An 11-year-old Chicago boy died Wednesday as he tried to protect his pregnant mother from her knife-wielding ex-boyfriend who was released from prison a day earlier.
Crosetti Brand, 37, is accused of stabbing the boy in the chest and the 33-year-old woman before he was arrested for the heinous killing of Jayden Perkins, according to the Chicago Police Department.
Brand had been paroled Tuesday from the Stateville Correctional Center, where he was serving a 16-year sentence for home invasion and aggravated assault.
He forced his way into his ex-girlfriend’s home in Edgewater, Ill. and “brutally attacked” the family, Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said during a Friday press conference.
The 33-year-old mother of two was leaving with her children to take them to school at around 8 a.m. when Brand attacked.
The 11-year-old boy stepped in to shield his mother, who was stabbed in the doorway of their home, from the deranged criminal.
Snelling also noted that the woman’s “5-year-old son was also present and witnessed the attack.”
The mother and son were rushed to the hospital after officers arrived on the scene to find them both stabbed “multiple times.”
Perkins was declared dead upon arrival at the hospital.
His mother was listed in critical condition, but prosecutors shared she and her baby are expected to survive.
“An innocent child’s life was taken as he tried to protect his mother far too soon and a mother was attacked in what should have been the safest place for her, which was her home,” Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said.
Brand was captured on video fleeing from the home and tossing a “silver item” — later found to be a bloody knife — over a fence, police said.
The mother, who had a “lifetime” order of protection against Brand, dated the felon more than 15 years ago, Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Antoinette Ursitti said.
Brand was also charged with one count of attempted murder, home invasion with a dangerous weapon, domestic battery, robbery with a dangerous weapon, felon possession of a weapon, and violation of an Order of Protection, charging documents show.
The alleged child killer had been previously paroled last year in October.
However, Brand was reasserted in February after “he threatened the female victim via text – and also showed up at her home,” Foxx said.
Snelling said he didn’t “have a good answer” as to why Brand was released and deferred the question to the Illinois Department of Corrections.
“My feeling is that he should not have been,” Snelling said. “He violated parole. He violated an order of protection – and it involved the same type of crime that he was paroled for. So this is someone who should not have been on the street.”
Foxx noted the issues in Brand’s case as “shocking and so glaring.”
“However rare, this is horrific, and we need to do an evaluation – particularly in this case and others – to ensure that there were no gaps in the justice system that will allow for a dangerous offender to commit the acts that he did.”
Following the heartless murder, a vigil was held for Perkins on Thursday.
The 11-year-old earned straight A’s in school, consistently made the honor roll, and was involved in cross-country, football, and the arts, a website set up to memorialize the boy shared.
“Jayden had a passion for performing and theater, and he had the lead role in several school plays, including ‘Finding Nemo’ at Peirce Elementary.”
His mother was also mentioned on the site as a “beloved member” of the school staff before she moved to the medical field.
