Teen charged with murder of Kaylah Love, girl found stabbed and beaten to death in West Side park
A teen has been charged with the brutal murder of a 16-year-old girl on Chicago's West Side, police said.
A 15-year-old boy was taken into custody on Saturday in the city's Avondale neighborhood. He appeared in juvenile court Monday afternoon on one felony count of first-degree murder, and was ordered held in custody.
Kaylah Love was last seen on Sunday, March 16, when she left to pick up some food at a McDonald's in Lawndale. Her family said she never returned home. Her body was found the next evening, stabbed several times and beaten to death, in Horan Park in the city's East Garfield Park neighborhood.
The circumstances around the teen's death, which the Cook County Medical Examiner's office ruled a homicide, have sparked many questions, including who Love was spotted with at the park Sunday evening that led to a 911 call.
Police dispatch audio from Monday when Love was found suggests the caller witnessed an apparent attack.
"She called the police yesterday regarding a female being beaten by a male," a dispatcher is heard saying. "She just walked by the same location and she is the same female — deceased."
Love's family said they learned through detectives that when Chicago police officers initially responded to the scene Sunday, they did not get out of their squad car to investigate. The family was told it was nearly 24 hours before police returned to the scene.
"She could've been dead or dying when they pulled up, and there may have been an opportunity to save her life," said Kaylah's cousin, Kenyatta Euring.
The teen charged with Love's murder is due back in court on April 16.
