatally stabbed an Aurora man and wounded a Chicago woman following a high school graduation party late Saturday near Glen Ellyn.
DuPage County prosecutors said the suspect, whom they refused to name, is expected to appear Tuesday in bond court.
Authorities say the stabbing occurred at a Glenbard West student's graduation party on the 2N300 block of Prairie Avenue. They would not confirm the names of either of the victims.
But from her hospital bed, Verkita Vargas, 19, of Chicago, told NBC 5 that she and her boyfriend, Tehavis Price, 19, of Aurora, were the victims. The pair attended the party that night at her sister's home in honor of her nephew's graduation.
Vargas' sister, who wished to remain unnamed, said she threw the party for her 18-year-old son and about 60 of his friends. She said the suspect was intoxicated and confrontational as soon as he arrived at the party. She said she confronted the man, whom she knew, when she saw him "picking fights" with others at the party.
"I told him this was not that kind of party, and if he needed to take some frustration out, he could take it down the road ... but not here," she said. "And he looked me in the eye, apologized and said he would never disrespect me or my home and that he would stop."
She said the party was ending about 10:30 p.m. when the man pulled a knife and charged at her sister, who was sitting in a car. She said the man punched her sister in the face, breaking her braces, and then stabbed her in the abdomen.
Vargas described to NBC 5 how she and Price were attempting to leave the party when the suspect approached her.
"The kid that did it, he came to my door, opened my door and hit me in my mouth and stabbed me in my side," Vargas said.
She told NBC 5 that as Price came to her aid he was stabbed in the chest.
"When I got out of the car, he wasn't breathing," she said.
Vargas' sister described Price's last actions, saying he "got out of the driver's seat to protect her or defend her and they tussled a little before (the suspect) stabbed him up pretty bad in the chest. (The victim) stood up, took a few steps and collapsed. They said he died at the hospital, but I saw him take his last breaths right there."
The woman said her sister and the suspect knew each other but denied the two had ever been in a relationship.
Relatives of the party host and other partygoers said the attacker was a high school student whom many of them know.
"It was calm, everybody was just dancing and listening to music, and then a fight broke out," Joe Lucki, 18, who was at the party, told ABC 7. "It was just too much."
Carolyn Lorenz, Lucki's mother, said the case has left the community devastated.
"It's so sad. It's so sad," Lorenz told ABC 7. "I don't know why kids have to behave that way. It's really sad."
DuPage County sheriff's investigators spent several hours interviewing partygoers and were back in the neighborhood interviewing neighbors Monday. Officials declined to comment about whether a weapon was recovered.
Anyone with information is being asked to call the sheriff's office at (630) 407-2400.