Battered 16-year-old girl left to die in park by her boyfriend, Chicago cops say
A 15-year-old boy has been charged in the death of his 16-year-old girlfriend found stabbed in a Chicago park, police said.
Kaylah Love disappeared March 16 and was last known to be going to a McDonald’s, Cook County Crime Stoppers said in a March 23 Facebook post.
She was seen with a classmate at Manley Career Academy High School, who was identified as “boyfriend” in her phone’s contacts, prosecutors told WLS. The pair was walking hand-in-hand from the McDonald’s to a park in East Garfield Park the night her family said she vanished, prosecutors told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Once they arrived at the playground, surveillance footage showed the boy attacking Love as two friends watched, prosecutors told the Sun-Times.
Love was found fatally “stabbed and battered” March 17 on the playground near where surveillance footage captured her boyfriend attacking her, according to a March 24 news release from Chicago police and Sun-Times reporting.
The girl’s family told WLS that police were called to the park the night of the attack for a fight, but officers drove by the area and did not get out of their vehicle. City officials are investigating the police response, Block Club Chicago reported.
“She didn’t deserve this,” Love’s sister told WGN.
The teen suspect, who was not identified by police, was arrested March 23, officials said.
The boy was ordered to remain in custody after appearing in court, WLS reported. He is next scheduled to appear in court April 16.
This story was originally published March 25, 2025 at 1:57 PM with the headline "Battered 16-year-old girl left to die in park by her boyfriend, Chicago cops say."
