A Cook County judge on Tuesday ordered a North Lawndale teen held in custody after authorities said he choked his 17-year-old girlfriend to death while she stayed at his family’s home over the weekend.
Micahel Cunningham, 18, is charged with first-degree murder in Saturday’s death of Chiyenne Washington, of the city’s Washington Park neighborhood.
Judge William Fahy on Tuesday ordered Cunningham held while he awaited trial during a detention hearing, according to court records.
In court, prosecutors said Cunningham admitted to choking his girlfriend of more than a year on two separate occasions early Saturday in his bedroom of his family’s home in the 1200 block of South Washtenaw Avenue. Neither of Cunningham’s parents saw Washington when she arrived at the home late Friday and told authorities that they hadn’t seen her the next morning before leaving with Cunningham’s siblings.
Afterward, according to court documents, Cunningham showered and dressed her body and sat it on a couch before calling her brother, who called authorities to the home.
Prosecutors said Cunningham initially told police he tried to wake Washington around 1 a.m. Saturday by slapping her and throwing water in her face. He said he was still unable to rouse her later that morning and put her in the shower, prosecutors said.
Chicago Fire Department staff arrived in the home around 1 p.m. Saturday to find Washington dressed, seated and unresponsive in the living room with obvious injuries to her face, neck and shoulders, prosecutors said. Authorities found bedding and other items with suspect blood on them in Cunningham’s bedroom.
An autopsy performed Sunday ruled that Washington’s death was a homicide due to asphyxia and assault, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Prosecutors said Cunningham choked another person in June 2022 but provided no other details.
Cunningham is scheduled to return to court on April 2.
