UPDATE 8/7/25 at 5:26pm: Added video below.
ABC 7 Chicago published August 5, 2025: Man gets life in prison for killing 11-year-old boy, injuring pregnant mom in Edgewater stabbing. Crosetti Brand has been sentenced to natural life plus 100 years in prison for killing Jayden Perkins, 11, and injuring Laterria Smith in Edgewater, Chicago stabbing.
WGN News published August 5, 2025: Man sentenced in fatal stabbing of 11-year-old Jayden Perkins. Crosetti Brand, 39, was found guilty on all 17 counts in June. On Tuesday, a Cook County judge sentenced him to life in prison, WGN's Julian Crews reports.
🚨NO WHITE SUPREMACISTS INVOLVED🚨
🚨NO ISLAMIC JIHADISTS INVOLVED🚨
CBS Chicago published July 29, 2025: Mother whose son was stabbed to death takes on government agencies that released domestic abuser.
A Chicago mother whose 11-year-old son was stabbed to death last year by her domestic abuser is now taking on the government agencies that released him from prison just before the attack. Marissa Perlman reports.
CBS News, Chicago, IL local
written by Marissa Perlman and Michele Youngerman
Tuesday July 29, 2025
A Chicago mother whose 11-year-old son was stabbed to death in Edgewater last year by her domestic abuser is now taking on all the government agencies that released him from prison just before the attack.
Laterria Smith's son Jayden Perkins was murdered on March 13, 2024, when her ex-boyfriend Crosetti Brand showed up at her North Side apartment and attacked, stabbing her multiple times and killing her Perkins. He was convicted of Jayden's murder in June.
She has now written an open letter to hold those in power in Illinois accountable for her son's death.
"I trusted the system," she wrote in the letter. "I tried everything I could to keep my family safe, but the Chicago Police Department, the Illinois Department of Corrections and the Illinois Prisoner Review Board all failed us."
She's also suing all of them.
"I want them to admit where they went wrong, the mistakes that they made," Smith said. "I felt like I did everything to protect me and my family and it just went unheard."
That includes calling Chicago police for help when Brand showed up, pounding on her door, weeks before the fatal day.
"I called the police, but they refused to take a report and just told me to go back to court," Smith wrote in her letter.
Smith sought an order of protection against Brand in February 2024, despite his going back to prison for violating his parole in a separate domestic violence case against a different woman.
Meanwhile, Brand was granted parole on March 12, the day before he stabbed Smith and Jayden hours before a scheduled hearing to get an order of protection against him.
"Even though he had a long history of abusing me and other women, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board let him out on March 12 o 2024," Smith wrote.
Another layer of protection was missing: An investigation by CBS News Chicago found Brand was supposed to be on electronic monitoring, but it was never attached.
"They should have put the electronic monitoring on him before he left the prison," she said.
State prison officials refuse to talk about that oversight and the lawsuit.
Without the monitor, Smith said Brand showed up at her home one day after he was released.
"He took an Uber straight from prison to my building and waited outside all night. He knew I opened the door early the next morning to take my kids to school. That's when he attacked," she wrote in her letter.
Smith has physical scars from being stabbed by Brand before her son jumped in to help her. They're a daily reminder of his death and everything that happened, she said.
She lost her son Jayden, and her other son, 5-year-old Kameron, struggles after witnessing the attack. Smith was pregnant at the time of the stabbing, and her baby girl Jayda – born four months later – won't know the brother she's named after.
"To me and my family, I feel like they should just tell the truth about where they went wrong, where they failed us," she said.
It is also painful for Smith to hear Gov. JB Pritzker and lawmakers use her son's name while not taking any responsibility for the failures that led to the attack.
"If this tragedy was enough to change the law, why isn't it enough for the state to take responsibility?" she wrote. "This is a call to your conscience, a call to humanity. Please don't just use Jayden's name. Honor it."
Brand was convicted of Perkins' murder and remains incarcerated as he awaits sentencing. He could spend the rest of his life in prison. He is due back in court on July 30 for a ruling on post-trial motions he has filed.
The governor's office, Prisoner Review Board, and Chicago Police Department declined to comment on Smith's letter.
Resources for Domestic Violence Survivors
Notice of Victim's Rights from the Cook County State's Attorney
Domestic Violence and Firearm Safety toolkit
If you are in a domestic violence situation or know someone who is, the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County has guidance on getting a protection order.
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