Erick Villeta, 35, a resident of Little Village on the city's Southwest Side, was found stabbed to death on a sidewalk in the 2600 block of South Christiana Street early on Saturday, May 1, 2021. Area Four detectives of the Chicago Police Department investigated.
He was found about 1:30 a.m. with stab wounds to the neck and chest, Chicago police said. The Sun-Times reported that he was pronounced dead at the scene; a CBS Chicago weekend roundup said he was found at 1:29 a.m. and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Cook County medical examiner's office identified him. "No one is in custody," police said at the time.
No description of the attacker, no vehicle and no motive were made public, and no arrest was reported. Police did not say whether Villeta was walking home, whether he had been in an argument, or whether anyone saw the stabbing. No reward tied to his case could be found.
A stabbing to the neck and chest on a public sidewalk suggests a face-to-face confrontation, and someone nearby may have heard raised voices.
Friends knew Erick Villeta as "Kurly." About a month after his death, a friend wrote on Facebook that he had been someone he looked up to in the Little Village metal music scene, and that old friends had organized a memorial and benefit show, with all proceeds going to his family. Another post mourned him as a "big brother": "Rip my big brother Erick villeta God bless you for ever look over us." The Sun-Times also published the story in Spanish in its La Voz section.
Little Village, also known as La Villita, is the heart of Mexican American Chicago, and the 2600 block of South Christiana sits right at 26th Street, the neighborhood's crowded commercial corridor of taquerias, bakeries and shops. Even at 1:30 a.m. on a weekend, people coming from bars, parties or late shifts, and cameras on storefronts and homes, may have recorded something important.
Erick Villeta was one of about 800 people killed in Chicago in 2021, the deadliest year in the city in a quarter century. Chicago police reported clearing roughly half of the city's homicides in those years, and that figure counts cases closed without anyone being charged. With so many killings to investigate, cases with few public details often faded from the news within days.
Cases like this can still be solved. In July 2021, Chicago police charged two people in the October 2020 stabbing of Sebastian Bobak in Humboldt Park, and a man in the November 2020 stabbing of Malcolm Mullins in Chatham, months after the first news reports had faded.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Erick Villeta could be found in news archives or public records. More than 5 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Friends from the Little Village music scene, people who were with him on the night of April 30, 2021, or anyone who was near 26th and Christiana in the early hours of May 1 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).
