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On October 25, 33-year-old pregnant Chicago woman Keshia Golden was arrested on allegations of stabbing her 30-year-old boyfriend.
According to Chicago authorities, the killing occurred at 3.26 am on Sunday, October 23, in the 5100 block of West Augusta Boulevard in the city's South Austin Neighborhood. Police officials suspect that the stabbing was rooted in a domestic violence incident that escalated into murder.
The unnamed victim was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital with a wound to his thigh. ABC Chicago reported that he was pronounced dead soon after. Keshia Golden was charged with first-degree murder. Authorities did not disclose whether or not the victim was the father of her unborn child.
Keshia Golden and the victim had a history of domestic violence
According to Cook County prosecutors, Golden and the victim had a history of domestic violence.
Five separate police reports were filed between them from July to September. In four of those cases, the boyfriend was accused of violence committed against Golden, including allegations that he’d slapped, choked, punched and pushed Golden.
The last report, dating back to late August, involved allegations that Golden stabbed the man in the neck. Although he was hospitalized, he declined to press charges.
The incident on Sunday reportedly stemmed from the issue of reheating food. According to WTTW, Keisha and the boyfriend got into an argument over who could reheat their food in a microwave first. The argument escalated after she reportedly knocked a plate of food out of the man’s hand. The victim reportedly grabbed her and pushed her into a counter.
According to prosecutors, a family member tried to intervene but Keisha grabbed a knife from the kitchen and allegedly lunged at him in a bedroom of the house. She stabbed the victim in the femoral artery in his thigh.
The implications of the Keshia Golden case
The recent charges against Keshia Golden mirror several other cases in Chicago, which according to Chicago Business, has a higher murder rate than other major cities such as New York and Los Angeles.
According to data from the University of Chicago Crime Lab, the city's high homicide and crime rates are a result of poverty in several marginalized, underdeveloped neighborhoods such as the city's West side, where Keshia Golden was accused of murdering her boyfriend.
According to WTTW, domestic violence-related homicide rates rose in the state of Illinois by 64% in 2021, with no sign of abating in 2022.
Olivia Farrell, director of policy, research and advocacy for the network, told NBC Chicago that despite the spike in domestic violence-related shootings and homicides, the true number may still remain under reported. Farrell said:
“The shootings and homicides are statistics that we’re going to get that are recorded by police, but those are probably an undercount, because police don’t always identify them as domestic violence."
She added:
“We know that most of the victims in those incidents have never reached out for assistance in any capacity (before they were killed), so there are many incidents where the violence is not as extreme that are going unreported.”
As per Darci Flynn, the director of gender-based violence strategy and policy for the city of Chicago, domestic violence could be mitigated if authorities take more time to probe the relationships between those involved in the disputes. Flynn said:
“Under the Illinois Domestic Violence Act there are many kinds of partners including domestic partner, family member, if you share a household, if you share a child for example; and so they’re looking to better understand that relationship but sometimes they may not know what the relationship is.”
In light of this information, the case involving Keshia Golden is symptomatic of a wider social issue affecting a wide swathe of families in the midwestern city.
The court set bail at $2 million on Tuesday. According to the Chicago Sun Times, Keisha Golden’s next court appearance is scheduled for Friday.
