Streamwood woman charged with running down Elgin teen

A Streamwood woman is accused of intentionally using her car to kill an Elgin teenager over the weekend.

Timera D. Branch, 33, of the 200 block of Monarch Drive, was charged Tuesday afternoon with two counts of first-degree murder in the Sunday death of 17-year-old John W. Keyes.

Police say that at around 4 p.m. Sunday, Branch jumped a curb in the 200 block of Center Street and deliberately rammed her car into Keyes as he tried to run away, crushing the teen's body into the north side of the Burnham Wing Schoolhouse Apartments on Elgin's east side.

The Elgin Fire Department found Keyes unresponsive outside the building and the teen was pronounced dead at Sherman Hospital a short time later. The Kane County Coroner's Office was not disclosing the results of an autopsy it performed on Keyes Tuesday.

Police say they found Branch a block away from the crash and took her in for questioning.

On Tuesday, Elgin police weren't releasing any details about the events that led up to the onetime Elgin High School student's death and could not confirm talk that Keyes was beaten up after he was hit by the car.

Due to the ongoing investigation, police also would not confirm whether Keyes and Branch's son had been involved in a violent altercation at an Elgin party Saturday night over another woman - police did verify that Keyes and Branch's son knew each other.

Finally, police declined to say who was riding in the mid-size sedan's passenger seat next to Branch.

"We have received a variety of reports of what happened before the incident, what happened after the incident and we're just trying to piece it together," said Deputy Police Chief Jeffrey Swoboda. "More information will follow."

On Tuesday, a makeshift memorial with teddy bears, hair picks, flowers and a bottle of vodka lined the portion of the building where Keyes was hit. A red poster board with final messages to Keyes sat behind a pool of dried blood.

Even though he'd dropped out of Elgin High School after three months in November 2008, Keyes was still a regular at the school's basketball and football games, said his friend Mark Coppage, of Elgin.

He loved playing video games and basketball and partying, said friend Ivan Brown, also of Elgin.

Although Keyes was three years younger, Brown and Coppage, both 20, said they didn't mind him tagging along with them at weekend house parties because he was wise beyond his years and knew how to have fun.

"He was more advanced than any normal kid his age," Brown said.

Coppage said the group often looked out for each other and that he wished Keyes would have told him he was in trouble.

"He was like a little brother to us," Coppage said. "If we would have been here, we would have made sure this wouldn't have happened."

Things have been relatively quiet at the Burnham apartments over the last decade.

The last time the low-income complex made major headlines was in 1999 after a triple gang homicide that stemmed from a drug dispute.

Police arrested eight men in the murders.

Soon after, police and Burnham's management begin transforming the neighborhood and putting policies in place that scared gang members and drug dealers away from the complex.

Meanwhile, Branch remained in the Elgin lockup Tuesday afternoon.

Her bond will be set Wednesday morning at the Kane County Judicial Center in St. Charles.

She faces between 20 and 60 years in prison, if found guilty of one of the charges.

The investigation continues. If you know anything about the case, call police at (847) 695-4195.

Keyes' funeral services are still pending.