Prosecutors: Prostitute Killed Client After Learning He Had STD
UPDATED 04/07/11 5:56 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS/WBBM) -- A prostitute is charged with shooting and killing a man after finding out he had a sexually-transmitted disease.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Lisa Fielding reports, Ashley Nicole Steele, 21, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 40-year-old Derrick Gray on the evening of Feb. 4 at 8212 S. Langley Ave.
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Police say Steele, who is a prostitute, had arranged to meet Gray at his home to have sex on Feb. 4. They went into his bedroom, but came out a few minutes later when Gray heard a knock at the door, prosecutors said.
Gray got dressed to see who it was, leaving both Steele and another person, identified as a witness, in the home.
A woman was at the door screaming at Gray and pounding on the door. At that point, Steele grabbed a handgun from a table and put it in her waistband, court records said.
She went to the door and the woman told Steele that Gray had given her herpes. She also showed Steele text messages Gray sent her, apologizing that he'd given her an STD, court records indicate.
The woman at the door and the witness told police Steele began pacing back and forth, saying she was going to kill and rob Gray. She then heard the front door open and hid.
Gray came out and Steele popped out with the gun. He pleaded with her, offered her money and then ran to a bedroom, court records said.
She followed him and shot at him through the door, striking him once. She then opened the door and shot him two more times. He suffered a gunshot wounds to the head, body and arms, prosecutors allege.
Steele then fled out a window with the gun to a car that was waiting for her. The driver took her to a Walmart where she bought clothes, shoes, bleach, gloves and a baby bath tub, court record show. She was taken to another location where she changed clothes and scrubbed the gun with bleach in the tub.
Steele then stuffed the gun and other items into several garbage bags and was driven to Calumet City, where she put them in various Dumpsters.
Gray was pronounced dead at the scene and an autopsy found he died of multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said.
Steele was arrested Tuesday in the 4700 block of South Langley, police said. She was identified by the witness as the one who shot Gray and video surveillance from Walmart showed her buying the items used to clean evidence.
On Wednesday, Steele was denied bond and a preliminary hearing was set for April 26, Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
