Eddimar Hernández Chacón Case: Accused Had Open Warrant

Eddimar Hernández Chacón was 7 years old when she was fatally stabbed on a sidewalk in Chicago, Illinois, on Saturday, October 3, 2026, while she walked hand in hand with her teenage sister through the Chatham neighborhood. Police and prosecutors say neither girl did anything to prompt it. Shavon Gayden, 48, was stopped by people on the street and is now charged with first-degree murder.

Court records described by Chicago news outlets show that an arrest warrant for Gayden had been active since February 2025, and that she finished a term of court supervision in a different case while that warrant was still open. Gayden has not been convicted of the charge she faces and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Who Was Eddimar Hernández Chacón?

NBC Chicago reported that the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office listed her full name as Eddimar Paola Hernández Chacón. Relatives told ABC7 Chicago (WLS) that she was a bright child who loved to draw, played with her siblings and liked to wait at the window for her parents to get home from work.

"She was happy," her stepfather told the station, speaking in Spanish. "She had dreams, to be big."

Her uncle, Richard Hernández Chacón, opened a GoFundMe fundraiser to pay for her funeral. In a message the Chicago Sun-Times translated from Spanish, he wrote: "To our family, Eddimar will always be a very special girl." The fundraiser page showed more than $18,000 on October 10.

What Happened on Cottage Grove Avenue?

The sisters were out on an errand. Ald. Michelle Harris of the 8th Ward said they had gone to pay a phone bill at a Boost Mobile store, according to NBC Chicago. Most reports give the older sister's age as 17; NBC Chicago, citing the alderman, reported 16.

Prosecutors have laid out what they say happened in the minutes before. Gayden, they allege, was inside a store on the same block trying to pay her cellphone bill. WTTW News reported that she grew impatient, asked for a refund and allegedly threatened a sales associate before leaving.

Just before noon, prosecutors say, surveillance video shows Gayden moving quickly toward the two girls. Assistant State's Attorney Mike Pekara told the court she went first for the older sister, who ducked out of the way, and then attacked Eddimar. The older girl called out for help.

The Sun-Times reported that an ambulance took about 10 minutes to arrive and that police escorted it to the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital. Eddimar was pronounced dead there at 1:01 p.m.

NBC Chicago, citing police, reported that the woman did not know the child. Authorities have not given a motive.

Arrest and Charges

Chicago police said bystanders detained the woman and held her until officers arrived, ABC News reported. According to prosecutors, at least one person in the crowd struck her. The Sun-Times reported that Gayden was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center for treatment, which kept her out of court on Monday, October 5, and again on Wednesday, October 7.

She is charged with one count of first-degree murder. WTTW News reported that investigators recovered one knife near the scene and two more in her bag. Those are allegations that prosecutors still have to prove at trial.

Why Was There an Open Warrant?

According to the Sun-Times, Gayden was charged in September 2023 with striking a Chicago Transit Authority employee and threatening her. She pleaded guilty in October 2024 and was sentenced to two years of probation. About a month later she was arrested again, this time accused of attacking a worker at a shelter.

She then stopped coming to court in the CTA case, and a warrant was issued in February 2025. The Sun-Times reported that she kept attending hearings in the shelter case, pleaded guilty there and completed six months of court supervision in January 2026. The warrant from the first case was still active on October 3, about 20 months after it was issued.

ABC7 reported that it is unclear whether the warrant was ever executed. None of the reports we read includes an official explanation of how one case could close while a warrant in another stayed open.

The record goes back further. The Sun-Times reported arrests in 2016 and 2019, in cases involving a boyfriend and her son, both dismissed when the complaining witness did not come to court, and said three of her four earlier arrests involved knives. CBS Chicago counted at least four criminal cases in Cook County since 2016. Its legal analyst, Irv Miller, told the station he was not surprised, because in his words such cases "fall between the cracks."

What Did the Judge Decide?

On Wednesday, October 7, with Gayden still in the hospital, Cook County Judge John Hock postponed the detention hearing. Her lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Brett Balmer, asked for a psychiatric evaluation and said she was seeking medical records from as many as 10 hospitals. "Shavon Gayden did not slip through the cracks of a functional system," Balmer said, according to the Sun-Times.

The hearing went ahead on Friday, October 9. Judge Hock ordered Gayden held in the Cook County Jail until trial and ordered a psychiatric evaluation. "She is as dangerous as a person can be, very likely due to serious mental health issues," he said, as quoted by the Sun-Times.

Balmer did not oppose detention. She told the court her client had struggled with mental illness and homelessness and needed to remain under a doctor's care. ABC7 reported that the evaluation is meant to determine whether Gayden is fit to stand trial. No court has yet ruled on her fitness for trial or on her mental state at the time of the attack.

Eddimar's relatives filled the courtroom on Friday wearing shirts printed with her picture.

What Both Families Have Said

At a vigil on Sunday, October 4, near the place where Eddimar was attacked, her mother, Estefany Hernandez, spoke to ABC7 in Spanish. "My daughter's death should not be left like this," she said. NBC Chicago reported that the group prayed together and released white balloons.

"You send your baby out. It's a beautiful Saturday morning and then they don't come back home," Ald. Harris said at the vigil.

Gayden's mother, who asked ABC7 not to use her name, apologized. "I am so sorry for that family," she said. She told the station she had tried for years to get her daughter treatment: "I just feel like the system let me down."

What Happens Next

Gayden remains in custody. WTTW News and ABC7 reported that her next court date is October 26, 2026. The result of the psychiatric evaluation has not been made public, and no trial date has been reported.

Timeline of the Eddimar Hernández Chacón Case

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is charged in the Eddimar Hernández Chacón case?

Shavon Gayden, 48, faces one count of first-degree murder. The charge is an accusation, and she is presumed innocent unless a court finds otherwise.

Did Shavon Gayden know Eddimar?

Police said the woman did not know the child, according to NBC Chicago. Police and prosecutors have called the attack unprovoked and have not given a motive.

Was there a warrant for Shavon Gayden before October 3?

Yes. The Sun-Times and ABC7 reported that a warrant was issued in February 2025 in an earlier case and was still active when she was arrested.

Is Shavon Gayden in custody?

Yes. On October 9, 2026, Judge John Hock ordered her held in the Cook County Jail until trial.

Watch the Documentary

The MotiveX documentary below walks through the case and the court record. It was recorded before the October 9 hearing, so the detention ruling described above is newer than the video.

Sources

• Chicago Sun-Times: judge orders the accused woman detained and evaluated
• Chicago Sun-Times: defense lawyer's statement on mental health care
• Chicago Sun-Times: charge, prosecutors' account and the accused woman's earlier cases
• WTTW News: prosecutors' account of the minutes before the attack
• ABC7 Chicago: competency evaluation ordered and next court date
• ABC7 Chicago: accused woman's mother speaks, and the February 2025 warrant
• ABC7 Chicago: vigil for Eddimar and statements from her family
• WLS via WCAX: family remembers Eddimar
• NBC Chicago: woman charged after death of 7-year-old girl in East Chatham
• CBS Chicago: review of the accused woman's Cook County cases
• ABC News (via WDBO): police statement and the mother's call for justice
• GoFundMe: fundraiser organized by Eddimar's uncle