Alonzo Jones, a 29-year-old Black male from Chicago, was killed on February 28, 2004, after a confrontation inside an apartment at 7425 South Parnell turned into a prolonged and brutal attack. Court records identify him as the victim in a case that began when Laquita Calhoun accused him of molesting her one-year-old daughter. The accusation was made in the presence of several people, including Jeanette Daniels, Lakesha Collins, Katherine Calhoun, Terrence Jones, and Derrick Fleming. Jones denied the accusation, but the confrontation escalated quickly.
According to testimony and appellate court summaries, Jones came out of a back room with blood on his wrists and was questioned about whether he had touched or molested Calhoun’s child. Laquita Calhoun hit him, and Terrence Jones joined in, kicking him and later striking him with a broom handle. Witness accounts described Jones trying to escape the apartment, only to be stopped and dragged back inside. At one point, Lakesha Collins reportedly opened a door so Jones could run, but Laquita Calhoun and Terrence Jones caught him and forced him back upstairs.
The violence did not end inside the apartment. Jones was eventually dragged outside and placed into the trunk of Derrick Fleming’s green Pontiac Grand Prix. The group drove around Chicago’s South Side while Jones was still alive. Accounts presented in court described Jones pleading from the trunk to be taken to a hospital or a police station. Instead, the group continued moving him from place to place. At one stop near a liquor store, the trunk was opened, and people nearby were allegedly told Jones had molested a baby. Court records say Jones was still alive and talking at that time.
The final moments of the attack took place in an alley near 5630 South Michigan Avenue. Laquita Calhoun later told police that after the trunk was opened, Jones was ordered out, and she struck him repeatedly with a stick in the back and head. After he fell, she continued striking him. Navon Foster, who was driving at one point, backed the car over Jones as they tried to leave. When Calhoun saw Jones crawling in the alley, Foster circled back and ran over him again. Jones’ body was found the next morning. The medical examiner described crushing injuries to his chest, numerous sharp-force injuries, stab wounds, blunt-force trauma, marks consistent with being dragged, and injuries consistent with being run over by a vehicle.
Several people were arrested and charged in connection with Jones’ death. Laquita Calhoun and five co-defendants were charged after the killing, including Jeanette Daniels, Lakesha Collins, Terrence Jones, Katherine Calhoun, and Navon Foster. The charges included first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, kidnapping, and aggravated battery. Terrence Jones and Laquita Calhoun also faced aggravated criminal sexual assault-related charges. Laquita Calhoun and Navon Foster were also charged with possession of a stolen motor vehicle and burglary.
Terrence Jones was found guilty after a bench trial of first-degree murder and attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault. He was sentenced to consecutive prison terms of 28 years for murder and 7 years for the attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault conviction. His convictions and sentence were affirmed on appeal, though the appellate court ordered the paperwork corrected to reflect the attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault conviction accurately.
Lakesha Collins and Katherine Calhoun each pleaded guilty to murder before Laquita Calhoun’s trial. Both received 20-year sentences in exchange for their pleas and later testified for the prosecution, though the record shows their testimony was complicated by recantations, reluctance, and claims that earlier statements had been pressured or coerced. Katherine Calhoun was described in court records as Laquita Calhoun’s sister and was serving her 20-year sentence when she testified.
Jeanette Daniels, whose apartment was the site where the attack began, was tried at the same time as Laquita Calhoun but in a bench trial rather than before a jury. Daniels was found guilty of aggravated kidnapping and sentenced to 14 years in prison. On appeal, however, her conviction was reversed and the case was remanded for a new trial after the appellate court found that her videotaped confession had been improperly admitted and that the error was not harmless.
Laquita Calhoun was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder and kidnapping. She was originally sentenced to 60 years in prison for murder and 7 years for kidnapping, to be served consecutively. Her case drew attention because the appellate court later found that the trial judge had not fully weighed the provocation Calhoun claimed after believing her child had been assaulted. The appellate court did not excuse the killing, but it ordered a new sentencing hearing. On remand, the trial court reduced her murder sentence from 60 years to 30 years while emphasizing the brutality of the crime, the hours Jones spent in the trunk, the repeated attacks, and the fact that Calhoun had acted as judge and executioner based on her belief about what Jones had done. That 30-year murder sentence was later affirmed.
