A 39-year-old man was arrested and charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a pregnant woman in Chicago earlier this month in a killing investigators believe may have stemmed from her pregnancy.
Corey Deering, of Chicago, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the death of Stacey Jones and her baby, who was born but died days after the shooting.
The 35-year-old mom was found earlier this month in the 2100 block of East 95th Place on the South Side with multiple gunshot wounds.
Jones, a probation officer at the Cook County Court’s Adult Probation Department who was also eight months pregnant, was later pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Doctors were able to deliver her baby at the hospital, but he passed away five days later.
Deering was taken into custody Wednesday evening in the 8500 block of South Damen Avenue, police said. Activist Andrew Holmes said Deering contacted him saying he wanted to turn himself into authorities.
Deering was a football coach for the Chicago Park District, where he worked since 2004, but was suspended "pending the outcome of the investigation," a spokesperson said.
His job as a coach is where prosecutors allege he met Jones, who he had been in a romantic relationship with after meeting her while coaching her two older sons in football, according to prosecutors.
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Prosecutors allege Deering, who is also married, was the purported father of Jones' baby. They said Jones had told friends and family she planned on hiring a private investigator to gather information "so that she could legally file for child support."
"We're not able to interview her on this incident, but interviewing her family and her friends that appears to be the motive," said Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan. "He did not want her to carry the pregnancy through and she obviously had two children and she was obviously going to have this baby as well. So it's very unfortunate that he chose to commit an act like this."
Deering's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to prosecutors, on the night of Jones' killing, Deering called a woman identified only as Witness 1, who is also pregnant with Deering's child and who also met him after her coached her older three sons in football and wrestling at the park district.
The woman picked him up from his home and drove him to the area where the shooting took place. She told police she didn't know why they were there, but that Deering got out of the car and walked down the block, prosecutors said.
The woman said she heard a gunshot before Deering returned to her vehicle, but "there was no conversation regarding the gunshot." Video, which captured Jones' shooting, appeared to show the gunman getting into a silver SUV later identified as one belonging to Witness 1.
That same video also showed the gunman shining a flashlight on Jones' home, where "KKK" and the n-word had been spray painted in white. Police said a search of Deering's home led to the recovery of two cans of white spray paint in the same color as the spray paint from the scene.
No charges have so far been filed against Witness 1.
