Crime & Safety
No Bail for Accused 'L' Train Throat Slasher
Arthur S. Jones is accused of first-degree murder. He asked the victim "are you going to have my baby" before knifing her, prosecutors said.
Chicago, IL — "Are you going to have my baby?" That's what 29-year-old Arthur S. Jones said to Jessica Hampton as the two rode the CTA Red Line train Thursday, according to police and prosecutors, and when she shook her head no, Jones set upon her with a knife, stabbing and slashing until she fell dead on the train car's floor.
"Help me, help me," cried the 25-year-old West Englewood woman to no avail as other passengers fled in horror.
On Saturday, a Cook County judge denied him bail. Before court, Jones went to St. Bernard Hospital for a psychological evaluation, according to prosecutors. He's charged with first-degree murder.
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One passenger told the Chicago Tribune Hampton tried to fight Jones off.
"She was fighting back, she was crying 'help me, help me!'" Andrea Patterson said.
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Police said Jones slit Hampton's throat, then he stepped over her body and walked off the train at the 47th Street station.
A police officer near the station ran to the scene, according to First Deputy Supt. John Escalante, after hearing the radio call.
"It’s a credit to his bravery and what the men and women of the Chicago Police Department do on a daily basis," Escalante said of the officer. "He went down on that platform by himself responding to a call of a person stabbed, and encountered the offender by himself. He was able to take him into custody without a struggle."
Jones was taken into custody at 12:38 p.m., according to police. Hampton, a single mom, was pronounced dead at 1:15 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner. Police recovered a knife at the scene.
Some passengers in the mid-day train snapped photos and videos of the bloody scene, of Hampton's lifeless body, of Jones being led away by Chicago police.
Hampton's family members this week told reporters they did not know Jones. Some also said they first learned of Hampton's death when they saw a video of her dead body on Facebook.
"For us to go on Facebook and see this," her cousin told DNAinfo Chicago. "We go on there and we see our family lying there like that, is wrong."
Facebook later removed all videos of the scene from the website.
This is the first killing on a CTA train in three years.
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