John Singleton is 31-years-old, from Chicago, IL, and is accused of being a child killer. He is charged with first-degree murder. He was fresh out of prison June 11 when he was embroiled in a verbal altercation with his girlfriend. That’s when he allegedly beat and stabbed his girlfriend’s 12-year-old daughter, Alexis Stubbs, to death.
Before denying Singleton bond at a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil, Cook County, said his rage against Alexis was brutal. During the hearing at Leighton Criminal Court Building, prosecutors had urged the judge to order him detained without bail.
Singleton was in shackles during the hearing. He was also accompanied by members of the sheriff’s Emergency Response Team.
Alleged killer’s history of violence
After serving time in prison for choking Alexis’ mother August 2014, which Alexis had witnessed, Singleton was paroled from Menard Correctional Center April 2017, according to Guy Lisuzzo, Assistant State’s Attorney. Her mother stayed in touch with him while he was incarcerated. They reconciled. On June 7, he was released from a halfway house and went to stay with the mother and her daughter.
The Miami Herald reported Singleton’s criminal history dating back to 2012, which includes resisting arrest and Domestic Violence cases. After the attack on Alexis’ mother in 2014, Singleton admitted that his relationship with the mother was “prone to violence,” according to the Chicago Tribune.
Police said he threatened Alexis’ mother at that time, saying, “I will kill you.”
The day Alexis was murdered, according to prosecutors, he returned to violence. This time, it was against her daughter. In texts to the mother, he indicated the violence was not going to stop with Alexis’ death.
He texted, “I wish death on you.”
Details leading to the murder of Alexis
Alexis thought of Singleton as her stepfather. She spent the day she was killed with him and with her mother. The day went without incident. When the two adults started fighting about buying cigarettes, their argument transitioned to Singleton’s living arrangements, according to prosecutors.
Chicago House and Social Service Agency, a housing organization with strict rules, owns the building where Alexis lived in an apartment with her mother. Residents’ visitors are not allowed to stay for more than a week, prosecutors said. No one on parole is permitted to live in the building, yet he was on parole and had been staying with them five days.
Alexis and her mother went to get cigarettes for a neighbor while the adults continued their argument over the phone. Her mother told Singleton he had to leave her apartment. According to prosecutors, once the mother and daughter returned to the building, Alexis left the car to give the cigarettes to the neighbor. When she was returning to her mother’s car, the accused killer pushed her into the vestibule.
Singleton grabbed Alexis by her hair. He, then, threw her to the ground. The attack was captured on surveillance video. Alexis was cowering as Singleton pulled out a hammer from his pocket, raising it toward her. He started calling her mother repeatedly. He threatened the mother and daughter. She saw Alexis in the building with the accused and heard her daughter screaming in the background of the call. Afraid for her daughter, she called 911.
Since Alexis’ mother was on the phone with 911, one of Singleton’s calls went to her voicemail, according to prosecutors. Alexis can be heard begging for her life: “Please, Daddy, don’t.”
Singleton was fleeing when officers arrived. He was carrying a knife and a bloody hammer.
Prosecutors said that Alexis was covered in blood and crawled out of the apartment unable to speak. Surveillance also captured her gasping to breathe. She was stabbed an excess of 11 times. She was pronounced dead at 10:46 p.m. at Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
Accused killer’s alleged admissions to police
After being arrested and taken into custody, Singleton admitted to hitting Alexis with a hammer multiple times and stabbing her with a knife. He made the admissions during a videotaped interview, which also captured him pacing and doing pushups before police entered the room. When officers tried to restrain him, he punched a detective. According to Lisuzzo, Singleton indicated he wanted officers to kill him.
His public defender, Kathryn Lisco, told the judge that he has expressed suicidal thoughts and that he has a history of mental illness. Judge Ciesil ordered him to be evaluated at the jail’s medical facility.
Additional charges Singleton faces include aggravated battery to a police officer and aggravated kidnapping. His next court hearing is scheduled for July 3.
