Family members are in mourning after two people were found inside their apartment in the East Chatham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, while a 2-year-old was found unharmed inside.
The victims were identified by family as 79-year-old Curtis Hardman, and his 27-year-old daughter, Javonni Jenkins. Jenkins' two-year-old son, CJ, was also found inside the apartment unharmed.
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A Chicago Police Department news conference provided very few details on what unfolded inside, but friends and relatives of Jenkins and Hardman told NBC 5 details about both of the victims, calling them devoted family people who had no enemies.
Jenkins' friends said they became worried when Jenkins' didn't show up for work on Wednesday morning, and didn't text them in a thread they shared together.
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"I didn’t know what was going on," said Nicole Worth, who worked with Jenkins as a medical assistant at Holy Cross Hospital. "I just knew something was wrong, because she did a 'no call, no show' at work."
Worth said she last saw Javonni and CJ on Tuesday night, and did not sense anything was wrong. So, she said, she decided to call police Wednesday morning for a well-being check at Jenkins' apartment.
Worth said she and another co-worker went to the apartment with police around 11 a.m. Wednesday morning. They said they could hear CJ inside and that the door was unlocked. They said officers entered first.
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"[The police officers] gave us the baby," said the friend with Worth at the apartment, who requested they not be identified for their safety. "They gave us CJ and then we walked downstairs until they came in and informed us that [Jenkins] was gone."
Chicago police called this an isolated incident, with no immediate threat to the public. They declined to talk about leads in the case, or a potential suspect or motive as of Wednesday night.
"She doesn’t even have an enemy in this world," said Germaine Owens, who is a cousin of Jenkins. "For somebody to take her life, you've got to be some demon or monster."
Owens said family is now taking care of CJ, who seemed to be inseparable from his mother.
"We had get-togethers and he would be glued right to her side," said Owens. "If you see [Javonni], you’re going to see the baby."
Owens said Hardman was a devoted father and grandfather, who raised Jenkins' after Jenkins' mother passed away when she was just four-years-old.
