UPDATE (5:55 p.m.) — Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood released more information Monday related to the death of 50-year-old James D. Davis.
According to a Coroner’s office Facebook post, the autopsy shows that he suffered a stab wound to the chest and most likely died instantly.
This incident is being investigated as a homicide by the Peoria Police Department.
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — A scuffle at a North Valley apartment preceded the city’s fifth homicide of the year, a Peoria County prosecutor said Monday afternoon.
Lauraine Singleton, 41, of 715 Morgan St., appeared in Peoria County Circuit Court on two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the stabbing death early Sunday morning of ex-boyfriend James Davis, according to court records. He died at a local hospital shortly after police arrived at 2:20 p.m. at Singleton’s apartment, according to court records.
Singleton appeared in court via video-conferencing. Dressed in the black and white jumpsuit of a jail inmate, she put her head in her hands repeatedly and cried. She wailed “no no no” several times as Judge Sean Donahue read her the charges.
The two murder counts describe different legal theories prosecutors allege for the same incident. If convicted, she faces at least 20 and possibly up to 60 years in prison.
Assistant State’s Attorney Terry Muench said police were called to the three-story apartment building at about 2:20 a.m. Sunday. In the hallway, outside of Singleton’s apartment, they found Davis lying on the ground with a stab wound to his chest.
When officers arrived, they found Singleton with a large cut on her arm. They applied a tourniquet and brought her to the hospital where no other injuries were found. That last point was contested by Singleton who argued nurses and doctors didn’t look.
Donahue then urged her to be quiet as the proceeding was being recording and she stopped.
Surveillance video at the scene showed Singleton’s door open and a man fall out of the apartment, Muench said in open court. Later, Singleton is seen on video without any injuries, wearing her glasses and smoking a cigarette as she walks to a neighbor’s apartment before returning to her apartment, the prosecutor said.
Later, the video shows her coming out of her place again, but this time, her arm was bleeding.
When questioned at the police station, Singleton said she had lost her glasses in the scuffle and didn’t know where Davis had gotten a large kitchen knife that officers found in her apartment.
Single will next appear in court on June 1 for a preliminary hearing though it is likely a grand jury will hear the case before then. Her bond was set at $1 million.
