A Chicago judge has ordered a 32-year-old Chatham woman held without bail after prosecutors charged her with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of a 50-year-old man on the South Side. Kelly Day is accused of stabbing Larry Young 13 times near a gas station in the 1400 block of East 87th Street on Oct. 7, in front of her 7-year-old stepson, before he was pronounced dead.
Earlier McDonald's Incident May Have Heightened Later Encounter
According to the Chicago Tribune, prosecutors said an earlier confrontation may have heightened the deadly encounter: a group of people mocked Day for using a women's restroom at a McDonald's that same day. Assistant State's Attorney Sara Grgurovic told the court that Day later said she did not want “bullies” to get away with making fun of her gender, a remark Day reportedly made to her wife before the stabbing. Young is accused of approaching Day, her wife, and her stepson as they walked west on 87th Street, making comments about Day's gender, according to the same prosecutor.
The confrontation escalated quickly. Per the Tribune's account of the prosecution's case, Day became extremely angry and quarreled with Young, who then pushed her before walking away toward a gas station across the street. Prosecutors said Day followed Young across the street and fought with him there, and surveillance video reportedly showed her holding a knife and stabbing him 13 times in the head, neck, and upper shoulders.
Day Says She Acted in Self-Defense
Day has claimed the stabbing happened in self-defense. She told investigators after her arrest that Young used a gay slur, made a gun gesture, and threatened to have someone beat her and her wife, according to the Tribune's reporting on her post-arrest statement. That claim will face a steep legal test: under Section 7-1 of the Illinois Criminal Code, deadly force in self-defense is justified only when a person reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm, and the defense typically does not protect someone who pursued another person after a threat had already ended, according to the Illinois General Assembly's statutory standard.
Authorities say the knife blade broke during the attack, leaving a tip lodged in Young's skull; a pathologist later recovered the fragment, and the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office determined Young died of multiple sharp force injuries in a homicide. Prosecutors said Day left the scene and discarded the knife, which was later found with a piece of its blade missing. She first called 911 to report she had been injured while protecting herself from “a pervert,” prosecutors said, then called 911 again and said she had cut herself while cooking, according to Grgurovic. Day was ultimately arrested at Jackson Park Hospital, where she had gone for treatment of a cut on her finger.
Judge Orders Day Held Pending Trial
Judge Orders Day Held Pending Trial. Judge John Hock approved prosecutors' request to keep Day in custody pending trial during a hearing at Central Bond Court. Under Illinois's Pretrial Fairness Act, cash bail has been eliminated statewide. Day is scheduled to return to court Tuesday.
The 1400 block of East 87th Street is on Chicago's South Side. A Chicago Police statement relayed by CBS News Chicago said the stabbing occurred just before 7 p.m. during an argument that turned into a fight, with Young pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Hospital.
Case Lands Amid City's Push on Anti-Trans Violence
Transgender activist Isa Noyola, director of the Border Butterfly Project, said the current political and social climate contributes to violence against transgender people, and pointed to hate groups and political leadership as factors in the dehumanization of trans people, according to the Tribune. Illinois has an estimated 82,150 transgender residents, based on 2024 Illinois Department of Public Health data cited in the same report.
Mayor Brandon Johnson signed Executive Order 2024-2 in December 2024, establishing the city's Transfemicide Working Group in response to high rates of fatal violence against Black transgender women, according to the City of Chicago. The working group flagged high rates of violence against transgender people on streets, in shelters, and on public transit, and in June, Johnson announced a resulting municipal framework aimed at eliminating systemic barriers and expanding non-police reporting mechanisms for transgender Chicagoans — efforts Hoodline previously detailed.
Separately, the Chicago Commission on Human Relations' 2025 Hate Crimes Report found that anti-transgender hate crimes reported to police fell 36%, from 11 incidents in 2023 to 7 in 2024.
