CWBChicago has learned new information about the man who followed a 23-year-old woman from the Damen Blue Line station and the brutal attack he unleashed on her in a Wicker Park gangway on November 26.
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| Deonte “Tay” Terry | Facebook |
Deonta Terry told arresting officers that he was a teacher at Community TV Network, which uses media to “improve the education, quality of life, and opportunities available to underserved youth in Chicago.” An October post on the CTVN website refers to Terry as an “instructor.”
Ironically, the CTVN is celebrating its win of “Best Documentary Short” at a recent film festival in Vancouver. The film title? “How To Be A Man.”
Court records say 27-year-old Terry grabbed his victim from behind in the 1600 block of North Bell “dragged her into a gangway [and] strangled her unconscious” with his bare hands before he “ripped off” her clothes.
Terry took the woman’s green coat, purse, iPhone, and cash before returning to the Damen CTA station to flee the area around 3:40 a.m., prosecutors said in filings.
A 24-year-old Glen Ellyn woman found the unclothed victim minutes later.
The victim is recovering now, back home in her apartment that’s located precisely one block from the scene of the attack.
“You can move to a nice neighborhood,” she said, “and terrible shit can still happen to you. I know I learned my lesson.”
Terry is charged with felony counts of robbery, kidnapping by force or threat of force, aggravated battery-strangulation, and attempted criminal sexual assault by force. He is due back in court on December 20.
According to a police source, Terry has been the subject of an investigative alert from Chicago detectives for nearly five years. Cops have been waiting to talk to him about a felony theft from a Loop restaurant on December 1, 2012. Maybe he’ll find some time to connect with them now.
