A 29-year-old woman formerly of Danville will spend 12 years in prison after admitting she stabbed a former coworker in the head and face at a shuttered Wendy's restaurant, leaving the victim with a fractured skull and a three-centimeter-deep wound. Tichina Marshall pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder on Thursday, closing out a case that stemmed from a violent confrontation between former colleagues more than a year earlier.
Marshall was sentenced to 12 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, followed by three years of mandatory supervised release, according to vermilioncountyfirst.com. The plea and sentencing were handled by Judge Karen E. Wall, who ruled that Marshall must serve 85% of that sentence before she is eligible for supervised release. As part of the plea deal, Marshall had been scheduled to stand trial starting October 13 on charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, but the aggravated battery charge was dismissed once she agreed to plead guilty, according to People.
A Threat Made Good on a Month Later
The attack happened on May 26, 2025, when Danville police officers responded to the former Wendy's location on North Vermilion Street after reports of a stabbing. Marshall and her victim were former coworkers at the restaurant, and per People's report, Marshall had allegedly threatened to kill the victim about a month before she followed through.
Once inside, Marshall told the victim, “I am going to kill you,” before striking the victim at least twice in the face and once on top of the head with a knife, per the same vermilioncountyfirst.com account. The victim was found on the floor bleeding uncontrollably and nearly unconscious, according to People's reporting, suffering a three-centimeter-deep stab wound to the head and a fractured skull. The entire attack was captured on surveillance video, a detail confirmed in both accounts of the case.
Prosecutor Points to Severity of Injuries
Vermilion County State's Attorney Jacqueline Lacy said the sentence handed down reflects just how brutal the assault was. “this prison sentence reflects the violent nature of this attack and the devastating injuries suffered by the victim,” Lacy said, per vermilioncountyfirst.com. Lacy also thanked the victim for cooperating throughout the criminal justice process, according to People.
Marshall was arrested following the stabbing, and the Vermilion County State's Attorney's Office announced her guilty plea and sentence in a news release issued the day of her court appearance. The case moved through the Vermilion County court system for more than a year before concluding with Thursday's plea and sentencing, closing a chapter that began with a routine call to a Danville fast-food location and ended with a Class X felony conviction.
