Chicago — A Chicago woman placed on electronic monitoring while facing attempted murder and home invasion charges is back in custody, four months after officials found her severed ankle monitor lying along I-94 near South Holland.
The original charges against Nikole Byrd stem from a home invasion last December that left three people injured, including a 60-year-old who was beaten and tased, according to prosecutors.
Four people, including Byrd, allegedly broke through the victims’ back door at night and launched an attack that prosecutors said stemmed from interpersonal disputes among the parties. Three children, ages 13, 10, and 4, were inside the home at the time of the crime, but none was were injured.
Judge Kelly McCarthy allowed Byrd to go home on electronic monitoring after posting a $5,000 bail deposit.
But the sheriff’s office started to receive notifications that Byrd’s ankle monitor was being tampered with on August 16. Investigators tracked the bracelet’s GPS to a Home Depot in Calumet City and then to South Holland, where they found the bracelet lying next to the highway, Assistant State’s Attorney Danny Hanichak said Friday.
Officials finally located Byrd on Thursday in Dolton. Prosecutors on Friday charged her with escape.
Her public defender said she is working on her GED and shares custody of an 8-year-old child. The lawyer also claimed that Byrd’s ex-boyfriend cut the ankle monitor off her leg.
Judge Barbara Dawkins set bail at $100,000 on the escape case. Byrd must post 10% of that amount to get out of jail on the charge. But she is not yet eligible to go home because she is also being held without bail on an arrest warrant that a judge issued after she stopped appearing in court for the attempted murder and home invasion case.
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