A 19-year-old man is accused of stabbing his roommate more that 30 times and beating her to death last month during an argument at their Roseland apartment.
Trashah Wallace, 21, was found dead on Jan. 21 after her co-workers became concerned when she didn’t show up for work and asked police check on her, Cook County prosecutors said Friday.
Officers found Wallace’s battered body in her bedroom hidden under a pile of clothes and observed blood stains around the apartment, as well as areas where bleach had been poured, prosecutors said.
She had been stabbed at least 35 times, mostly in her back, and had suffered blunt force trauma consistent with injuries made by a hammer, prosecutors said the medical examiner’s office determined.
Nore Flemings, a friend of Wallace’s from high school who had moved into the apartment earlier in the month, was arrested Wednesday and told police he stabbed Wallace in self-defense the day before she was found dead, according to prosecutors and county records.
That night, neighbors told police they heard a woman screaming and loud noises that went on for several minutes coming from the pair’s apartment, prosecutors said.
Flemings allegedly texted a friend the same night saying he had a fight with Wallace and sent the friend a photo of his arm with dried blood on it. He asked the friend to send an Uber for him, which the friend did, prosecutors said.
The Uber driver took him to a Motel 6 in Lansing, where the driver allowed Flemings to check into the motel using the driver’s ID, prosecutors said. Flemings allegedly used cash to pay for the room.
The driver later identified Flemings in a photo array as the person they had taken to the motel, prosecutors said.
Cellphone records showed Wallace’s phone, which was missing from the apartment, followed Flemings’ Uber trip and last pinged near the motel, according to prosecutors, who said Flemings told detectives he had thrown it away nearby.
In a garbage can in the alley behind Flemings’ and Wallace’s apartment, investigators found a serrated kitchen knife and hammer that appeared to have blood stains on them, as well as pants a friend said Flemings was known to wear regularly, prosecutors said.
The items were sent to the Illinois State Crime lab for testing, which has not been completed.
An assistant public defender said she found the state’s proffer “strange,” particularly that an Uber driver would allow someone to use their ID to check into a hotel. The attorney noted Flemings had claimed he was defending himself and by the time of his arrest weeks later, any injuries he might have suffered could no longer be visible.
Judge William Fahy ordered Flemings held without bail and set his next court date for March 8.
