Kenadee Wallenfang, 18, a White female, was shot on the afternoon of June 3, 2025, along Peoria’s riverfront in the 100 block of Southwest Water Street. Responding to a report of a female shot around 3:19 p.m., officers found the 18-year-old with a gunshot wound to the back of her head beside an SUV. She was rushed to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, placed on life support, and was later declared brain-dead; she died the following day, June 4, 2025.
In the hours after the shooting, detectives identified 19-year-old Deziaah Z. Hunter as the person suspected of firing the shot inside a vehicle on the riverfront. According to officials, Hunter was interviewed by police on June 4 and arrested the same day. She was initially charged with aggravated battery with a firearm and reckless conduct while Kenadee Wallenfang, 18, remained on life support.
Following the death of Kenadee Wallenfang, 18, prosecutors took the case to a Peoria County grand jury. On June 24, 2025, Hunter was indicted on first-degree murder in connection with the killing. In statements summarized by local reporters, Hunter told investigators the gun discharged accidentally; authorities nevertheless pursued the homicide charge based on the investigation into what happened in and around the vehicle on Southwest Water Street.
The brief life of Kenadee Wallenfang, 18, ended in a cascade of flashing lights and urgent footsteps on the riverfront, a summer afternoon interrupted by a single shot and a struggle for breath that reached its quiet conclusion in a hospital room. In the days that followed, her name threaded through official releases and courtroom filings as the case moved from an emergency call to an arrest and, ultimately, to a murder indictment—each step marking the path toward a trial that would try to measure intent against loss.
