Theresa Elkins, 56, was stabbed inside a home in the 5000 block of West Quincy Street in Austin, on Chicago's West Side, before dawn on Saturday, June 1, 2019, and died later that morning. Area North detectives of the Chicago Police Department investigated. (The Chicago Sun-Times homicide tracker, which lists every homicide in the city, files the case under Fuller Park, but the street address and every police account place it in Austin.)
According to Chicago police, Elkins was in the home at about 4:40 a.m. when she was stabbed multiple times in the upper body and arms. She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy performed the next day, Sunday, found that she died from multiple sharp force injuries, and the Cook County medical examiner's office ruled her death a homicide.
No one else was reported hurt.
Police described the killing as domestic-related, a label they use when the victim and the attacker are believed to know each other through family, a relationship or a shared household. Even so, police said the offender was not in custody, and the Sun-Times reported that Area North detectives were investigating. No name, description or vehicle was ever released, no motive was given, and no later appeal for information or reward offer could be found. Search results that appear to link her name to a murder charge concern other cases entirely.
Almost nothing about Theresa Elkins's life has entered the public record. No obituary, funeral notice, memorial fundraiser or family statement about the woman who died on West Quincy Street could be found. Her name is shared by other women in Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere who appear in obituaries as relatives of other people, which makes it harder to find any trace of her own story. She surely had family, friends and neighbors who remember her, but what they would say about her has never been published.
Austin is one of Chicago's largest community areas, on the city's western edge where it meets suburban Oak Park. The 5000 block of West Quincy Street is a residential stretch of houses and small apartment buildings. At 4:40 on a Saturday morning, the street would have been quiet, and neighbors may have heard shouting, seen someone leave the home, or noticed the ambulance and police cars that arrived afterward.
Chicago recorded about 500 homicides in 2019, down from about 580 the year before. Chicago police reported clearing roughly half of the city's homicides in the years from 2019 through 2023, though those figures count cases closed without charges, including cases where police believe they know who is responsible but no charge is filed. Domestic killings often leave investigators with a suspect in mind, which can make a case without charges all the more painful for families.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Theresa Elkins could be found in news archives or public records. More than 7 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was in or near the home on West Quincy Street that morning, or who knows who Theresa Elkins was living with or seeing in the spring of 2019, may be able to help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a car seen leaving the area or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Chicago Police Department's anonymous tip line at (833) 408-0069 or submit a tip online at CPDTIP.com, or contact Cook County Crime Stoppers at (800) 535-STOP (7867).
