Authorities have identified the woman stabbed to death on a Chicago Transit Authority train Thursday afternoon to be a 25-year-old from West Englewood.
Jessica Hampton, of the 6600 block of South Laflin, was riding a southbound Red Line train as it approached 47th Street just after 12:30 p.m. when police say a man believed to be her boyfriend pulled out a knife and began stabbing her.
Police believe the couple had been arguing about a child before she was killed.
One passenger, Andrea Patterson, told NBC 5 she was seated near the two when the argument broke out on the train.
“He asked the young lady a question, she said no and he got up and started stabbing her,” Patterson said. “She fell to the floor and then he slit her neck.”
A Facebook page for Hampton shows she listed herself as engaged and worked in cosmetology.
Panicked passengers recall watching her murder frozen in horror.
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“A couple of gentlemen were trying to help her but he still had a knife in his hand so nobody wanted to run up,” she said.
Many called 911 moments after the stabbing.
A Chicago police officer nearby quickly apprehended the suspect and he was taken into custody.
"The details of the relationship we're still working on," said Chicago Police First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante.
Escalante said police will be relying on CTA’s extensive network of surveillance cameras to aid in the ongoing investigation.
