Porsche Robinson, 31, was stabbed to death in a motel room in the 7600 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue in Greater Grand Crossing, on Chicago's South Side, early on Friday, October 8, 2021. The Chicago Police Department investigated her death.
According to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner's office, Robinson was arguing with a man in a motel room around 2 a.m. when she was stabbed in the chest.
She was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. No one else was reported hurt.
A man at the scene was arrested by police. But on the following Monday morning, police said he had been released without being charged. Police did not identify him, describe his relationship to Robinson, or explain why no charge was filed, and no later charge in her death could be found. No reward tied to her case could be found either.
Few details about her life have entered the public record. No news story described her family, her work or how she was remembered, and no obituary or fundraiser that can be tied to her with confidence could be found. Porsche Robinson is a name shared by several other women, including a tennis player and a character on a television soap opera, which crowds the search results and makes her own story harder to follow.
Her case stands out because police had a man in custody from the scene within hours. When a person is released without charges in a case like this, it usually means prosecutors did not believe the evidence was strong enough to approve a charge at that time, not that the question was settled. A witness statement, physical evidence or a recording could still change that.
The 7600 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue is a commercial stretch in Greater Grand Crossing, with motels, fast food restaurants and storefronts along a major bus route. The Sun-Times reported that 28 other people had been killed in Greater Grand Crossing that year by the time of her death, matching the community's total for all of 2020. Motel staff, guests in nearby rooms or people passing on Cottage Grove in the early hours may have heard the argument.
Chicago recorded about 800 homicides in 2021, the deadliest year in the city in a quarter century, after about 780 in 2020. Chicago police reported clearing roughly half of the city's homicides in the years from 2019 through 2023, though those figures count cases closed without charges, so the share of killings that led to a criminal case was lower.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Porsche Robinson could be found in news archives or public records. More than 5 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was at the motel on South Cottage Grove Avenue early on October 8, 2021, who heard the argument, or who knows who she was with that night, may be able to help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a car seen leaving the area or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Chicago Police Department's anonymous tip line at (833) 408-0069 or submit a tip online at CPDTIP.com, or contact Cook County Crime Stoppers at (800) 535-STOP (7867).
