Police chief calls Elgin teen's death 'senseless'

John W. Keyes III, 17, was living it up at a party in Elgin Saturday night dancing with a girl when her 16-year-old boyfriend pushed Keyes away from her, according to Keyes' family members.

In self-defense, Keyes punched the teenager in the eye, a wound that required stitches, they said.

The family says the scuffle set off a chain of events that ultimately led to Keyes' death, police say at the hands of the other boy's mother, Timera D. Branch. Branch, 33, a Streamwood mother of three, is accused of intentionally ramming her car into Keyes Sunday afternoon as he ran away, crushing his body against the Burnham Wing Schoolhouse Apartments on the 200 block of Center Street in Elgin.

"I've been in the business almost 20 years. I have never seen anything like this before," said Elgin Police Chief Lisa Womack. "It is absolutely senseless and I wouldn't expect to see it in any community."

Keyes' death marked the third homicide in Elgin this year.

Branch on Tuesday was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Her bond was set at $1 million Wednesday morning; she was unable to post $100,000 to get out of the Kane County jail while charges are pending.

Womack said police have beefed up their presence around the apartment complex and at the schools witnesses attend.

Because of the ongoing investigation, police were releasing no new information or confirming the family's statements.

"We're still investigating any interaction that may have occurred between the victim and the Branch family," said Deputy Police Chief Jeffrey Swoboda.

Police also aren't commenting on talk that a group of men beat Keyes up with bats and hammers after he was hit by the car.

Meanwhile, the Keyes family is trying to make sense of the events and say the fight should not have ended in anyone's death.

"This was my only son," said Dionne Harris, Keyes' mother, adding he was the youngest of her five children. "I mean, he wasn't a bad kid."

Ashley Keyes, 21, says her brother was kicked out of the Saturday night party after the fight, but that the 16-year-old boy's father went there looking for her brother.

On Sunday afternoon, Keyes was visiting his girlfriend Chareesha Herbert, 16, at the apartment complex when someone called him on his cell phone and told him someone was looking for him downstairs, Herbert said.

Keyes went outside to meet the other party, she said.

"Twenty minutes later, I went out there, he was laying on the ground and then the ambulance came and took him to the hospital," Herbert said.

Keyes was pronounced dead at Sherman Hospital a short time later.

The Kane County coroner could not be reached, due to the federal holiday. But the office on Tuesday was not discussing the autopsy it performed on Keyes earlier in the day.

Kane County records show Branch has no violent crimes on her record but a lengthy history of traffic offenses dating back to 1997. Some of the cases were resolved with convictions, others with court supervision.

Branch lived on the 100 block of Tennyson Court in Elgin as recently as last year, according to court records. Her current address is on the 200 block of Monarch Drive, Streamwood.

Her next court date is Nov. 19 at the Kane County Judicial Center.

About two dozen of Keyes' family members and friends, including his mother and four sisters, gathered around a phone at the Kane County Judicial Center Wednesday morning to listen in on Branch's bond court proceedings.

Several said they plan to attend every court appearance.

"We just hope justice is served," said Latasha Keyes, 25, Keyes' oldest sister.

Although he'd dropped out of Elgin High School a year ago, Keyes, nicknamed "Cash," was working to make something of himself by studying for a GED at Gifford Street High School, his mother said.

Keyes, who loved to party, also had a tender side, according to his girlfriend.

Herbert smiled when she recalled eating steak burritos with Keyes at the El Faro Mexican Restaurant on Route 31.

The couple, who met at Kimball Middle School, had been together since March 2007 and Keyes frequently showered her with affection by giving her cards and flowers, Herbert said.

"He was a good boyfriend. He always made me laugh," she said. "He gave me anything I wanted."

Keyes' mother, meanwhile, says she takes no delight in Branch's plight - she could spend between 20 and 60 years in prison if found guilty of first-degree murder.

"My heart goes out to her. She needs the Lord on her side," Harris said after the bond hearing. "I just want to know, what was she thinking?"

Keyes' visitation will be held between 10 and 11 a.m. Monday at St. James AME Church, 1100 Summit St.

His service begins at 11 a.m. and burial follows at Bluff City Cemetery.

It was not known Wednesday who was watching after Branch's children, ages 4, 13 and 16.

Police ask that anyone with information about the case call (847) 695-4195.

• Daily Herald Staff Writer Josh Stockinger contributed to this report.

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