A man has been charged with fatally shooting a transgender woman he allegedly solicited for sex on Christmas day nearly two years ago.
On Friday, Judge Charles Beach ordered 62-year-old William Truss held without bail on a first-degree murder charge in the Dec. 25, 2020, slaying of Courtney Eshay Key.
Cook County prosecutors did not say during the hearing why it took so long to bring charges in the case, despite prosecutors saying that detectives had quickly identified Truss as a suspect in the 27-year-old’s slaying.
A spokeswoman for the state’s attorney’s office declined to comment on the active case.
On the night Key was killed, multiple surveillance cameras and license plate readers recorded Truss’ black Audi SUV driving in the area of 79th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue as he sought a prostitute, prosecutors said.
One of the cameras allegedly recorded Truss’ SUV as it pulled up next to Key as she stood on a sidewalk. Prosecutors said she was wearing a distinctive yellow top under her coat and she was recorded getting into Truss’ car.
A short time later, a separate camera recorded Truss’ SUV as it drove into an alley off 82nd Street between Maryland and Drexel avenues in which a woman wearing a yellow top could be seen sitting in his passenger seat, prosecutors said.
The SUV then drove out of view.
A witness reported hearing a gunshot about 8:30 p.m. that night and minutes later saw Truss’ SUV drive out of the alley with Key’s body hanging from the passenger door, prosecutors said.
As Truss drove away, he dragged Key’s body until she fell to the street in the intersection of 82nd Street and Drexel Avenue, where she was run over by a second vehicle, prosecutors said.
Key was pronounced dead on the scene and had suffered a gunshot wound to the back of her head, authorities said.
The following month, detectives located Truss’ SUV parked outside of his home, where the vehicle was registered, according to prosecutors.
Truss admitted to detectives that he had previously solicited prostitutes in the area of 79th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, prosecutors said. Truss also allegedly said he was the only person who drove the SUV and identified the vehicle in photos taken from surveillance footage.
Truss also told detectives he was heterosexual, prosecutors said.
When Truss was taken into custody Wednesday, he told detectives that he had picked up a prostitute on the night of the murder and gone home, prosecutors said.
An assistant public defender said Truss was a longtime worker at the Ford assembly plant in Chicago, had been married for 14 years and had seven adult children.
After he was denied bail, Truss’ next court date was set for Nov. 9.
