James Taven, 55, was stabbed to death on the night of Tuesday, September 12, 2023, in an apartment building in the 3000 block of North Elston Avenue in Avondale, on Chicago's Northwest Side. His name is recorded as Taven in the Chicago Sun-Times homicide tracker, which lists every homicide in the city, while the Cook County medical examiner's office and news reports spelled it Traven. The Chicago Police Department investigated, and Area Five detectives were assigned to the case.
About 10:50 p.m., officers responded to calls of a stabbing and found two men with multiple stab wounds in a second-floor apartment. He was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center with multiple stab wounds to his body and died there that night. The second man, his 28-year-old neighbor Rodney Donovan Taylor, a musician and DJ known as Don Crescendo, was also stabbed several times. Taylor was taken to the same hospital in critical condition and died three days later.
Both deaths were ruled homicides.
Police said they did not know what led to the stabbing. Block Club Chicago reported that police did not answer questions about whether the two men knew each other, whether one attacked the other, whether there was a third attacker, or in whose apartment the attack took place. Taylor's friends said the two men were neighbors who lived in the building. Police told the Windy City Times that the circumstances were unclear and that more information would become available as the investigation continued. No suspect description, person of interest or reward has been made public.
Almost nothing about his own life has entered the public record. Block Club Chicago said its attempts to reach his family and friends were unsuccessful, and no obituary, memorial page or fundraiser for him could be found. Coverage of the attack focused largely on Taylor, whose death drew an outpouring from Chicago's nightlife community, while the older neighbor who died first remained mostly a name in police statements. He surely had family, friends and neighbors who remember who he was.
The difference in spelling between Taven and Traven may also have made it harder for anyone searching for news of his death to find it.
The building stands on North Elston Avenue in Avondale, a busy diagonal artery on the Northwest Side lined with apartments, storefronts and older industrial buildings. Other residents of the building, or people on Elston late that Tuesday night, may have heard the struggle or seen someone leave.
Chicago recorded about 620 homicides in 2023, fewer than the roughly 780 in 2020 and about 800 in 2021, the deadliest year in a quarter century, but still far more than in most large American cities. Chicago police reported clearing roughly half of homicides in 2019 through 2023, though those figures count cases closed without charges. Many killings from those years remain without an arrest.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of James Taven could be found in news archives or public records. More than 3 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew him, lived in the building on North Elston Avenue or visited it that evening, or heard talk afterward of what happened between the neighbors, 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).
